It was an immaculate night including a shutout victory for the Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate
Double-A Altoona shutout the Binghamton Rumble Ponies 6-0 on Tuesday night. With the win, the Curve improved to 49-54 on the season. It was also an immaculate night for an Altoona pitcher.
Luis Ortiz started for the Curve and turned in a tremendous start. The righty pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing two his, issuing two walks and striking out eight. Ortiz also pitched an immaculate inning in the start. For those who do not know, an immaculate inning is when a pitcher strikes out all three batters they faced and they do so on just nine pitches. In fact, this was the second immaculate inning of the season for Ortiz.
Tahnaj Thomas followed Ortiz with two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 7th inning. A transition to the bullpen has been a very successful one for Thomas this season who now owns a 3.18 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 39.2 innings pitched this season. Enmanuel Mejia would allow a run in 2 scoreless innings pitched.
Serving as the team’s designated hitter, catching prospect Endy Rodriguez made his Double-A debut on Tuesday night. In his first game wit the Curve he went 1-for-3 with a walk, a double and a RBI.
In the leadoff spot, third baseman Jared Triolo was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Making his debut in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization after being acquired in the José Quintana trade, first baseman Malcolm Nuñez was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Connor Scott started in center field and went 1-for-4. Scott’s lone hit was his 18th double of the season as he drove in a pair of runs. Shortstop Liover Peguero was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and second baseman Aaron Shackelford was 2-for-4 with his 19th double, 20th home run and three RBI.