The Pirates have reached a season worst eight game losing streak. They send out a lineup this afternoon that is absent Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen.
If the Pirates game should go bad, there is Braxton Ashcraft’s Double-A debut to look forward to in Altoona this afternoon. Indianapolis and Altoona are both playing double-headers today.
PIRATES (34-38) VS CUBS
Game Time: 12:35 PM EST
Pirates Starter: Rich Hill, LHP (6-6, 4.31)
Cubs Starter: Kyle Hendricks, RHP (2-2, 2.86)
Pirates Lineups:
Afternoon baseball.
Cubs Lineups:
A Wednesday matinee in Pittsburgh!
Tune in: https://t.co/Gs2hZXyTjH pic.twitter.com/ZwJUwOy9Xs
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 21, 2023
INDIANAPOLIS (29-39) VS COLUMBUS
Game Time: 1:05 PM EST | Double Header
Projected Starter: Kent Emanuel, LHP
Latest Features:6/21: Changeup Helps Jared Jones In Strong Triple-A Debut
6/7: Aaron Shackelford adjusts swing and relocates power
6/6: Carmen Mlodzinski improves all the way with aggressive approachALTOONA (31-31) VS BOWIE
Game Time: 4:30 PM EST | Double Header
Projected Starter: Braxton Ashcraft, RHP (Double-A Debut)
Latest Features:6/9: Jared Jones Continues Incredible Development With Altoona
6/1: Matt Gorski Displays Athleticism And Versatility
5/25: Sean Sullivan Continues To Thrive In AltoonaGREENSBORO (34-28) VS WINSTON-SALEM
Game Time: 12:00 PM EST
Projected Starter: TBA
Latest Features:6/15: Anthony Solometo Promotion A Win For 2021 Draft Class
6/14: Bubba Chandler Looking To Limit Big Innings
6/4: Braxton Ashcraft Showing Velocity and Control in Return From Tommy JohnBRADENTON (35-29) AT LAKELAND
Game Time: 6:00 PM EST
Projected Starter: TBA
Latest Features:6/20: Termarr Johnson: Patience Brings Career Day At The Plate
6/10: Jack Brannigan Continues Hot Streak With Another Home Run
6/9: Ryan Harbin: Sinker/Slider Mix Dominating Single-A Hitters
6/3: Thomas Harrington Displayed Swing and Miss Secondary in BradentonFCL PIRATES (9-3) OFF
6/16: Is This The Year For A Solomon Maguire Breakout?
6/12: Pirates 2023 Minor League Preview: FCL Pirates
6/11: Pitching Depth Continues To Grow With Jun-Seok Shim DebutDSL PIRATES BLACK (5-7) OFF
**Pirates 2023 Minor League Previews: Dominican Summer League Pirates
DSL PIRATES GOLD (7-5) OFF
**Pirates 2023 Minor League Previews: Dominican Summer League Pirates
THE NEW PROSPECT WATCH
With all of our game reports now going into this daily article, the Prospect Watch has been repurposed as a daily look at three prospects throughout the system. Check the site each day at noon for the latest edition. We’ll keep the archives updated here.
6/20: Cal Mitchell, Travis MacGregor, Alessandro Ercolani
6/19: Henry Davis, Bubba Chandler, Julian Bosnic
6/18: Jared Jones, Matt Gorski, Tony Blanco Jr.
6/17: Liover Peguero, Dominic Perachi, Carlos Mateo
6/16: Kyle Nicolas, Anthony Solometo, Jack Brannigan
6/15: Shalin Polanco, Abrahan Gutierrez, Will Matthiessen
6/14: Nick Cimillo, Geovanny Planchart, Jesus CastilloDAILY PIRATES NEWS
Jared Jones is emerging as one of the best pitching prospects in the system. He might even emerge as an MLB depth option by the end of the year. Anthony Murphy looks at how his changeup helped him in his Triple-A debut.
