In Altoona tonight, Charlie Morton will make his second rehab start as he makes his comeback from Tommy June Surgery last June. West Virginia had off yesterday. They resume play tonight on the road against Charleston. 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 (13-6) VS Lehigh Valley (7-10) 7:05pm
Probable starter: Kris Johnson (1-1, 2.84)
Yesterday’s Result: Indianapolis 5, Louisville 4
Kris Johnson will make his fourth start of the season tonight. In his last start, he went five innings, allowing three runs on five hits. In his opener, he threw five scoreless innings against Columbus at home. He then faced Columbus on the road in his second start and went six innings, giving up two runs. In 16 innings pitched, he has 11 strikeouts, with a .250 BAA and a 1.25 GO/AO ratio. Johnson spent part of last year in Indianapolis, where he went 5-2, 4.53 in four starts and 16 relief appearances.
AA: Altoona (8-10) @ Richmond (9-10) 6:35pm
Probable starter: Charlie Morton (NR)
Yesterday’s Result: Richmond 10, Altoona 6
Charlie Morton will make his first start for Altoona, and his second start since beginning his 30 day rehab assignment. He pitched three innings for Bradenton last Thursday, giving up two runs on three hits, no walks and he struck out two batters. Morton made nine starts for the Pirates last season, going 2-6, 4.65, before undergoing Tommy John Surgery in June.
High-A: Bradenton (6-12) VS Jupiter (4-14) 6:30pm
Probable starter: Matt Benedict (0-2, 4.61)
Yesterday’s Result: Bradenton 5, Jupiter 3 (game story)
Matt Benedict will make his third start of the season tonight. He also made one relief appearance, coming during Charlie Morton’s rehab start. Benedict lasted just three innings in his opening start, allowing seven runs(two earned) on six hits and two walks. In his next outing, he lasted 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits. Last Thursday was his best appearance of this short season. He allowed two runs on four hits over five innings. Benedict spent the end of last season in Bradenton, where he went 0-8, 8.08 in nine starts and five relief appearances.
Low-A: West Virginia (8-10) @ Charleston (8-9) 7:05pm
Probable starter: John Kuchno (0-1, 7.30)
Yesterday’s Result: West Virginia was off yesterday
John Kuchno will make his fourth start of the season tonight. He got hit hard and had control issues in each of his first two starts, but he had an impressive outing last Wednesday. Against Greenville on the road, Kuchno threw five shutout innings, giving up just two hits and no walks, while picking up two strikeouts. The control was impressive for Kuchno, who walked four hitters in each of his first two starts. He faced Asheville in both of those outings, giving up a total of 13 runs over 7.1 innings.
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
