Prospect Watch: Taylor Hearn Makes Debut in Relief for West Virginia

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ALTOONA, PA – Cody Dickson had a nice comeback outing after walking six and allowing five earned runs in 2.2 innings during his last time out. Tonight, he allowed two runs in the first – without really allowing any hard hit balls (mostly grounders through the infield) – then shut down Richmond through five more innings pitched.

Dickson was gaining some momentum before his last outing, with a 1.52 ERA in 23.2 innings/four starts, but things really seemed to fall apart his last time out. He got some of that back tonight, mostly due to being able to locate better and not fall apart because of walks.

After the first inning, Dickson settled into the game well, only allowing two more hits the rest of the way. His command issues seem to come back around as he tires in a ballgame, as he walked two batters in a row in the fifth, but he worked around both of those walks (thanks to a great catch by Barrett Barnes in left field) to get out of that inning and get a 1-2-3 sixth.

“His aggression was really good,” Pitching Coach Justin Meccage said. “He got better as the game went along.”

Dickson commanded his fastball well tonight, other than in the fifth inning with the two walks. Meccage praised Dickson for a plus changeup, as well, which bailed him out in a few different situations. He was able to throw some left-on-left changeups, which is not something that he has done a lot of in his career.

Curve manager Joey Cora would still like to see less walks from Dickson in an outing.

“When he throws strikes, he is tough to hit,” Cora said. “Obviously, he was better tonight than the last time out. Hopefully, he will get some consistency and give us a few good starts in a row. All we want for him is to throw strikes and let the defense play for him.”

Curve relievers Josh Smith, Brett McKinney, and Montana DuRapau (save) each threw one inning in relief, with DuRapau striking out the side in the ninth.

Barrett Barnes made his presence felt again tonight for the Curve, going 2-for-4 with a double, and also making that fantastic catch in the field. With two on and two outs in the fifth inning, the Richmond batter hit a long drive to the left field fence. Barnes tracked the hit to the wall and leapt to take away a home run.

Barnes’ double was a gap shot to left-center field, and he came around to score after the hit in the second inning. He also hit a line drive RBI single in the third.

Anderson Feliz took lead-off responsibilities tonight with Kevin Newman moving down to third in the lineup. Feliz walked in his first two plate appearances then proceeded to steal second base both times. This is the first time since Austin Meadows on May 28th that a Curve player has stolen multiple bases in a game. Feliz doubled and singled in his next two at-bats for a 2-for-2 night.

Justin Maffei went 3-for-4, including an RBI single in the second.

The Curve won the game 5-2, to keep them atop the Eastern League Western Standings tied with Harrisburg. The game really took a turn in the bottom of the third inning tonight, when center fielder Jon Schwind threw out a Richmond player trying to score on a sacrifice fly at home. Schwind made a fantastic throw from medium depth in center to Jin-De Jhang to get the runner out. The score was 2-1, Richmond, at that point, and the Curve turned around to score three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Note: Jason Creasy, who has been on the disabled list with a forearm strain since his last start on April 29th, was in uniform and back in the bullpen for tonight’s game. He has yet to be removed from the disabled list, but he has been throwing for a couple of weeks. -Sean McCool

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Bradenton has off on Tuesday.

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West Virginia lost 6-2 on Tuesday night in Hagerstown, as Taylor Hearn made his debut for the Pirates. After starter Dario Agrazal allowed four runs over 5.2 innings, Julio Eusebio got the final out of the sixth inning. Hearn came out for the seventh and the first batter reached on a bunt single. That was followed by a 6-4-3 double play and then a fly out to left field for the third out.

In the eighth inning, Hearn started with another infield single. That was followed by a wild pitch, a stolen base and a walk. After a ground out scored a run, Hearn committed a throwing error, which moved the runner to third base. That runner would score on a sacrifice fly. Hearn is the prospect who the Pirates got in the Mark Melancon deal. He threw 28 pitches, with 19 going for strikes. He picked up one strikeout.

The offense managed to pick up single runs in the sixth and ninth innings. The first run scored on a single by Logan Ratledge, followed by a double from Carlos Munoz. In the ninth, a hit-by-pitch and a walk, were followed by a Daniel Arribas single which loaded the bases with no outs. Ryan Nagle brought home a run on a sacrifice fly, but a fly out by Tyler Filliben and a pop out by Christian Kelley ended the game. Munoz had two hits and a walk. Kelley hit his 12th double.

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Morgantown lost 5-4 to State College in 11 innings on Tuesday afternoon. Sixth round pick Cam Vieaux started the game and gave up a lead-off double, which was followed by a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly for the first run. He retired nine in a row after the double, then walked the first batter of the fourth inning. That was followed by two singles to bring home the second run. Vieaux finished with two runs on three hits and a walk in five innings. He had two strikeouts and a 5:2 GO/AO ratio. His fastball touched 94 MPH early in this game.

