Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Strong Starts From Braxton Ashcraft & Thomas Harrington, More

Braxton Ashcraft and Thomas Harrington turned in strong starts, a big night at the plate for Liover Peguero, and more Pittsburgh Pirates minor league action

Friday got off to a poor start for the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates when the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians placed outfielder Travis Swaggerty and catcher Endy Rodriguez on the injured list. Their bad day continued with an 8-4 loss against the Memphis Red Birds, falling to 7-12 on the season.

Quinn Priester started for Triple-A Indy and things did not go well. Priester's fastball issues continue to plagued him as he got sheleld on Friday night. Priester allowed 4 runs on five hits, a walk, and three striekouts in 1.2 innings pitched. He threw just 36 of 61 pitches for strikes.

While Priester is a name many Pirate fans are excited about he has a lot of work to do. Priester's fastball simply is not good enough. If the pitch does not improve drastically, he will struggle to find any sort of succes if/when he reaches the major leagues.

Lefty Cam Alldred followed Priester and the pitching woes continued. Alldred allowed 3 runs on four hits, three walks, three strikeouts, and two home runs allowed in 2.1 innings pitched. Colin Selby then allowed a hit while striking out a pair in a scoreles 5th inning.

In the 6th inning Yerry De Los Santos got the ball and continued his slow start to the season. De Los Santos allowed three hits and issued a walk, while surrendering a run. To be honest, De Los Santos was lucky to allow just the 1 run. While he issued a walk and allowed a double, De Los Santos also struck out a pair while pitching a scoreless 7th inning.

At the top of the Indy lineup Nick Gonzales was 1-for-4 with three strikeouts. Cal Mitchell and Malcolm Nuñez both went 0-for-4, while Ryan Vilade was 1-for-4 with a 2-run home run. Miguel Andújar started in left field and went 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk, a run scored, and he drove in a run.

Altoona jumps out early, cruises to victory

The Double-A Altoona Curve scored 3 runs in the 1st inning. Then in the 3rd inning, they tacked on 2 more runs. This set the stage for the Curve to roll past the Bowie Baysox in an 8-1 victory that improved Altoona to 6-7 on the season.

Domingo Leyba doubled with one out in the bottom of the 1st inning scoring Henry Davis and Liover Peguero who each drew a walk. Jacob Gonzalez then singled home Leyba, giving the Curve a 3-0 lead after the 1st inning.

In the 3rd inning the Curve offense was at it again. Peguero singled to start the inning and came around to score on a Connor Scott triple. Scott would score on a wild pitch, making it 5-0 Curve. 3 more Curve runs scored in the 8th inning when Fabricio Macias hit a sacrifice fly and Andres Alvarez doubled.

Sean Sullivan started for Altoona, allowing two hits, walking two, and striking out three in 4.1 scoreless innings pitched. Cam Junker allowed a hit in 1.2 scoreless innings pitched, and Oliver Garcia allowed a run in the 7th inning. Tahnaj Thomas retired both batters he faced, Tyler Samaniego then struck out a pair in 1.1 scoreless innings pitched.

Greensboro continues strong start with 1-run victory

No team in the Pirate farm system is off to a stronger start than the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Following a 2-1 victory over the Greenville Drive on Friday night, the Grasshoppers are now off to a 10-3 start this season.

Braxton Ashcraft started for Greensboro and continued his strong return to the mound. The former second-round pick allowed two hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out six in 4 scoreless innings pitched. Ashcraft threw 38 of his 49 pitches for strikes, and now has 17 strikeouts in 10.1 scoreless innings pitched this season.

Jack Carey followed Ashcraft, and allowed a hit in a scoreless 5th inning. Michell Miliano walked three batters and threw two wild pitches, but he struck out five in 2.2 scoreless innings pitched. Cy Nielson finished the game off, allowing a hit, issuing a walk, hitting a batter, and stirking out three while allowing an unearned run in 1.1 innings pitched.

Jackson Glenn and Luke Brown led the way for the Greensboro offense. Glenn was 1-for-3 with a double and he drove in both Grasshopper runs while Brown went 1-for-3 with a triple and a run scored. These were the only two hits of the night for Greensboro.