Pittsburgh Pirates: Kyle Nicolas Shoves, Altoona Power Surge & More

Kyle Nicolas goes 6 strong for Double-A Altoona as the Curve experience a power surge on offense and more in Wednesday’s Pittsburgh Pirates minor league roundup

Inclement weather caused havoc for Triple-A Indianapolis. As of 9:40 PM ET on Wednesday night their game had yet to start due to a delay. It appears the Indians and Memphis Redbirds will have doubleheader on the horizon.

Wednesday night was a big nigh for the Double-A Altoona Curve. On their way to blowing out the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, the Curve got a great starting pitching performance and a power surge from the offense.

Kyle Nicolas started for Altoona and turned in one of his best starts since joining the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Nicolas pitched 6 innings with the lone hit he allowed being a solo home run. Outside of the solo home run Nicolas walked a batter and struck out five.

Nicolas now owns a 3.89 ERA across 18 games, 17 starts, this season. The righty has pitched 69.1 innings, striking out 81 batters while allowing just eight home runs. After coming to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Jacob Stallings trade, Nicolas continues to develop into one of the more intriguing arms in their farm system.

Austin Roberts followed Nicolas, issuing a walk in a scoreless inning pitched. Bear Bellomy pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning striking out the side. Lefty Tyler Samaniego then continued his strong season by pitching a scoreless 9th inning, lowering his ERA at Double-A to 2.66. With the way Samaniego is pitching and climbing through the system, it is not outlandish to think he could be the first member of the Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 draft class to make their MLB debut.

Offensively, there was plenty of power to go around for the Curve. Leadoff man Jared Triolo started in center field going 2-for-5, leading the game off with his 6th home run on the season as he went on to drive in two runs.

After going 1-for-3 with a walk, a double and a RBI in his Double-A debut, Endy Rodriguez was 1-for-4 with a solo home run in his second game at the Double-A level. Rodriguez also made his first start at catcher with Altoona. Shortstop Liover Peguero was 2-for-5 with with his 8th home run of the season and two RBI.

Starting at second base, Aaron Shackelford was 2-for-4 with a walk, his 21st home run of the season, two runs scored and two RBI. Right fielder Connor Scott also hit a home run, his 5th home run of the season was part of a big 4-for-5 performance with two runs scored and two RBI.

Bradenton rallies in the late innings, then walks off in 10

Entering the bottom of the 7th inning the Pittsburgh Pirates Low-A affiliate, the Bradenton Marauders, were trailing the Palm Beach Cardinals 3-1. After scoring a pair of runs in the 7th inning, the Marauders would walk it off in the 10th inning to improve to 53-50 on the season.

Carlos Jimenez started for the Marauders and allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, on four hits in 4.2 innings pitched. Jimenez walked three batters and struck out a pair. Jimenez now owns a 3.39 ERA to go with 78 strikeouts in 61.0 innings pitched this season.

Johan Montero followed Jimenez by pitching 2.1 scoreless innings. Montero allowed one hit, did not walk a batter and struck a batter out. Mitchell Miller struck a batter out in a scoreless 8th inning, Wilkin Ramos allowed two hits and struck out a pair in 2 scoreless innings pitched for the Marauders.

Bradenton’s 7th inning rally was sparked by some wildness on the mound. Deivis Nadal, who finished the game 1-for-3 with a triple and a run scored, drew a one-out walk and this was followed by Luis Hernandez being hit by a pitch.

After Hernandez was plunked, Jasiah Dixon picked up one of his two hits on the night to drive in Nadal. Tsung-Che Cheng then singled home Hernandez to tie the game at 3. Cheng finished the game 3-for-5 with a run scored a two RBI.

In the bottom of the 10th inning it did not take the Marauders long. Cheng started the inning on second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After Segio Campana struck out, Juan Jerez hit a sacrifice fly to score Cheng and give the Marauders a 4-3 victory.