Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Strong Start By Omar Cruz & More

Poor weather impacted multiple Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliates on Friday night

Friday night it was not just the Pittsburgh Pirates who were impacted by bad weather. Multiple minor league affiliates were as well. This included their top farm club, the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians.

Indianapolis saw their game against the Louisville Bats suspended due to poor weather with things tied at 5 in the middle of the 9th inning. Prior to the suspension, Ji-Hwan Bae who started the game in center filed before moving to second base was 1-for-3 with a pair of walks and a run scored.

In the two hole Oneil Cruz was 1-for-4 with a walk. His lone hit was a triple, his 3rd of the season, as Cruz drove in 2 runs. Rodolfo Castro drew 3 walks, and drove in a run with a base hit in his other trip to the plate. Cal Mitchell was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, while Taylor Davis and Hoy Park each had a hit as well.

Local lefty Trey McGough stated for Indy. McGough pitched 3 innings, allowing 3 hits and striking out 2. The lone run he allowed came on a solo home run. Cody Bolton followed, struggling allowing 3 runs, 2 earned, on 3 hits, a walk and 3 strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched. Cam Vieaux allowed a hit in a scoreless inning pitched, while Hunter Stratton walked and struck out a pair in 1.1 scoreless innings pitched.

Yerry De Los Santos was next up for the Indians. In a rare moment of looking human against Triple-A batters, the righty allowed  run on 3 hits in 2 innings pitched. De Los Santos also struck out 2 in his outing.

Curve win pitcher’s duel against the Erie Seawolves

Double-A Altoona picked up a 2-1 victory over the Erie Seawolves. With the win the Curve improved to 11-14 on the season.

Once again in the leadoff spot Jared Triolo was 0-for-3, but he did draw a walk and score a run. Center fielder Lolo Sanchez continued his strong start to the season going 2-for-4 with a RBI, raising his OPS on the season to .889.

Catcher Blake Sabol was 1-for-4 with a double. Sabol’s 3rd double of the season drove in the other Altoona run. Shortstop Liover Peguero and designated hitter Brendt Citta each had a hit as well.

It was pitching that carried the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates to victory. Lefty Omar Cruz started for Altoona, allowing a solo home run, he did not walk a batter and he struck out 4 in 5 innings pitched. Cruz now has a 2.86 ERA, 28 strikeouts and just 8 walks in 22 innings pitched this season.

Brad Case followed Cruz, allowing 3 hits while striking out a batter in 2 scoreless inning pitched. Zach Matson pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning striking out a pair, Colin Selby then piked up his 3rd save by striking out a batter and allowing a hit in a scoreless 9th inning.

A rough night for Low-A Bradenton

At the Low-A level the Bradenton Marauders fell to 13-12 on the season with a 9-3 loss against the Tampa Tarpons. Po-Yu Chen started for the Marauders and turned in a rare poor start. Chen allowed 4 runs on 4 hits, a home run, and 2 walks in 3.2 innings pitched. He did, however, strikeout 7 batters.

Coming out the Marauder bullpen Yunior Thibo and Wilkin Ramos combined to allow 5 runs, 3 earned, on 3 hits, 5 walks and 5 strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched. Cristian Charle then walked a batter and struck out 3 in 2 scoreless, hitless innings pitched.

Third baseman Brenden Dixon led off for the Marauders, going 2-for-3 with his 4th home run of the season and a walk. Dixon now has an .897 OPS this season. Tsung-Che Cheng and Rodolfo Nolasco both had rare poor performances, going a combined 0-for-9.

Jason Bowen, Jacob Gonzalez and Mike Jarvis all hit doubles for the Marauders. Bowen also drew a walk, while Gonzalez had a RBI and for Jarvis it was part of a multi-hit performance. The bottom three in the Marauder lineup was 0-for-8 with a pair of walks.