Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Bubba Chandler Pitches 7 Dominant Innings & More

Curve score early, often in 9-2 victory

The Altoona Curve scored a run in the 1st inning, 3 in the 2nd inning, and then put up 5 runs in the 4th inning. All of this led to a 9-2 victory over the Akron RubberDucks on Tuesday night, a victory that improves the Curve to 53-59 on the season.

Altoona's 1st inning run came on a solo home run by Matt Gorski, his 15th of the season. Mike Jarvis hit a 3-run home run, his 1st of the second, in the 2nd inning, helping the Curve jump out to a 4-1 lead.

Then in the 4th inning, Andres Alvarez doubled, Jarvis walked, Jacob Gonzalez doubled, Eli Wilson singled, and Jackson Glenn doubled. Just like that, the Curve lead had grown to 8-2. It would become 9-2 when Glenn stole third base and then scored on a throwing error by Akron catcher Micael Ramirez.

Nick Dombkowski started for Altoona and gave the Curve 5 strong innings. The lefty allowed 2 runs on two hits, two walks, a home run, and six strikeouts. Omar Cruz allowed two hits in 3 scoreless innings pitched and Justin Meis pitched a scoreless 9th inning to finish the game.

Bubba Chandler dominates in shutout win for Greensboro

Led by a dominant starting pitching performance, the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers defeated the Rome Braves 2-0 on Tuesday night. With the win, Grasshoppers are now 62-50 which puts them in third place in the South Atlantic League.

Bubba Chandler started on the mound for Greensboro and was dominant. The righty pitched 7 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, he did not walk a batter, and he struck out six. Chandler did this while throwing 61 of 90 pitches for strikes.

Following a disastrous start to the season, the highly touted righty continues to trend upward as he surges toward finishing his season strong. In his last seven starts, Chandler has allowed 8 earned runs in 39.2 innings pitched (1.84 ERA). He's walked 11 batters and struck out 39 across these seven starts.

Valentin Linarez followed Chandler and pitched the final 2 innings of the game. Linarez retired all six batters he faced while striking out three.

The lone runs of the game came off the bat of Jack Brannigan. Brannigan remained red hot by hitting a 2-run home run in the 4th inning, giving him 11 since joining Greensboro. This was part of a 2-for-4 performance by Brannigan.

Tres Gonzalez, Josiah Sightler, and Luke Brown had the only other hits of the night for the Grasshoppers.

Bradenton pitching struggles in 7-2 loss

Pitching struggled early and often for the Bradenton Marauders on Tuesday night. The Marauders allowed a run in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th innings, before the Jupiter Hammerheads scored a pair of runs in both the 6th and 8th innings. This led to a 7-2 loss for the Marauders, dropping them to 64-50 on the season. 64-50 puts Bradenton in second place in the FSL West.

Hung-Leng Chang started for Bradenton, allowing 3 runs on four hits, no walks, four strikeouts and he hit two batters in 4 innings pitched. Drake Fellows followed Chang, allowing 2 runs on a hit which was a home run, a walk, and four strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched.

After Landon Tomkins pitched 1.1 perfect innings of baseball, Danny Carrion was next up. Carrion allowed 2 runs on three hits, a walk, and a strikeout in the 8th inning.

At the top of the Bradenton lineup Mitch Jebb continues to swing a hot bat. Jebb went 2-for-5 with a stolen base and a run scored. He now owns a .382 on-base percentage through the first 87 plate appearances of his professional career.

Rodolfo Nolasco was 2-for-3 with a walk and two doubles. Charles McAdoo was 1-for-4 with a run scored and Deivis Nadal went 2-for-4. The only other Bradenton hit was a Lonnie White Jr. run-scoring hit, White Jr. also drew a walk.