Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Big Night for Oneil Cruz & More

The Pittsburgh Pirates farm system had another day that was impacted by weather on Saturday

Before playing their originally scheduled game on Saturday night, the top farm club for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, finished a suspended game from Friday night. Friday night’s game was suspended with things tied at 5 in the 9th inning, but things did not go Indy’s way in the completion of the game.

With the game tied at 5, Cal Mitchell and Taylor Davis drew back-to-back walks with one out in the 9th inning. Bligh Madris then hit into an inning ending double play. Cristofer Melendez pitched the top of the 10th for Indy, but allowed 2 runs on a pair of hits and a walk in the inning. Despite an Oneil Cruz walk in the bottom of the 10th, the Indians failed to score suffering a 7-5 loss.

In their regularly scheduled game the Indians defeated the Louisville Bats 8-2 to improve to 14-13 on the season. Roansy Contreras allowed a hit, walked 2 and struck out 6 in 4 scoreless innings pitched. Making a rehab appearance Duane Underwood Jr. pitched 2 scoreless innings. Osvaldo Bido then allowed 2 runs in 2 innings of work.

Offensively, Oneil Cruz had a big night for the Indians. Cruz was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and 4 RBI. The home run that Cruz hit left his bat at a whopping 113 MPH. This marks just the latest ball that Cruz has hit at 113+ MPH.

Leadoff man Ji-hwan Bae was 1-for-2 with 2 walks, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Rodolfo Castro, Cal Mitchell, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Jason Delay, and Bligh Madris all had 2 hits on the night as well. This included triples by Madris and Delay.