Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Matt Gorski HR, Strong Quinn Priester Start & More

Bradenton's offense explodes for 16 runs, Matt Gorski hits a home run for a second day in a row, and more in today's Pittsburgh Pirates minor league roundup

One of the most encouraging parts of Wednesday's Pittsburgh Pirates minor league action was the performance of Quinn Priester. Priester turned in a strong start for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians to help the Indians defeat the St. Paul Saints 4-2, improving to 16-18 on the season.

Priester pitched 6 innings for the Indians and allowed just 2 runs. The young righty allowed six hits, walked a pair, was touched up for a home run, and struck out four. He threw 53 of his 91 pitches for strikes and induced a healthy 10 ground ball outs.

This was the second consecutive strong start for Priester. Organizations always want to see their young pitching prospects pitch well. For the Pirates that is especially true about Priester. Not only are there plenty of questions about his stuff, especially the fastball, translating to the majors, with their starting pitching depth hit hard by injuries Priester pitching well becomes even more important.

Lefty Angel Perdomo followed Priester with a walk and a strikeout in a scoreless 7th inning. Cody Bolton walked a batter in a scoreless 8th inning in his return to Triple-A Indy. Colin Selby then walked a batter and struck out three in a scoreless 9th to pick up a save.

Nick Gonzales was 2-for-5 with a run scored at the top of their lineup. Endy Rodriguez went 1-for-5 with a double, a run scored, and a RBI. Ryan Vilade was 1-for-4 with a pair of RBI, Cal Mitchell was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, and Aaron Shackelford drove in a run.

Poor 4th inning sinks Double-A Altoona

Wednesday morning saw the Double-A Altoona Curve host the Akron RubberDucks for an 11 AM first pitch. A 4-run 4th inning sunk the Curve in a 7-2 loss, a loss that drops the Curve back under .500 on the season at 13-14.

Mason Martin and Matt Gorski, the latter of which went deep for the second game in a row, each hit a solo home run. Outside of these two hits, there was not much to write home about for the Curve offense.

Martin and Gorski each drew a walk as well, while Andres Alvarez and Drew Maggi each had a base hit. The rest of the Curve lineup combined to go 0-for-17 with two walks.

Returning from injury, Jared Jones started for Altoona and allowed a run on two hits in 2.1 innings pitched. Nick Dombkowski followed and allowed the 4 runs in the 4th inning. Dombkowski pitched a total of 2.2 innings, allowing 4 runs on six hits, two walks, and a strikeout.

Lefty Braeden Ogle also struggled, allowing 2 runs on three hits, a walk, a home run, and five strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched. Travis MacGregor pitched 2.1 scoreless innings to finish off the game, walking a pair and striking a batter out.

Low-A Bradenton blasts Flying Tigers

Wednesday evening was a fun one at the plate for the Low-A Bradenton Marauders. The Marauder offesne recorded 18 hits and drew five walks on their way to blasting the Lakeland Flying Tigers 16-3 to improve to 17-12 on the season.

Bradenton scored in every inning except the 8th inning, and scored multiple runs in four different innings. Second baseman Jesus Castillo was 3-for-5 with a walk, two doubles, a run scored, and three RBI. Right fielder Rodolfo Nolasco was also 3-for-5, with a walk, his 2nd home run of the season, a double, and three runs scored.

Alexander Mojica was 1-for-3 with a walk, a RBI, and two runs scored. Catcher Geovanny Planchart was 3-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI. Third baseman Javier Rivas had three hits, a home run, and four RBI. Termarr Johnson also got in on the fun with a pair of hits and two runs scored.

Owen Kellington started for the Marauders and allowed a run on two hits, a walk, and five strikeouts in 3 innings pitched. Carlos Lomeli reitred all nine batters he faced while striking out a pair in 3 innings pitched. Darvin Garcia pitched 2 scoreless innings and Yoldin De La Paz allowed 2 runs in his lone inning of work.