Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Caleb Smith Shelled in Blowout Loss

Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians, had a little bit of everything go wrong in a blowout loss on Saturday afternoon

Following a loss in which they blew a 9th inning lead on Friday night, the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians were back at it on Saturday afternoon for game two. Unfortunately for the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates, things went even worse than Friday night as they fell to 0-2 on the season following a 12-1 loss against the Omaha Storm Chasers.

In spring training it appeared that Caleb Smith could have a chance to pitch his way into an Opening Day bullpen spot with the Pirates. When this did not happen, he accepted a minor league assignment and is now working as a starting pitcher at Triple-A.

Saturday afternoon he made his first start for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. After pitching 2 scoreless innings to start the day, things started to go off the rails for Smith when he allowed 2 runs in the 3rd inning.

Smith allowed another run in the 4th, and then came completely unglued in the 5th. When it was all said and done Smith allowed 8 runs on eight hits, three walks, two home runs, and five strikeouts in 4.2 innings pitched.

Things did not get much better for the Indy pitching staff after Smith's day ended.

Carmen Mlodzinski followed Smith, allowing 2 runs on two hits, a walk, and a strikeout in 1.1 innings pitched. Mlodzinski was also hurt by a Chris Owings fielding error. Hunter Stratton walked a batter and allowed a run in 1.1 innings pitched, and Yohan Ramirez allowed a run, threw a wild pitch, walked a batter, and surrendered three hits in 1.2 innings pitched.

For the Indian offense , well, there was not much. Chavez Young, Nick Gonzales, Cal Mitchell, Malcolm Nuñez, and Chris Owings combined to go 0-for-15 with five strikeouts. Travis Swaggerty was 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored, but also commited an error. Miguel Andújar drove in Indy's lone run, Mark Mathias was 2-for-3, and Tyler Heineman was 1-for-1 with a pair of walks.