Monthly Archives: April, 2011

Wednesday evening with the Pirates' lower minor league affiliates:

West Virginia Power  7,  Hagerstown Suns  1...... suspended in the 2nd inning
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Jameson Taillon made his pro debut tonight in West Virginia, but Mother Nature made it shorter than might have been planned.  Taillon's first pitch was a strike, and the first batter singled to short.  He got a ground out, which moved the runner to second, then he walked the other phenom in the game -- Suns' RF Bryce Harper.  A double lined to right field brought in the lead runner and put Harper on third base.  Harper walked the next batter to load the bases, but a grounder to SS Drew Maggi started a double play, and Taillon was out of the inning, with only one run in.  

Maggi began the bottom of the inning with a walk, and a passed ball put him on second base.  2B Gift Ngoepe reached base on a throwing error, giving the Power runners on the corners.  DH Matt Curry's single up the middle plated Maggi.  1B Justin Howard moved both the runners into scoring position with a grounder to second, and RF Dan Grovatt brought both in with a double lined into left field.  

With rain falling, Taillon returned to the mound for the second inning.  He gave up a lead-off single, then got two consecutive force outs at second base.  A fly out ended that inning, giving Taillon one run on 3 hits and 2 walks over 2 innings, with no strikeouts.  

The Power added to their lead with 4 more runs in the 2nd.  LF Andy Vasquez and Maggi began the frame with back-to-back walks, and both scored on Curry's double.  Howard brought in Curry with a 2-run homer over the right field wall.  The Suns brought in a new pitcher, who gave up a walk to Gravatt and a double to CF Mel Rojas.  That's when the rain got crazy, and the game was delayed, then suspended.  The two teams will try to resume the game tomorrow at 6 pm, and that will be followed by a 7-inning game.

Jason Jaramillo is greeted by the teammates he drove in with his grand slam











Indianapolis Indians  8,  Norfolk Tides  5
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A grand slam by C Jason Jaramillo gave the Indians the spark they needed to turn the game around tonight at Victory Field, as the Indians came from behind to beat the Norfolk Tides. 

The game began on a good note for the Tribe.  For the first time in a home game this season, the Indians scored first.  They missed out on an opportunity in the 2nd inning, when 3B Josh Harrison lined a single into left field and Jaramillo lined a single into left-center, moving Harrison to third.  A pop up ended the inning, leaving the runners on the corners.  CF Gorkys Hernandez led off the 3rd inning with a grounder through the right side of the infield and into right field.  DH Corey Wimberly dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Hernandez to second base, and 2B Chase d'Arnaud's long fly out to right allowed Hernandez to advance to third base.  LF Alex Presley singled up the middle, just past the diving SS Nick Green (a former Indy Indian in 2007), and that drove in Hernandez to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.  

Tribe starter Justin Wilson (photo) did his part by starting the game with three hitless innings.  He allowed just one walk over the first three innings.  But then things turned over the next two innings, as two Tribe errors resulted in 5 runs for the Tides.  Wilson began the 4th with a line out, but the next two batters reached base.   A four-pitch walk put Tides' 1B Brandon Snyder on base.  Then 3B John Bell bounced just over the reach of Wilson's glove, and toward the second base bag.  SS Pedro Ciriaco and 2B Chase d'Arnaud both charged toward the ball.  Ciriaco got to it, and tried to take an extra step to reach second base for the force out  -- but he was rushing, and he did not have a good hold on the ball.  The ball fell to the ground, and both runners were safe (photos below).  A pop out gave Wilson the second out of the inning, but kept the runners in place.  Then Green lined a double into left field, over the head of Presley, and off the wall.  That drove in both the runners, giving Norfolk a 2-1 lead.  2B Brendan Harris ran the count full, fouled off a couple more pitches, then took ball four, which brought pitching coach Tom Filer out to chat with Wilson and Jaramillo.  The talking didn't help much, as C Craig Tatum blooped an RBI single into the no-man's-land in short right field, bringing in Green to score.  RF Tyler Henson added another run with a sinking liner into left field.  Wilson struck out CF Matt Angle to end the inning, but 4 unearned runs had scored, and the Tides had a 4-1 lead. 

Photos:  On the left, the ball has just slipped out of Ciriaco's glove -- you can see it in front of d'Arnaud's left knee, below his glove.  On the right, the ball is on the ground, with the runner Snyder beginning his slide into second.

  

Bradenton Marauders  12,  St. Lucie Mets  6
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For the second time in three days, the Marauders put up a big first inning -- and this one was even bigger than the 6-run inning two games ago.  Bradenton sent 14 batters to the plate in the bottom of the 1st, scoring 10 runs.  The fun began with back-to-back singles by RF Robbie Grossman and 2B Jarek Cunningham.  CF Evan Chambers loaded the bases with a walk, and 1B Aaron Baker brought in Grossman with a sacrifice fly (1).  After a strikeout by DH Adalberto Santos, C Ramon Cabrera walked to load the bases again, then LF David Rubinstein lined a single into left field, bringing in Cunningham and Chambers (2,3).  3B Elevys Gonzalez and SS Benji Gonzalez lined back-to-back doubles into center field, with Elevys driving in Cabrera and Rubinstein (4,5), and Benji plating Elevys (6).  That brought Grossman up again.  He walked, then Cunningham drove in Benji and Grossman with a 3-run homer (7,8,9).  Chambers walked again, and Baker lined a single into right field, and with the help of a throwing error that sent the ball into the stands, Chamber came in with the 10th run of the inning.  Santos' second strikeout of the inning ended the rally

The Mets tried to come back, but fell far short.  Starter Nate Baker scattered 6 hits over 5.2 innings, and the only run he allowed came in the 5th, on a double and an RBI single.  Baker walked one and struck out 2.  With one on and two out in the top of the 6th, Duke Welker relieved Baker, finishing that inning with a strikeout.  Welker gave up 2 runs in the 7th, on two lead-off walks, a balk, and an RBI ground out, then an RBI single.  He also walked a batter in the 8th, and had a batter reach base on a fielding error by SS Benji Gonzalez, but a timely double play got Welker out of that jam.  Jhonathan Ramos pitched the 9th inning, and he gave up back-to-back doubles and a 2-run homer, but even that was not enough for the Mets to catch up.

The Marauders added another run in the 4th inning on a pair of doubles by Rubinstein and Elevys Gonzalez.  Cunningham hit his second homer of the game (6th of the season) in the 7th inning to give the Marauders their final run.