Five teams in action today, as the FCL Pirates and the DSL Pirates Black are both off today. Greensboro and Bradenton both have noon start times today. Cody Bolton makes his first appearance in nearly a month after dealing with an illness. He gets the start for Indianapolis.
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
Prospect Watch: Good Starting Pitching in the DSL, Not So Much Higher Up
TRIPLE-A: INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS
Game Time: 7:05 PM
Box Score: LINK
Starting Pitcher: Cody Bolton (2-1, 2.89)
- Final Line: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO
Notable Performances:
Tucupita Marcano 2-for-4
Rodolfo Castro 2-for-4
Jack Suwinski 0-for-4
Bligh Madris 2-for-4
Travis Swaggerty 1-for-4
Game Recap:
Starter Cody Bolton made his first appearance in a month, missing time due to illness. He went two innings in his return, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits, two walks and one strikeout. He now has a 2.96 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 48.2 innings. Noe Toribio followed with three perfect innings, striking out three batters. His last outing was three shutout innings on one hit, no walks and six strikeouts. Eric Stout followed with 1.1 scoreless, retiring all four batters he faced. Hunter Stratton allowed a run in his 2/3 of an inning. Indianapolis lost 3-0. Despite getting shutout, Tucupita Marcano, Bligh Madris and Rodolfo Castro each had two hits. Travis Swaggerty hit his eighth double.
DOUBLE-A: ALTOONA CURVE
Game Time: 6:35 PM
Box Score: LINK
Starting Pitcher: Aaron Shortridge (0-0, 6.00)
- Final Line: 3 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 SO
Notable Performances:
Connor Scott 1-for-4, 2B
Jared Triolo 0-for-4
Blake Sabol 1-for-4, 2B
Liover Peguero 0-for-4
Matt Fraizer 1-for-3, RBI, BB
Game Recap:
Aaron Shortridge had a rough outing in Altoona’s Wednesday night loss. He went three innings, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on six hits and three walks. Jeffrey Passantino followed with one run over 3.1 innings, striking out six batters. Colin Selby allowed three runs (two earned) over 1.1 innings. Nick Dombkowski came on to get the final batter of the eighth, as Altoona lost 12-3. The Curve got the scoring going first, getting a two-run homer from Fabricio Macias, his first in Altoona. Eight Bowie runs later, they got their third and final run on a Matt Fraizer single. Blake Sabol hit his 14th double and Connor Scott hit his 16th double.
HIGH-A: GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS
Game Time: 12:00 PM
Box Score: LINK
Starting Pitcher: Matt Eckelman (NR)
- Final Line: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Notable Performances:
Dariel Lopez 2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Endy Rodriguez 1-for-1, 3 BB
Abrahan Gutierrez 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Yoyner Fajardo 3-for-5, RBI
Hudson Head 1-for-5
Game Recap:
Greensboro put together 18 hits, eight walks and nine hits with runners in scoring position, leading to a 19-5 win on Wednesday afternoon. Dariel Lopez got the scoring started with his 15th homer in the first inning. Yoyner Fajardo and Ernny Ordonez added back-to-back RBI singles. That was all of the scoring until the fifth when Jacob Gonzalez hit a two-run homer, his sixth. Abrahan Gutierrez followed with a two-run homer, his eighth. Eli Wilson then hit a two-run double, making it 9-1 at the time. Fajardo added a two-run single in the sixth, then a single by Ordonez and a ground out by Wilson made it 13-4. An error scored one run, then Dariel Lopez singled home another. Mike Jarvis, who didn’t even start the game, capped the scoring with a grand slam. Before leaving early with the one-sided score, Endy Rodriguez reached four times on three walks and a single, then scored three runs. He now has a .914 OPS. Gonzalez had four hits and three runs. Fajardo had three hits and two runs.
Matt Eckelman was demoted to Greensboro, which might only be temporary, but he got the start today and allowed one run in two innings. Domingo Gonzalez got the win with three scoreless, striking out five batters. Cristian Charle has been pitching great this year, but he was touched up for three runs in two innings. Jack Carey allowed a run in his 1.2 frames.
Sean Sullivan was activated from the injured list.
LOW-A: BRADENTON MARAUDERS
Game Time: 12:00 PM
Box Score: LINK
Starting Pitcher: Carlos Jimenez (1-5, 3.40)
- Final Line: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO
Notable Performances:
Tsung-Che Cheng 0-for-4, 2 BB
Jase Bowen 2-for-3, 2 RBI, BB, HBP
Juan Jerez 1-for-4, RBI
Sergio Campana 1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Maikol Escotto 1-for-4, RBI, BB
Deivis Nadal 0-for-3, 2 BB
Game Recap:
Starter Carlos Jimenez allowed two walks and a hit batter through two scoreless/no-hit innings. The final out of the second inning was a liner that hit him in the arm, though the out was made on the play. He did not return for the third inning. Sergio Umana took over and allowed two runs over four innings, which raised him to a 1.59 ERA for the season. Carlos Lomeli allowed two runs in one inning and Darvin Garcia finished out a 13-5 win with one run over two innings.
