Top prospect Gerrit Cole, gets the start tonight in Bradenton. He has a 2.65 ERA in his three home starts. Altoona was rained out yesterday. They will play a doubleheader consisting of two seven inning games this morning. Indianapolis has off today. They resume their schedule tomorrow with a two game series at home against Louisville. Robby Rowland, acquired in the deal for Brett Lorin, will make his first start in the Pirates organization and also his first start for a full-season team. A full recap of yesterday’s games can be found here.
Triple-A: Indianapolis (25-20) VS Louisville (15-32) 7:05pm 5/24
Probable starter: Rudy Owens (2-2 2.50)
Yesterday’s Result: Indianapolis 6 Buffalo 3 (game story here)
Indianapolis is off today. They currently sit in first place in their division, 2.5 games ahead of the Toledo Mud Hens and 11 games ahead of tomorrow’s opponent, the Louisville Bats. Indy has a 13-6 home record.
Double-A: Altoona (20-22) VS Harrisburg (23-20) 10:30am DH
Probable starter: Phil Irwin (0-1 4.76) and Brandon Cumpton (5-3 3.72)
Yesterday’s Result: Altoona VS Harrisburg was rained out.
Phil Irwin will make his third start with Altoona this year, he also made a start with Bradenton earlier this year. In his last start on 5/17, Phil pitched 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits, no walks and he had three strikeouts. In his first start on 5/11, Irwin went five innings, allowing four runs on five hits, two walks and he had one strikeout. Both of his Altoona starts were made on the road. In game two, Brandon Cumpton will make his ninth start of the season. He has thrown a total of 48.1 innings, allowing 46 hits, 12 walks and he has 27 strikeouts. In his last start on 5/18, he gave up one run in seven innings of work. He is the team leader in both wins and innings pitched.
High-A: Bradenton (20-25) VS Lakeland (23-20) 6:30pm
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (2-1 2.93)
Yesterday’s Result: Bradenton 6 Lakeland 3
Gerrit Cole will get his ninth start of the season tonight. He has pitched a total of 40 innings this year, allowing 28 hits, 11 walks and he has recorded 43 strikeouts. In his last start on 5/17, Cole went six innings, allowing one run on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts. It was his first career start without a walked allowed. He is holding batters to a .197 BAA, left-handed batters are hitting .172 with 20 strikeouts against him.
Low-A: West Virginia (14-30) @ Lexington (23-21) 7:05pm
Probable starter: Robby Rowland (0-0 9.00)
Yesterday’s Result: West Virginia 2 Lexington 3
Robby Rowland will make his first start of the season. He pitched one inning on relief work on 5/19, allowing two hits and one run. It was his first relief appearance in his three year pro career. Rowland was a third round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010. He has pitched the last two seasons in short-season A-ball, playing for Missoula in the Pioneer League. He had a 2-7 8.07 record in 14 starts last year. For more information on the 20 year old righty, click his name above for the link to his player page.
