Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Endy Rodriguez Stays Red Hot & More

Endy Rodriguez remains red hot, a multi-hit night for Cal Mitchell and more in Thursday night’s Pittsburgh Pirates minor league roundup

Triple-A Indianapolis picked up a 14-4 victory over the Rochester Red Wings 14-4 on Thursday night. This victory improved the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates to 60-58 on the season.

Ji-Hwan Bae started at shortstop and went 1-for-4 with a walk, a run scored and a RBI. Drew Maggi was 1-for-5 with a run scored and a RBI, and Diego Castillo was 0-for-3 with two walks and runs scored.

Cal Mitchell went 2-for-4 with his 2nd triple for the Indians. Mitchell scored a run and drove in a pair. Mason Martin was 0-for-2 with two walks, a run scored and a RBI. Center fielder Jared Oliva also had a big night going 3-for-4 with a walk, three runs scored, three RBI and his 6th home run of the season.

Cody Bolton started for the Indians and pitched 2.2 innings, allowing 2 runs on three hits, no walks, a home run and two strikeouts. Noe Toribio followed. Toribio gave up 2 runs on three hits, a walk and no strikeouts in 1.1 innings pitched.

Cam Alldred continues to push for a second opportunity, and a real one this time, at the major league level with the Pittsburgh Pirates after striking out four in 2 scoreless innings pitched. Travis MacGregor struck out a pair in 2 innings pitched and Hunter Stratton pitched a scoreless 9th inning.

Curve fall in high scoring affair against Bowie

Thursday night the Altoona Curve lost a high scoring affair against the Bowie Baysox. Following an 11-8 loss, the Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate have fallen back to .500 on the season at 58-58.

Aaron Shortridge started for the Curve and continued to struggle. After allowing 5 runs on seven hits, three walks, three strikeouts and a home run in 2.2 innings pitched. Shortridge now owns a 7.39 ERA in 35.1 innings pitched with Altoona.

The pitching woes continued for the Curve after Shortridge’s night ended. Jeffrey Passantino allowed 2 runs on two hits, one of which was a home run, in 2.1 innings pitched. Bear Bellomy allowed 3 runs on four hits while recording just one out, Enmanuel Mejia got the final two outs of the 6th inning while allowing another run.

Tahnaj Thomas was the lone bright spot of the night for the Curve pitching staff. Thomas retired all six batters he faced in his 2 scoreless innings pitched while striking out two batters. Thomas is continuing to develop into a potential high-leverage relief pitching prospect, now owning a 2.93 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 46 innings pitched this season.

Endy Rodriguez served as the team’s designated hitter and remained red hot at the plate. The fast rising catching prospect was 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored and already his 4th home run with the Curve. Rodriguez now owns a 1.164 OPS in 12 games played at the Double-A level and he has at least one hit in each of these games.

Joining Rodriguez with hitting a home run on Thursday night was second baseman Nick Gonzales. The Pittsburgh Pirates 2020 first-round pick also drew a walk in addition to his three-run blast, which was his 5th of the season and first since returning from the injured list earlier this month.

First baseman Aaron Shackelford also had a multi-hit game for the Curve. Shackelford was 2-for-3 with his 24th home run of the season, a walk and three RBI.

Bradenton drops a rain shortened game to Dunedin

Thursday night weather got in the way for the Bradenton Marauders. Trialing the Dunedin Blue Jays 5-2 in the 7th inning, inclement weather moved in leading to the Low-A affiliates of the Pittsburgh Pirates suffering a rain shortened 5-2 loss to fall to 60-56 on the season.

Carlos Jimenez started for the Marauders and only lasted 3 innings. Jimenez allowed 3 runs on four hits, five walks and five strikeouts in 4 innings pitched. Despite this poor outing, Jimenez still owns a 3.78 ERA on the season.

Yunior Thibo followed Jimenez and pitched 2 innings. Thibo allowed 2 runs on a pair of hits, a walk and two strikeouts in his 2 innings pitched. Drew Irvine allowed a hit, walked two batters and failed to record a strikeout in 1.2 scoreless innings pitched.

Shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng was 3-for-3 at the top of the Marauder lineup, improving his OPS to .803 on the season. Right fielder Tres Gonzalez was 1-for-3, and Termarr Johnson went 0-for-2 with a walk in his second game at the Low-A level.