Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Termarr Johnson & Abrahan Gutierrez HRs, More

Anthony Solometo pitched 4 more scoreless inning, Abrahan Guiterrez hit his first Double-A home run, and more Pittsburgh Pirates minor league action from Sunday

Sunday afternoon saw the top farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, get rained out. At the Double-A level, the Altoona Curve defeated the Richmond Flying Squirrels 5-4 in 10 innings to improve to 30-25 on the season.

Kyle Nicolas started for Altoona, allowing 2 runs on two hits, a walk, and a home run allowed. Nicolas also struck out four batters in his 4 innings pitched. He threw 48 of 77 pitches for strikes, and had both three ground ball and fly ball outs.

Brad Case and Noe Toribio each allowed a hit in a scoreless innings pitched, this included a strikeout by Toribio. Lefty Tyler Samaniego continued to struggle allowing 2 runs in the 7th inning, raising his ERA on the season to 6.65. Travis MacGregor allowed two hits and struck out five in 3 scoreless innings pitched.

Through the first 7 innings of the game the Curve offense was scuffling and had scored just 1 run. Liover Peguero picked up his lone hit of the game with a RBI single in the 8th inning, cutting the deficit to 4-2. Then in the 9th inning, catcher Abrahan Gutierrez hit his 1st home run at the Double-A level to tie the game at 4.

Lolo Sanchez singled to start the top of the 10th inning to put runners on the corners with no one out. Claudio Finol laid down a sarifice bunt that scored the game's go ahead run. MacGregor then slammed the door shut in the bottom of the 10th for a Curve victory.

Anthony Solometo keeps pitching well for High-A

Sunday afternoon the High-A Greensboro Grasshoppers defeated the Wilmington Blue Rocks by a score of 6-3. With the win, the Grasshoppers are now 31-24 on the season. In the victory, the tone was set by starting pitcher Anthony Solometo.

The lefty fired 4 scoreless innings for the Grasshoppers. Solometo allowed five hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out seven. He threw 52 of 73 pitches for a strike and was called for a balk. Continuing to develop into one of the best pitching prospects in the Pirate farm system, Solometo now owns a 2.30 ERA with a 25:68 BB:K ratio in 58.2 innings pitched this season.

Michell Miliano followed Solometo, allowing a run on two hits with a strikeout in the 5th inning. Eddy Yean allowed a run on two hits in the 6th inning. Grant Ford then followed with two perfect innings of relief. Santiago Florez got the first out of the 9th inning, but was pulled after walking a pair and allowing a hit. Cy Nielson got the final two outs of the game to pick up his 7th save of the season while lowering his ERA to 2.25.

At the top of Greensboro's lineup second baseman Tsung-Che Cheng was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. Designated hitter Shawn Ross was 1-for-4 with his 2nd home run, and right fielder Sammy Siani was 1-for-3 with his 6th home run of the season. Will Matthiessen also drove in a run for Greensboro.