Every year the GCL Pirates’ roster is the place to look for unfamiliar faces. The team typically is made up of recent draftees and players from the Dominican Summer League making their stateside debuts. Below are some of the new faces for this year.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 3-1 over the St Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night. The Pirates will send out Chris Archer this afternoon in the series finale. He gave up three runs over six innings in his last start five days ago against the Chicago Cubs. Archer debuted against St Louis this year and threw five shutout innings. He has a 7.32 ERA in seven road starts this season. The Cardinals will counter with 27-year-old right-hander Daniel Ponce de Leon, who has a 1.99 ERA in 31.2 innings, with 38 strikeouts and an 0.82 WHIP. He gave up one run over 6.2 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks in his last start. In three home starts, he has a 1.02 ERA and an 0.62 WHIP, with a .121 BAA.
The minor league schedule includes six early start times, with Bradenton playing in the morning and both Greensboro and Indianapolis having early afternoon games. Bradenton is sending out Nicholas Economos, who has allowed just two earned runs over his last 26.2 innings, covering four starts. Osvaldo Bido goes for Greensboro for the 19th time this season. He ranks fifth in the South Atlantic League with 100.2 innings pitched and he’s sixth with a 1.10 WHIP. Bido leads all Greensboro pitchers with 85 strikeouts. Eduardo Vera will get the ball for Indianapolis, trying to rebound from his worst career start, which saw him allow nine earned runs in 1.2 innings.
Brandon Waddell makes his sixth start for Altoona. He has given up four runs total in his five starts. While in Indianapolis, Waddell had four relief outings in which he allowed at least four runs. Michael Burrows goes for Morgantown. He has been strong in four of his five starts this season, allowing two runs over 18.2 innings in those games. Bristol is sending out Adrian Florencio, who has given up one run in each of his last two starts. He had seven strikeouts in his first three starts combined, then picked up six strikeouts in his last outing.
MLB: Pittsburgh (45-49) @ St Louis (47-46) 1:15 PM
Probable starter: Chris Archer (5.42 ERA, 98:43 SO/BB, 84.2 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (47-47) vs Syracuse (47-48) 1:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Eduardo Vera (6.27 ERA, 73:22 SO/BB, 97.2 IP)
AA: Altoona (49-42) vs Trenton (50-41) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Brandon Waddell (1.44 ERA, 28:6 SO/BB, 25.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (50-43) vs Clearwater (50-44) 10:30 AM (season preview)
Probable starter: Nicholas Economos (2.10 ERA, 47:20 SO/BB, 60.0 IP)
Low-A: Greensboro (58-36) vs Hagerstown (40-55) 12:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Osvaldo Bido (3.67 ERA, 85:26 SO/BB, 100.2 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (15-15) vs State College (16-15) 6:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Michael Burrows (3.54 ERA, 25:13 SO/BB, 20.1 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (12-15) @ Johnson City (14-12) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Adrian Florencio (4.42 ERA, 13:7 SO/BB, 18.1 IP)
GCL: Pirates (7-11) vs Red Sox (9-9) 12:00 PM (season preview)
DSL: Pirates1 (19-19) vs Red Sox2 (15-23) 10:30 AM (season preview)
DSL: Pirates2 (31-7) vs Mariners (16-22) 10:30 AM (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
From Indianapolis on Monday, the third straight day with a Pablo Reyes home run to lead-off our highlights
.@preyes087 did it AGAIN!
Solo homer to left, his ninth, and it's 5-1 in the second.#RollTribe pic.twitter.com/Wxd60VlM8C
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) July 15, 2019
From Altoona, Jared Oliva and Bligh Madris combined for all five hits for the Curve on Monday. Here are two of those hits, starting with Oliva
Make it 8⃣ RBIs in his last three games for @Jared_Oliva41
A two-out single brings in @MitchellTolman to put us on top.
We're up, 3-2, in the fifth. pic.twitter.com/AcVha14AFq
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) July 16, 2019
Madris
What a guy.
Two-run double for @Bligh_Guy ties this game at 2-2 in the fourth.#FullSteamAhead
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
7/16: Pirates sign Jesus Castillo.
7/16: Hunter Owen activated from Indianapolis injured list.
7/16: John O’Reilly promoted to Bradenton. Matt Eardensohn assigned to Bristol.
7/16: Lizardy Dicent assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
7/13: Ryan Valdes activated from Bradenton injured list. Raul Siri placed on injured list.
7/13: Keone Kela assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
7/12: Blake Weiman placed on Indianapolis injured list.
7/11: Fernando Villegas assigned to Bristol.
7/11: Eric Wood placed on Indianapolis injured list.
7/10: Pirates release Roger Santana.
7/9: Pirates sign Tsung-Che Cheng
7/9: Pirates sign Deion Walker
7/9: Brendt Citta promoted to Morgantown. Luke Mangieri promoted to Greensboro. Ryan Peurifoy released.
7/8: Trevor Williams reinstated from paternity list. Kevin Kramer optioned to Indianapolis.
7/8: Pirates release Nick Garland and Mason Fishback
7/7: Mason Martin promoted to Bradenton.
7/7: Braeden Ogle and Logan Stoelke placed on injured list. Matt Eardensohn added to Bradenton roster.
7/7: Pirates recall Kevin Kramer. Montana DuRapau optioned to Indianapolis.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Four former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note and a recap of a very long game. We start with the players, beginning with the most recent first. They are: Brian Rogers, who pitched for the 2006-07 Pirates, outfielder Jerry Lynch, who had two stints with the team. He was around from 1954 until 1956, then again from 1963 until 1966. He hit .263 with 45 homers in 544 games for the Pirates. Also two pitchers from the 19th century, Chummy Gray (1899) and Jim Handiboe, who pitched for the franchise in 1886, the year before they moved from the American Association to the National League.
On this date in 1998, the Pirates traded pitcher Esteban Loaiza to the Texas Rangers for pitcher Todd Van Poppel and second baseman Warren Morris. This deal looked great short-term, as Morris finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1999, but he quickly dropped off and was released just three years later. Van Poppel pitched poorly for the Pirates, while Loaiza eventually became an All-Star pitcher, though that was after his time with Texas ended.
On this date in 1914, the Pirates and Giants played 21 innings at Forbes Field. The Pirates ended up losing 3-1 with starter Babe Adams getting the loss and Giants’ starter Rube Marquard picking up the win. That’s right, a 21 inning game and only two pitchers were used. You can read a full recap from this game in the link above. Here is the boxscore from that game. Perhaps even more interesting is that the Pirates played doubleheaders the day before and the day after this game. One of those games went ten innings, giving them 58 innings played over three days and only one win to show for all of that work.