Eighth round pick Dylan Prohoroff followed and allowed solo runs in the sixth and seventh innings. The Black Bears would tied the game with two runs in the eighth inning. Luis Paula followed with two scoreless innings, including the ninth frame when he loaded the bases with no outs and pitched out of the jam. Scooter Hightower took the loss in the 11th inning.

The offense had 12 hits, three walks and two hit batters, but they went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. Arden Pabst had three hits, raising his average 26 points. Ty Moore and Kevin Mahala each had two hits and scored two runs. Mahala hit his first home run as a pro.

Will Craig had a single and a walk. He also lined out to shortstop on a well struck ball. Craig committed his 12th error of the season, this one on a throw. He did make a nice play ranging to his left earlier in the game, but the defense is still rough.

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Ike Schlabach had some decent season stats until Tuesday night’s game. This will probably be remembered as his start where we say “except for his start on August 2nd, he had a strong season”. The 19-year-old lefty got smacked around over 3.2 innings, allowing nine runs (seven earned) on eight hits, one walk and one hit batter. In his first 11 games as a pro since signing as a 19th round draft pick last year, he never allowed more than four runs in a game.

Four pitchers followed Schlabach for the last 5.1 innings without allowing an earned run. Two more runs scored in the 11-5 defeat, but five Bristol errors led to four unearned runs on the night. Raul Siri committed three of those errors, giving him ten on the season. That’s a very high total for someone who is a strong defensive second baseman, but four of those errors were made while he was at other positions.

On offense, Raul Siri hit his second home run of the season. He also walked twice and scored two runs. Daniel Cucjen had three hits and scored two runs. Huascar Fuentes doubled and drove in two runs. Adrian Valerio hit his ninth double, while Jhoan Herrera hit his tenth double.

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The GCL Pirates put up three runs in three different innings, making up for the first poor performance from second round pick Travis MacGregor. It was a tough day on the mound for MacGregor, who came into the game with a 1.10 ERA in his first five starts. In 3.2 innings, he allowed five runs on six hits and one walk, striking out two batters. With two outs in the third inning, he served up his first pro home run, a three-run shot that gave the Tigers West a 4-3 lead at the time. After MacGregor left, Justin Topa, Ronny Agustin and Alex Martinez combined to throw 5.1 shutout innings for the 9-5 win.

The Pirates had three offensive outbursts, starting with three runs in the second inning. They actually loaded the bases on three bunt singles. Then a line drive single by Nelson Jorge brought in the first run, followed by a two-run single from Henrry Rosario.

In the fourth inning, Mikell Granberry started things off with his eighth double. That was followed by two infield hits, then a Boomer Synek single that brought home two runs.

The Pirates picked up insurance runs in the seventh, loading the bases on a single, hit-by-pitch and a walk. The runs scored one-by-one on a sacrifice fly from Andrew Walker, a fielding error, and an infield single by Rosario.

The Pirates had a total of 15 hits in the game, though seven of them didn’t leave the infield. Rosario had four hits, Synek had three, and Edison Lantigua and Andrew Walker each had two hits. Granberry and Yondry Contreras each scored two runs.

Lantigua left this game after making a diving catch in the fifth inning. It was hot weather, and after a couple long runs, including the diving catch in foul territory, he left due to heat exhaustion. He was fine after the game and will probably sit out one day as a precaution.

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The DSL Pirates had a doubleheader on Tuesday against the Indians. The Pirates dominated in game one, winning 6-0, as they got five shutout innings from Sergio Cubilete, and two shutout frames from Eumir Sepulveda for the save. Cubilete allowed just one hit and this was only the third time in 11 starts that he made it through five innings before reaching his 75 pitch limit. Rudy Guzman and Carlos Garcia each drove in a pair of runs. The last six batters in the lineup each scored one run. Garcia had a single, double and a walk in three trips to the plate.

In game two, the Pirates got more strong pitching for a 5-0 win. Wilmer Contreras made his first pro start and threw four shutout innings, allowing one hit, no walks and he struck out seven batters. In 28.1 innings this season, he has allowed 18 hits and has 28 strikeouts. Contreras has allowed ten earned runs this season, though six of them came during one game in which he recorded just one out. Randy Jimenez and Ramon Garcia closed out the game for the win (Jimenez) and save.

Rudy Guzman had two hits in this game, and just like in game one, he drove in a pair of runs. He also stole his ninth base of the season. Jeremias Portorreal singled, walked and picked up an RBI in this game. He singled in the opener as well, which gives him an eight-game hit streak and a 19-game on base streak at the end of the day.

The Pirates are now 19-31 with 22 games left in the season. Despite winning both games, they are in danger of being eliminated from their division and the wild card spots this week.