**Pirates Prospects Daily: Changeup Helps Jared Jones In Strong Triple-A Debut
Last week, Termarr Johnson had a four hit day. He hasn’t really stopped hitting in the days since, including a two homer night yesterday. Anthony Murphy looked at that four hit day to see what stands out about last year’s first round pick.
**Termarr Johnson: Patience Brings Career Day At The Plate
More Recent Pirates Features
6/18: The Book on Henry Davis
6/17: Carmen Mlodzinski Becomes First Cherington Pick To Reach Big Leagues
6/15: Where Are The Hitting Prospects in the Pittsburgh Pirates Farm System?
6/14: The Book on Osvaldo Bido
6/11: Interview With Andrew McCutchenPIRATES RECAP
By Wilbur Miller
Check back at the end of the night for all of the daily results throughout the system, or, join the discussion in the comments if you’re following Live.
Final Score: Cubs 8, Pirates 3
Player of the Game: Andrew McCutchen (DNP)
Recap:The Pirates and their hapless hitters continued to embarrass themselves, losing 8-3 to the Cubs for their ninth straight loss. Their clown show of an offense was limited to two hits.
For those still wondering, What happened to this team?, it’s becoming less and less mysterious. In four years now, Ben Cherington has yet to put anything remotely resembling a major league lineup on the field. Examples aren’t exactly elusive. For instance, the Pirates’ typical #3-4 hitters, Connor Joe and Carlos Santana, would be bench bats on a major league team. And then there’s the punchline known as Austin Hedges. April was a huge fluke. This is a bad team, badly run, badly managed and badly coached.
The ”offense” did have one major achievement: it scored a run for the first time in 26 innings. Joe led off the second with a walk and Josh Palacios followed with an RBI double. But the hitters quickly reverted to form, as the next three left Palacios stranded.
That put the Pirates ahead at the time, but it didn’t last. Rich Hill continued to pitch just well enough to provide innings without putting the team in a position to win. He got banged around for three runs in the third. With two outs in the sixth, Hill followed a rare error by Ke’Bryan Hayes by allowing a hit batsman and a two-run double to make it 5-1.
The bullpen played its usual role, illustrating Cherington’s abject failure to assemble useful depth. Roansy Contreras fanned three over an inning and a third, but he also gave up a solo home run in the seventh. Angel Perdomo came on for the eighth and couldn’t throw strikes, a problem that’s becoming an epidemic throughout Cherington’s organization. Perdomo left with the bases loaded and two outs, and Yerry De Los Santos promptly surrendered a two-run single. David Bednar finally gave the bullpen a rare scoreless inning in the ninth.
The “offense” meanwhile continued doing what it does. Through six innings, Palacios’ double was the only hit. In the seventh, Joe got the team’s second hit and the Cubs even gifted them with two runs. Henry Davis got hit by a pitch for the first time in the majors, then a walk loaded the bases. Trey Mancini at first booted a two-out grounder and threw the ball away, giving the Pirates two runs in the closest thing they’ve seen in a long time to an offensive outburst. That made it 6-3, but Perdomo and De Los Santos quickly gave those runs back.
The Pirates had nothing more to offer after that. They managed two, one-out walks in the eighth, but did nothing with them. They went down meekly in the ninth. The team finished a typical 0-for-8 with RISP.
PIRATES PROSPECT WATCH
By John Dreker
TRIPLE-A: INDIANAPOLIS
Final Score: Indianapolis 11, Columbus 2
Player of the Game: Jared Triolo 3-for-3, 2 RBI, 4 SB, 3 Runs, BB
Recap:Indianapolis won 11-2 at home over Columbus, taking the first game of a doubleheader. The Indians put up all of that offense over six innings in the seven-inning contest. Jared Triolo had himself quite a day, going 3-for-3 with three runs, two RBIs, a walk and four stolen bases, doubling his season steal total.
