PIRATES PROSPECTSPITTSBURGH PIRATES MINOR LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSACTIONS, AND ARTICLES

Corey Wimberly was the only Tribe batter to reach third base tonight.  














Gwinnett Braves  2,  Indianapolis Indians  0
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Starter Brad Lincoln pitched 6 strong innings in his first time out after missing his last start, but he didn't get any run support, and suffered his 6th loss of the season, as the Indianapolis Indians lost to the Gwinnett Braves at Victory Field tonight.  The Tribe batters recorded 6 hits, with two by Corey Wimberly, but could not push any of their base runners across the plate.  


The Indians had some unusual situations in their defense and also in their lineup tonight.  Clearly the injuries affecting the Pirates have the major league club looking more closely at what players in Indianapolis are doing.  With Josh Harrison still out due to an oblique muscle strain, the Pirates are looking for another infielder who can play third base.  Tonight, Chase d'Arnaud played third base for the first time this year, and the first time since a few games back at State College in 2008.  Wimberly played second base for the first time this season.  The Pirates have been talking about bringing up Alex Presley next week, when they begin interleague play again.  Tonight Presley played right field for the first time this season.  He did play some right field during spring training, and also last season when he had his September call-up to the Pirates.  Andrew Lambo moved over to left field tonight.


The other change was that Brad Lincoln batted 8th in the order (photo above), with Wimberly taking the 9th spot.  Manager Dean Treanor wanted to give Wimberly the chance of being in a position to bunt, and he felt that the 9th spot in the order would be best for that.  

Lincoln had to face Atlanta Braves' rehabbing outfielder Jason Heyward (photo), and it was Heyward who got the Braves' scoring started in the top of the 1st.  Lincoln retired the first two batters, LF Jose Constanza and SS Julio Lugo, both of whom had a hit-fest last night.  Heyward ripped a line drive into the left field corner for a double.  1B Mauro Gomez followed with a grounder back up the middle, just out of reach of SS Brian Friday's dive, driving in Heyward.  A fly out left Gomez on first, but the Braves had a 1-0 lead.  

Lincoln worked around one runner on base in three of the next four innings.  He walked CF Jeff Fiorentino to begin the 2nd inning.  2B Ed Lucas rocketed a liner right back at Lincoln, whose glove hand came up almost in self defense.  The ball almost tore the glove off his hand, but stuck in the web for a line out.  Lincoln tossed to first, easily doubling off Fiorentino.  He retired the side in the 3rd, then gave up a double to Gomez in the 4th.  Gomez hit a rising line drive that missed being a home run by inches.  Instead, it caromed off the top of the right field fence at the edge of the grass berm and back toward Presley, who got it back to the infield quickly, holding Gomez to two bases.  Two other great defensive plays kept more Braves from reaching base in the 4th.  Heyward lifted a high foul pop to the left side of the field, which d'Arnaud chased down and caught with a slide on the grass in front of the Indians' dugout.  3B Wilkin Castillo followed Gomez's double with a grounder to the middle of the infield.  Wimberly went to his right and made a diving stop, keeping the ball from going into the outfield.  His foot slipped as he was getting up, but Wimberly was still able to fire over to first base in time for the out on Castillo.  Gomez went to third on the play, but Wimberly had saved a run.  

The Altoona Curve had a scheduled day off on Monday....

Greensboro Grasshoppers  5,  West Virginia Power  0
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The Power were held to just one hit -- a single by CF Mel Rojas, which came in the 5th inning.  The only other Power base runner was SS Drew Maggi, who walked to lead off the 4th, but was quickly picked off first base.  After Rojas' two-out single in the 5th, the remaining 13 batters were retired in order.  It took three Grasshopper pitchers to do it, and their starter, Kyle Winters, pitched 7 one-hit innings, with 7 strikeouts, including striking out the side in his final inning.  

Greensboro did all the damage they needed in the bottom of the 1st.  A pair of doubles started the inning, and after a fly out, a 2-run homer gave the 'Hoppers a 3-0 lead.  Tyler Waldron had only one batter reach base in the next two innings, and that was on a fielding error by LF Rogelios Noris in the 3rd.  That runner was erased with an inning-ending double play.  Waldron gave up 2 more runs in the 4th.  Two singles and a wild pitch put two runners into scoring position.  A sacrifice fly and an RBI single drove in the two runs.  

Victor Black relieved Waldron and ptiched a scoreless inning, with two walks and two strikeouts.  Then 19-year old Orlando Castro made his US debut with 3 scoreless innings of work.  The Honduras native gave up a 2-out single in the 6th, and a lead-off single and a walk in the 7th.  The lead-off runner was eliminated in a double play.  Then he retired the side in the bottom of the 8th.  

Kris Watts' first AAA hit is a triple, as he slides in ahead of the tag.  













Indianapolis Indians  4,  Gwinnett Braves  3
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The Indianapolis Indians took a step above the .500 level today, with a win over the Gwinnett Braves this afternoon at Victory Field.  Starter Justin Wilson made his 13th start of the season and earned his 8th win, but had to work around a lot of base runners to do it.  3B Andy Marte, just back in the line-up after a hamstring injury, went 3-for-3 at the plate, and sparked the Tribe's key rally in the 6th inning.

The Indians jumped out to an early lead with 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st.  With two outs, CF Alex Presley (photo), who leads the International League in hits, got hit #83 on a line drive into short center field.  He stole second base, then a walk to LF John Bowker gave the Indians runners on first and second bases.  1B Matt Hague grounded to short, where Braves' SS Julio Lugo could not get the ball out of his glove fast enough to throw anyone out.  That loaded the bases for Marte, who took a 3-1 pitch into right field for a single.  Presley and Bowker scored easily, and as RF Stefan Gartrell made the throw in to the plate, Hague also rounded third and was sent home.  Hague slid in to the plate, but by then C Wilkin Castillo had the ball and was planted in front of the plate -- Hague was tagged out at home to end the inning.  Indians up, 2-0.  

With one out in the 2nd inning, the newest member of the Tribe, C Kris Watts, who made his first AAA start today, also picked up his first AAA hit -- a triple into right field.  Gartrell made a dive for the ball, but missed, and the ball bounced all the way to the right field wall, as Watts raced around second and slid into third base (photo above).  A walk to SS Chase d'Arnaud gave the Indians runners on the corners, but a ground out at second base ended the inning.  The Tribe had only one hit over the next two innings, and that was Marte's second hit of the game, a double to center field to lead off the bottom of the 4th.  Braves' CF Jose Constanza ran all the way back to the wall, where he made a leap for a catch.  But the catch threw him into the outfield wall, and that jarred the ball out of his glove.  The umpires ruled that it was not a catch, and Marte reached second base.  He was stranded there, though, as Braves' starter Erik Cordier retired the next three batters on fly outs.