Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Strong Start for Jared Jones, Endy Rodriguez Homers & More

Jared Jones had a strong start for Altoona, Endy Rodriguez hit a home run at Triple-A, and more Pittsburgh Pirates minor league action from Thursday

The only minor league affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates that was defeated on Thursday were the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians.

The lone run of the night for Indianapolis came off the bat of catcher Endy Rodriguez. The solo home run, his 3rd of the season, was the lone hit of the night for one of the top catching prospects in all of baseball.

Veteran lefty Caleb Smith started for Indy, and allowed just one hit in 5 innings pitched. However, the lone hit Smith allowed was a home run. He walked a pair, struck out, and allowed 2 runs in his 5 innings on the mound.

Carmen Mlodzinski pitched the 6th inning, walking a batter, allowing two hits, and striking out two. Mlodzinski was burnt by poor defense, though. Nick Gonzales committed both a throwing and fielding error at shortstop in the inning, leading to Mlodzinski surrendering 3 unearned runs.

Angel Perdomo also allowed an unearned run, depsite striking out the side in the 7th inning. Cody Bolton allowed a hit and also struck out the side while pitching a scoreless 8th inning.

As a team, Indy went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base. Gonzales was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and Miguel Andújar was 0-for-4. Malcolm Nuñez and Cal Mitchell both went 1-for-4, while Ryan Vilade was 2-for-4. Center fielder Chaez Young also had a base knock.

Double-A Altoona rides strong pitching performances to victory

Following a 2-1 victory over the Bowie Baysox, the Double-A Altoona Curve are now 5-7 on the season. This victory was driven by a strong pitching performance from the Altoona pitching staff, led by starter Jared Jones.

Jones pitched 5 innings, allowing 1 run on just seven hits. Jones did not walk a batter, he struck out five, he hit a batter, and he threw 49 of 71 pitches for strikes. Jones now owns a 2.63 ERA to go with a 6:14 BB:K ratio in 13.2 innings pitched this season.

The Curve did not do much offensively, but they did enough to pick up a victory. Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the 7th inning Lolo Sanchez walked to start the inning and Andres Alvarez singled. Drew Maggi then laid down a bunt for a single, and a throwing error by Bowie allowed Sanchez to score.

With the game now tied at 1 Matt Fraizer struck out swinging. However, he would reach base on a dropped third strike and a throwing error. Altoona would then take a lead on a sacrifice fly by Liover Peguero that proved to plate the winning run.

Bradenton gets a shutout victory

Thursday night saw the Low-A Bradenton Marauders pick up a 2-0 victory over the Daytona Tortugas. With the win, the Marauders continued their strong start to the season at 8-4. Both runs the Marauders scored came in an inning in which they failed to record a base hit.

The only 2 runs of the night were scored in the 6th inning. Enmanuel Terrero walked to start the inning, Tres Gonzales walked with one out, and Wyatt Hendrie was hit by pitch. Javier Rivas and Geovanny Planchart would draw back-to-back bases loaded walks to make the score 2-0.

On the night the Marauders had just two hits. Terrero went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk, as did Shalin Polanco who now has an OPS of .800 on the season.

Alessandro Ercolani started for Bradenton and pitched 4 scoreless innings. He allowed a hit, walked four batters, and struck out four. Joshua Loeschorn allowed a hit, did not walk a batter, and struck out four in 3 scoreless innings. Yunior Thibo finished it off for Bradenton with three strikeouts in 2 scoreless innings pitched.