Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Roansy Contreras Pitches 3 Scoreless for Indy & More

Roansy Contreras pitched 3 scoreless innings for Triple-A Indy, Jase Bowen and Jack Brannigan homer again at High-A, a poor start from Jared Jones, and more in today's Pittsburgh Pirates minor league roundup

The highlight of the day in the minor leagues for the Pittsburgh Pirates was the debut of no. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes. Skenes made his FCL debut and pitched a 1-2-3 inning. For more on the Skenes outing, Nick has you covered.

As for other minor league action, one day after Double-A Altoona played a doubleheader it was Triple-A Indy's turn. Game one went to extra innings scoreless before a disaster top of the 8th inning led to an 8-0 Indy loss. Game two saw the Indians fall to the Sounds 7-1, dropping them to 50-59 on the season.

In game one of the doubleheader Roansy Contreras started for the Indians. This was his first appearance in game action at a level higher than the FCL since July 5th. While his fastball velocity was still down, sitting around 93 MPH, his offspeed pitches worked well and helped him pitch 3 scoreless innings.

Contreras allowed a hit, walked a pair, and struck out two in his 3 scoreless innings. You want to see the fastball velocity return for Contreras, but it's very much baby steps for him right now. Firing 3 scoreless at Triple-A is, hopefully, a launching point toward a step in the right direction.

John O'Reilly and Rob Zastryzny followed Contreras. They each pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking none, and striking out two.

Even though the Indians had pitched lights out through 7 innings, their lineup had recorded just four hits. Ji Hwan Bae doubled, Chris Owings hit a triple, and Miguel Andújar and Canaan Smith-Njigba each singled. This lack of offense sent game one of the twin bill to extra innings.

Yohan Ramirez started the 8th inning for the Indians. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, an intentional walk was issued to Rowdy Tellez. Ramirez then uncorked a wild pitch, walked three straight batters, hit a batter, and allowed a single, making it 5-0 Nashville Sounds. Braeden Ogle relieved Ramirez, walking back-to-back batters to bring in another run before allowing a single. When the dust settled, it was 8-0 Nashville.

Indy went down in order in the bottom half of the 8th to end the game.

Jared Jones started in game two and struggled mightily. Jones allowed 5 runs in the 1st inning on his way allowing 6 runs on four hits, four walks, a home run, and six strikeouts in 3 innings pitched. He threw 42 of 70 pitches for strikes and was called for a balk.

The only Indy run in game two came when Mason Martin doubled to start the 5th inning and came around to score on a Grant Koch single. A double by Owings and a single by Vinny Capra were the only other hits in the game for Indy.

Altoona gets shutout, wastes strong pitching

Despite a strong starting pitching effort, the Double-A Altoona Curve fell to the Erie SeaWolves 2-0 on Thursday night. With the loss, the Curve are now 49-53 on the season.

Braxton Ashcraft started for Altoona and continued to fool opposing batters. Throwing a high-90s fastball with nasty offspeed stuff, Ashcraft allowed a hit, did not walk a batter, and struck out three in 3 scoreless innings pitched. In 52.2 innings pitched across three levels this season Ashcraft owns a 2.41 ERA to go with 11 walks and 63 strikeouts. Ashcraft could not have asked for a better return after missing all of 2022 and most of 2023 due to Tommy John surgery.

Omar Curz followed Ashcraft. Cruz allowed a run on a hit, three walks, and two strikeouts in 2 innings pitched. Michell Miliano allowed a solo home run while walking three and striking a batter out in 3 innings pitched. Cam Junker struck a batter out in a scoreless 9th inning.

Offensively, it was a poor night for the Curve.

Curve batters had just three hits. Will Matthiessen and Claudio Finol each singled while Chavez Young hit a double. Matt Fraizer, Connor Scott, and Eli Wilson each drew a walk, and that was it for Altoona base runners.

Big 8th inning powers Bradenton to victory

Low-A Bradenton fell in an early hole on Thursday night. However, an offensive explosion, especially in the 7th inning, would help lead to a comeabck victory for the Marauders. Following a 15-8 victory over the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels the Marauders are now 60-44 on the season.

Dominic Perachi started for the Marauders, allowing 4 runs in 4 innings pitched. Perachi allowed five hits, walked two, gave up a home run, and struck out three. Sergio Umana followed Perachi, and, well, things went very poorly. Umana allowed 4 runs on three hits, a walk, and home run in the 5th inning.

After Jorge Ramos pitched 2 scoreless innings the Marauders entered the 8th inning trailing 8-5, but this was about to change.

With the bases loaded and no one out Jesus Castillo drew a walk and Lonnie White Jr. doubled. Rodolfo Nolasco hit a sacrifice fly in the inning and the Marauders scored three times on wild pitches. This made the score 12-8 Marauders.

Brandan Bidois got the first two outs of the 8th inning, both via strikeout, but was lifted for Elijah Birdsong after issuing two walks. Birdsong recorded a strikeout to end the 8th inning. Birdsong also pitched the 9th inning to finish off the game.

White Jr. finished the game 3-for-4 with his double, a walk, two runs scored, and 3 RBI. Mitch Jebb was 1-for-4 with two walks, a run scored, and a RBI. Nolasco was 1-for-4 with a double, walk, RBI, and two runs scored.

Yordany De Los Santos started at third base and went 1-for-3 with two walks and a run scored. Catcher Geovanny Planchart was 2-for-4 with a walk, his 3rd home run of the season, two walks, and 4 RBI.