Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Miguel Yajure Struggles, Altoona Home Runs

Curve jumped out to a 4th inning lead and never look back

Sunday afternoon saw the Double-A Altoona Curve take down the Binghamton Rumble Ponies by a score of 6-1. After grabbing a 4th inning lead and never looking back, the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates are now 53-55 on the season.

Jared Triolo started the game with his second leadoff home run of the week, giving hm 7 long balls on the season. After the Rumble Ponies tied the game at 1 in the bottom half of the 1st inning, the game remained tied until the 4th.

With one out in the 4th inning Blake Sabol hit a solo home run. His 13th home run of the season gave the Curve a 2-1 lead. After Malcolm Nuñez singled, Andres Alvarez his his 18th home run of the season. This gave the Curve a 4-1 lead that they would not relinquish.

Altoona added to their lead with another home run in the 5th inning. This one was a solo blast by Endy Rodriguez, giving him 2 with the Curve and 18 overall on the season. The home runs by Sabol and Rodriguez were parts of a two-hit performance for each.

Luis Ortiz started for the Curve and turned in a strong start. In 4 innings pitched he allowed a run on three hits, a walk and five strikeouts. Ortiz now owns a 4.79 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 103.1 innings pitched this season.

Nick Dombkowski followed with 2 scoreless innings. The lefty retired all six batters he faced, striking out four. Dombkowski now owns a 2.75 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 52.1 innings pitched this season as he continues to develop into a promising relief pitching prospect.

Enamnuel Mejia, Bear Bellomy and Colin Selby each pitched a scoreless inning out of the Curve bullpen. This trio combined to allow three hits, they did not walk a batter and struck out a total of four.

Greensboro suffers a shutout loss

After getting shutout on Sunday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Pirates High-A affiliate, the Greensboro Grasshoppers, are now 14 games under .500 on the season. Following the 4-0 loss against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, the Grasshoppers are now a porous 46-60.

Leadoff man Luke Brown went 1-for-4 with a triple for the Grasshoppers while center fielder and two-hole hitter Jase Bowen was 0-for-3 with a walk. Jacob Gonzalez was 1-for-4, Yoyner Fajardo was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks, Eli Wilson was 1-for-3 with a walk, and Jackson Glenn was 1-for-4.

Getting runners on base was not an issue for the Grasshoppers. Their problem, much like their parent club, was getting a big hit with runners on base. The Grasshoppers went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position on their way to stranding nine base runners.

Ricky DeVito started on the mound for the Grasshoppers and pitched 3 scoreless innings. DeVito allowed two hits, walked a batter and struck out three in his 3 scoreless innings pitched. Adrian Florencio followed with 2 innings of work, allowing a solo home run while walking a batter and striking out two.

After Florencio, Matt Eckelman was the next man up. Eckelman allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, on two hits, two walks, a home run and a strikeout. Cam Junker then allowed two hits and struck out three in 2 scoreless innings pitched.

Low-A Bradenton has four-game winning streak snapped

Entering play on Sunday the Low-A Bradenton Marauders were one of the hottest teams in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. The Marauders had won four games in a row, seven of their last eight games and were 8-3 in the month of August.

Sunday afternoon, however, the Marauders fell to the Palm Beach Cardinals by a score of 7-1. Following the lopsided loss, the Marauders have fallen to 56-51 on the season.

Po-Yu Chen started for the Marauders and lasted just 3 innings. Chen allowed 2 runs on four hits, two walks and a home run. He threw just 55 pitches in his outing, but did throw 33 of them (60%) for strikes.

Drew Irvine and Sergio Umana followed Chen and both struggled. Irvine pitched 2 innings allowing 2 runs on two hits, a walk, a home run and two strikeouts. Umana, who has pitched well for Bradenton owning a 1.98 ERA on the season, also allowed a pair of runs, but he pitched just 1 inning.

Mitchell Miller walked three batters and allowed an unearned run while recording just one out. Darvin Garcia struck a batter out in 1.2 scoreless innings pitched, while Wilkin Ramos struck out a pair in a scoreless 9th inning.

Offensively, it was a frustrating day for the Marauders.

Leadoff man Tsung-Che Cheng was 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored. 2022 Pittsburgh Pirates draft selection Tres Gonzalez was 2-for-4, Juan Jerez was 1-for-4, and Brenden Dixon was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. Catcher Luis Hernandez and right fielder Jasiah Dixon each went 1-for-4 as well.

On the day the Marauders had no extra base hits, went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base. There were opportunities to score more runs but Bradenton failed to capitalize.