Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Kyle Nicolas Dominates, Bradenton Rolls & More

Sunday afternoon the Pittsburgh Pirates received a dominant starting pitching performance at Double-A and saw their Low-A squad score 17 runs to headline the day’s minor league roundup

One day after losing a 16-13 slugfest against the St. Paul Saints, the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, fell to the Saints 5-1 on Sunday afternoon. With the loss the Indians are now 6-5 on the season. Beau Sulser started for the Indians and allowed 2 runs on 2 hits, no walks and 3 strikeouts. Sulser now owns a 2.13 ERA in 12.2 innings pitched.

Indy’s undoing on Sunday was a struggling bullpen and lack of offense. The Indian bullpen allowed 3 runs on 5 this and 2 walks in 4 innings pitched. Offensively, they left 7 runners on base and were just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Right fielder Cal Mitchell was 2-for-4 with a double, raising his OPS on the season to 1.138. Starting at second bade Ji-Hwan Bae was 1-for-3 with a double. The rest of Indy’s lineup was just 2-for-23.

While the Double-A Altoona Curve fell to 3-6 on the season following a 6-2 loss against the Richmond Flying Squirrels, starting pitcher Kyle Nicolas was the star of the game. The righty struck out 5 batters in 4 perfect innings pitched. Since joining the Pirate organization in the Jacob Stallings trade Nicolas has struck out 10 batters and pitched 7.2 scoreless innings in his two starts with Altoona.

Another player the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired in the Stallings trade was outfielder Connor Scott. The former 13th overall pick in the draft, Scott drove in a run with his 3rd double of the season. Starting at catcher Blake Sabol was 2-for-4 with his 1st home run of the season. Matt Fraizer and Liover Peguero both had poor days, each going 0-for-4.

High-A Greensboro improved to 4-5 on the season with a 6-1 victory over the Winston Salem Dash. Center fielder Matt Gorski drove in a pair of runs for the Grasshoppers, shortstop Maikol Escotto hit a double and drove in a pair, and second baseman Jackson Glenn was 2-for-3 with a walk and a solo home run.

Henry Davis started at catcher and went 0-for-3. Fellow catcher Abrahan Gutierrez started at designated hitter going 1-for-2 with a RBI. Gutierrez also drew a pair of walks, raising his OPS on the season to .811.

Jared Jones toed the rubber for the Grasshoppers and turned in another stellar start. In 5 scoreless innings pitched Jones allowed 2 hits, walked a batter and struck out 8. Jones now has a 1.08 ERA and has struck out 15 batters in 8.1 innings pitched across his two starts. Grant Ford, Eddy Yean and Jack Carey combined to allow 1 unearned run on a hit, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts in 3 innings pitched.

As is often the case when a team scores 17 runs there were plenty of offensive standouts for the Low-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Bradenton Marauders, in a 17-7 victory over the Lakeland Flying Tigers. Shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng continues to red hot start to the season by going 3-for-5 with a walk, a home run and 4 RBI. Making a second rehab stat with the Marauders outfielder Anthony Alford made a start at designated hitter going 2-for-4 with a walk and a home run.

Left fielder Luke Brown had 3 this and drove in 4 runs. Third baseman Alexander Mojica was 2-for-2 with 3 walks and a RBI. First baseman Jacob Gonzalez and right fielder Jase Bowen each had multiple RBI.

The undoing for the Curve was their bullpen. J.C. Flowers struck out 4 batters and issued a walk in 2.2 scoreless innings pitched, but Colin Selby walked 3 and allowed a run in his inning of work. Enmanuel Mejia then allowed 4 runs on a hit, 2 walks and a home run allowed in 1 inning pitched.

Joelvis Del Rosario started for the Marauders, and allowed 4 runs on 4 hits, 2 home runs, a walk and 2 strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched. Cristian Charle followed by striking out 3 in 2.2 scoreless innings of relief. Wilkin Ramos also pitched 2 scoreless innings before Darvin Garcia allowed 3 runs in the 9th inning.