Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Kyle Nicolas, Luis Ortiz Both Pitch 5 Scoreless Innings & More

Kyle Nicolas and Luis Ortiz each pitched 5 scoreless innings, Matt Gorski hit a grand slam, and more Pittsburgh Pirates minor league action

Two strong starting pitching performances highlighted Pittsburgh Pirates minor league action on Tuesday. One of these two starts came with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. This start was wasted though as Indy allowed a pair of 9th inning home runs to suffer a 5-4 walk off loss, falling to 7-9 on the season.

Luis Ortiz started for Triple-A Indy, continuing his strong start to the season and his push for a promotion to the majors. Ortiz pitched 5 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, issuing a walk, and striking a batter out.

Ortiz fired 55 of his 84 pitches for strikes. He induced six ground ball outs, while allowing just one fly ball out. On the season, Ortiz now owns a 2.08 ERA to go with a 7:18 BB: ratio and just one home runs allowed in 17.1 innings pitched.

John O'Reilly followed Ortiz and struck a batter out while firing a 1-2-3 6th inning. Recently claimed reliever Eli Villalobos followed O'Reilly, and things did not go well. Villalobos faced six batters and recorded just one out. He walked three batters, but was also hurt by two fielding errors by Nick Gonzales. This led to Villalobos allowing 3 unearned runs.

Cody Bolton continued his successful transition to the bullpen by pitching 1.2 scoreless innings. He allowed a hit, did not walk a batter, and struck out a pair. Bolton now owns a 2.89 ERA to go with 10 strikeouts in 10.1 innings pitched.

Leading 4-3 in the 9th inning, the Indians handed the ball to Yerry De Los Santos. After the righty got the first out of hte inning, he allowed a game-tying home run to Luken Baker. This was followed by a walk off home run from Oscar Mercado, saddling Indy with a 5-4 loss.

De Los Santos was viewed as a potential big piece of the Pirate bullpen in 2023. However, he started the season in the minor leagues where he has struggled. De Los Santos now owns an 8.44 ERA in 5.1 innings pitched this season. He has allowed 11 hits, walked four batters, and struck out a pair.

Gonzales played third base and was at the top of the Indy lineup, going just 1-for-5 with a strikeout. Travis Swaggerty was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and Malcolm Nuñez was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.

Aaron Shackelford started at second base going 3-for-4 with his 3rd double of the season and an RBI. Miguel Andújar hit his 7th double of the season as part of a two-hit night, and Endy Rodriguez was 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Kyle Nicolas, big 5th inning carry Altoona to victory

Tuesday night the Double-A Altoona Curve kicked off their home series against the Bowie Baysox with a 6-1 victory. Altonna's victory, which improved them to 4-6 on the season, was fueled by a dominant starting pitching performance and a 5th inning offensive explosion.

Righty Kyle Nicolas started for the Curve and shoved. Nicolas pitched 6 innings, allowing just three hits, walking a pair, and striking out three batters. The lone run he allowed came on a solo home run in the 6th inning.

Turning in one of the best starts of his professional career, Nicolas lowered his ERA on the season to 5.79 to go with 10 strikeouts in 14 innings pitched. Hopefully this start will help to right the ship for Nicolas who was off to a slow start this season.

Lefties Nick Dombkowski and Braeden Ogle would follow Nicolas. Dombkowski pitched 2 scoreless, hitless innings of relief while striking out a pair. Ogle then pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning. The two combined to retire all nine batters they faced.

Entering the 5th inning the game was scoreless, but this is when the Altoona offense would explode.

Andres Alvarez singled to start the inning and Connor Scott reached on an error. Domingo Leyba and Henry Davis each singled in a run, then Mason Martin drew a one-out walk to load the bases. Matt Gorski then launched a grand slam, his 2nd home run of the season, to make the score 6-0 Curve.

Two late inning rallies not enough for Greensboro

Twice on Tuesday night the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers would mount late inning rallies. Their 9th inning rally tied the game to force extra innings, but their 10th inning rally came up short in a 7-6 loss that dropped the Grasshoppers to 7-3 on the season.

Po-Yu Chen started for the Grasshoppers and turned in his best start of the young season. In 5 innings pitched, Chen allowed a run on three hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. Chen threw 48 of his 74 pitches for strikes.

Dante Mendoza followed Chen, allowing 3 runs on two hits, two walks, he threw a wild pitch, and struck out four in 1.2 innings pitched. Santiago Florez got the final out of the 7th inning, but not before allowing a run on three hits. Jaycob Deese then allowed a hit, walked a batter, and sturck a batter out in 2 scoreless innings pitched.

Trialing 5-4 entering the bottom of the 9th, Greensboro would rally to get the game to the 10th inning.

Hudson Head singled to start the inning and advanced to second base on a ground out. Head would come around to score on a two-out single by Maikol Escotto, tying the game at 5. After Sammy Siani single, Eli Wilson single on the infield but Escotto was thrown out attempting to score. This sent the game to extra innings.

Eddy Yean pitched the top of the 10th inning and allowed a pair of runs, putting the Grasshoppers in a 7-5 hole. While the Greensboro batters would mount a rally in the bottom half of the inning, it was a rally that would come up short.