Bradenton scored first, getting a two-run homer in the first from Sergio Campana, his fourth homer of the year. Jase Bowen singled home the third run, then the fourth scored on an error. Maikol Escotto singled home the fifth run in the third. In the fifth, Angel Basabe tripled home a run, then scored on a Darwin Baez single. A wild pitch scored the eighth run, then Bowen and Juan Jerez had back-to-back RBI singles. Norkis Marcos singled in two runs late, then an error brought in lucky run #13. Bradenton had 11 hits and ten walks in the game. Tsung-Che Cheng had two walks and two runs scored.
Rodolfo Nolasco was placed on the 7-day IL, retroactive to yesterday.
RK: DSL PIRATES GOLD
Game Time: 11:00 AM
Box Score: LINK
Starting Pitcher: Dermis Ordonez (1-2, 7.24)
- Final Line: 3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 0 SO
Notable Performances:
See recap
Game Recap:
This game was suspended due to rain with the Pirates (home team) losing 3-2 in the middle of the fifth. Starter Dermis Ordonez allowed two runs in three innings, and Fares Sanchez committed back-to-back balks to bring in a run during his two innings. Eddy Rodriguez, who homered twice on Monday, hit his sixth homer in this game. The two teams are scheduled to meet once more this year, so they should finish up this game on August 5th.
+ postsJohn started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
I was excited to follow Tony Blanco this year. Didn’t see him for a long time, then he started showing up in box scores for about a week. Now he’s been mia again… do we have an injury status on him?
My guess is that it had to do with the original injury. He batted just five times before going down again two weeks ago today. Pirates weren’t willing to give up info on the original injury, just telling me how close he was to returning all three times I asked about it.
Thanks for the update. I guess it’s the same story with Lonnie White? Haven’t seen him in a box score since Monday, and seems like he oughta be a priority for some playing time at this point…
Don’t often see much chatter on here about Jacob Gonzalez. His stats this season are pretty impressive. Former 2nd round pick of the Giants. He looks the part of a future Pirates 1B. Given the dearth of 1B prospects (Martin doesn’t count, IMO) this seems like a guy to keep an eye on. He’s a bit old for the level, seems like he should be promoted to Altoona before long, right?
We thinking bolton will be in the rotation mix for next year? Assuming we sign a vet FA, he could be starting at AAA or in the pen I suppose
Shocked to see this morning how much his walk rate has exploded. Getting great results by keeping the ball in the yard.
He might have a minor minor chance to, but I’d expect him to begin in Indy rotation, and be a depth piece depending where he’s at come next year
Battle of Top Farms at Double-A so far not going Atloona’s way
Peggy with 2 more errors. Someone here did an article about his errors…..time for part 2.
I didn’t like his multiple varied arm angles but then again I don’t watch him day in and day out.
.937 OPS in April
.792 OPS in May
.571 OPS in June
.562 OPS in July
Poor kid’s wearing it right now.
And they dont even have henderson anymore so could be a little easier
So, if Jarvis replaces Endy and hits a granny, should we still count it as another day another HR for Endy since it was his spot in the lineup? lol
This is a first for me. Bases loaded, Marcos hits a moon shot to the fence in right center. Should have been caught but wasn’t. Runner on first, Baez, holds up, seems to think it was caught. Marcos passes him, so Marcos is out.
That’s not even a TOOTBLAN. We need a new acronym.
Angel Basabe having a solid month of July so far.
Father Abrahan going yard. Hoppers busting out against these recent bad staffs
Watching batters against Umana is like when you play on an intramural softball team in college, and one of the teams is filled with college baseball players.
They just see floaters coming in, lick their chops, and then either crater it into the ground or hit is straight up a mile. Every now and then one gets hit 500 ft.
So does this mean hes effective?
Very effective. He isn’t going to wow anyone with his stuff, but he’s learning how to harness and throw it.
Keeps the game moving at least. No small thing here in FL.
Then you got your team of beer gutters slamming beers and four lokos in the dugout just crushing liners over the fence.
I feel like vogey will slide into this role when his pro career is done
Dariel catches back up to Endy in dingerz. Competition is good.
*passes
Well, Endy’s bound to hit one today, so . . . .
Or not cause the Dash appear afraid to pitch to him.
Then again, he has 4 BBs and an HBP in his last game and a half, so maybe the pitchers have had enough.
The E-Rods have been on fire as of late
Ha!
Noooo!!! Noooo!!!! Carlos Jimenez, nooo!!!
Did not look good. Still in a lot of pain heading to the dugout.
Liner right off the backside of upper arm/shoulder area. Threw glove off and went down almost immediately
Oh man, throwing shoulder or other? I saw the short outing and was wondering if it was for innings control
Yep. Throwing shoulder.
It was hurting him to walk, so . . . . Shit.
Also, Sullivan activated. Sweet
I’d have to imagine Eckelman is pitching angry, upset, or he’s just not good. I lean the latter.