Top prospect Gerrit Cole will get his fourth start of the season today, hoping to build off his first solid outing of the 2013 season. Altoona played a doubleheader last night, making up a Friday rainout. Francisco Liriano made his second rehab start in the first game. For a look at the possible starters over the next few weeks, please check out our Probable Pitchers Chart. We have added a Recent Transactions section to the bottom of this page, for all Pirates minor league transactions. A full recap of yesterday’s action can be found here.
AAA: Indianapolis (11-6) @ Louisville (9-7) 1:35pm
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (1-1, 3.65)
Yesterday’s Result: Louisville 3, Indianapolis 0
Gerrit Cole will make his fourth start of the season this afternoon. He has yet to have the dominating type game you would expect of him, although the overall results were good in his last outing. Cole opened up with three runs on five hits over four innings of work in his season debut. He reached his single inning pitch limit during a rough fourth inning. In his second outing, that single inning pitch limit was hit two innings earlier, limiting his day. He gave up just one run in two innings, but he allowed four hits and two walks. In his last start, Cole lasted 6.1 innings and surrendered just one run. The downside was the fact he issued four walks in the game. So far, in 12.1 innings he has allowed 13 hits, six walks and has struck out 12 batters.
AA: Altoona (7-9) @ Harrisburg (9-7) 2:00pm
Probable starter: Casey Sadler (2-0, 2.50)
Yesterday’s Result: Harrisburg 4, Altoona 1 (game one) Altoona 9, Harrisburg 7 in 11 innings(game two)
Casey Sadler will make his fourth start of the season this afternoon. He has gone further into games in each start so far. In his debut, Sadler went five innings on the road against Erie, allowing one run on six hits and a walk. He picked up his second victory against these same Harrisburg Senators, allowing three runs over six innings. On Tuesday, Sadler got a no-decision, despite giving up just one run over seven innings of work. In 18 total innings, he has given up 17 hits, four walks and has recorded 10 strikeouts, while posting a 3.10 GO/AO ratio.
High-A: Bradenton (4-12) VS Jupiter (4-12) 1:00pm
Probable starter: Robby Rowland (1-0, 2.57)
Yesterday’s Result: Bradenton 4, Palm Beach 3
Robby Rowland will get his fourth start of the season today, as Bradenton opens up a three game series against Jupiter. This will be the first home start of the year for Rowland, who is coming off a strong performance earlier this week against Jupiter. He threw six shutout innings, allowing just two hits, no walks and he struck out six batters. His previous outing was abbreviated due to a fourth inning rain delay that was too long to allow him to keep pitching. He gave up two runs on five hits and a walk through three innings of work. In his debut, Rowland went five innings, showing unusual control problems, with four walks. He walked only 23 batters in 106.1 innings last year.
Low-A: West Virginia (7-10) VS Hagerstown (10-7) 2:05pm
Probable starter: Orlando Castro (1-1, 1.17)
Yesterday’s Result: Hagerstown 14, West Virginia 4
Orlando Castro will make his fourth start of the season today. He has two straight scoreless appearances coming into today’s start, both on the road. He has pitched 15.1 innings this season without allowing a home run or a walk. Castro has a .196 BAA, a 1.50 GO/AO ratio and he has picked up 15 strikeouts. The 21-year-old lefty is holding right-handed batters to a .133 BAA. He spent part of 2012 in West Virginia’s bullpen, getting 17 relief appearances and one start. Castro went 4-6, 4.76 in 45.1 innings, with 42 strikeouts.
Recent Transactions
4/20 Assigned Francisco Liriano and Jose Contreras to the Altoona roster
4/19 Released Alex Valdez
4/19 Bradenton added Junior Sosa to their roster. Sent Daniel Grovatt to Extended Spring Training
4/18 Added Barrett Barnes to West Virginia roster