Aaron Shackelford drove in three runs, while connecting on his tenth homer. Miguel Andujar drove in two runs with his 18th double. Endy Rodriguez brought in a pair late with his tenth double.
Ryan Vilade had two hits and two walks. Both hits were doubles. Nick Gonzales reached base on his 14th double, two walks and a HBP.
Starter Kent Emanuel allowed two runs over six innings, while striking out eight batters. He has a 6.37 ERA over 53.2 innings for Indianapolis. John O’Reilly finished things off with a scoreless seventh.
GAME TWO
Final Score: Columbus 3, Indianapolis 2
Player of the Game: Travis MacGregor 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
Recap:Indianapolis used up too much offense in the first game, losing 3-2 in the second game. Travis MacGregor got the start in his second appearance since being promoted to Indianapolis. He tossed three scoreless on three hits, one walk and three strikeouts.
Duane Underwood Jr took the loss in this game, allowing all three runs, though one was unearned. He gave up five hits in two innings, with no walks or strikeouts. Juan Minaya tossed two scoreless innings in his Triple-A debut this year.
The offense came from an unexpected source, as backup catcher Grant Koch hit a two-run homer.
Indianapolis had just three hits, though one was the fourth hit of the day from Jared Triolo, who collected his eighth double.
DOUBLE-A: ALTOONA
Final Score: Altoona 3, Bowie 2
Player of the Game: Lolo Sanchez 1-for-3, 2 RBI
Recap:Braxton Ashcraft made his Altoona debut on Wednesday and put in a solid performance. He tossed three innings on 44 pitches (31 strikes), with two hits, one unearned run, no walks and four strikeouts.
Justin Meis allowed a solo homer in his three innings of work to pick up the win. Tyler Samaniego got the save with a shutout frame in the seventh, as Altoona won game one of the doubleheader by a 3-2 score.
The Curve scored all three of their runs in the third inning. Lolo Sanchez started the scoring with a two-run single. He then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Gonzalez.
Liover Peguero collected his 18th double.
GAME TWO
Final Score: Altoona 1, Bowie 0
Player of the Game:
Recap:Liover Peguero led off the bottom of the first with a home run. The next/final 18 batters for Altoona went down in a row. It didn’t matter though because three Curve pitchers combined for a shutout in game two of the doubleheader.
Bowie had plenty of chances to score, putting eight men on base. Nick Dombkowski, Omar Cruz and Oliver Garcia combined for the seven shutout frames.
Dombkowski went four innings on two hits and two walks. Cruz allowed three runners in 1.2 innings. Garcia did the dirty work, stranding two runners in the sixth, then closing the door in the seventh for his fourth save.
Matt Gorski, Matt Fraizer and Abrahan Gutierrez each went 0-for-2
HIGH-A: GREENSBORO
Final Score: Greensboro 11, Winston-Salem 2
Player of the Game: JP Massey, 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 4 SO
Recap:Greensboro moved to 35-28 on the season with an 11-2 victory. JP Massey made his High-A debut and it was a solid start. He allowed seven runners over five shutout innings, with four strikeouts. He needed 88 pitches, with 51 going for strikes. He now has a 2.98 ERA over 54.1 innings this year.
Mitchell Miller allowed two runs in the seventh, both scoring with Santiago Florez on the mound. Yunior Thibo and Eddy Yean each tossed a scoreless inning.
Mike Jarvis, Jase Bowen and Maikol Escotto each drove in three runs. Bowen hit his 13th homer. Escotto hit his fifth homer. Jarvis had a single and a triple, while stealing his 14th base.
SINGLE-A: BRADENTON
Final Score: Canceled
Player of the Game: Mother Nature
Recap:Bradenton and Lakeland got rained out on Wednesday. The first half of the Florida State League season wraps up on Thursday with an 11 AM game. The two sides will not make up today’s game due to the fact that the division race has already been decided, so the game has been wiped off of the schedule.
