Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Four Appear in 8-1 Salt River Rafters Loss

Four Pittsburgh Pirates prospects made an appearance in Tuesday night's Arizona Fall League loss for the Salt River Rafters

The Salt River Rafters are off to a 1-1 start in the Arizona Fall League. This comes following an 8-1 loss against the Mesa Solar Sox on Tuesday night. In the loss, four Pittsburgh Pirates prospects appeared in the game for the River Rafters.

After starting in right field and going 2-for-4 with a double on Monday night, Jase Bowen was back in the lineup on Tuesday. On Tuesday night, he bats lead off for Salt River and played first base. Bowen finished 1-for-4 with three strikeouts.

For the second time in as many games, Jack Brannigan started at shortstop for the Rafters. Although Brannigan was 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, he did draw a walk to get on base for the first time this AFL season. Through two games Brannigan is now 0-for-7 with five strikeouts and a walk.

After no Pirate pitching prospects pitched on Monday night, two pitched in Tuesday night's loss. They were right-handed pitchers Alessandro Ercolani and Cam Junker.

Ercolani took the ball to start the 5th inning. After struggling with his control, Ercolani would fail to finish the inning getting pulled after recording just two outs. Ercolani did not allow a hit and struck out a pair, but he walked four batters and allowed a run. He threw just 10 of 30 pitches for strikes.

Junker pitched the 8th inning. He worked around a hit and a walk to post a zero. Like Ercolani, Junker struck out a pair of Solar Sox batters. Unlike Ercolani, Junker mostly filled the strike zone throwing 12 of 20 pitches for strikes.

Stay tuned here at Rum Bunter throughout the Arizona Fall League season for updates on how Pirate prospects are performing.