PIRATES PROSPECTSPITTSBURGH PIRATES MINOR LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSACTIONS, AND ARTICLES

The Indianapolis Indians have a scheduled day off today (Wednesday).  A few bits of news for an off-day:

P Jose Ascanio and C Wyatt Toregas have cleared waivers and both will be assigned to the Indians.   Anthony Claggett was returned to the Altoona Curve.

The Pirates have signed four of their recent draft picks:  
SS Brian Sharp (24th round) from California Baptist University
SS Kirk Singer (29th round) from Long Beach State
RHP Matt Benedict (30th round) from Western Carolina University
C Derek Trent (31st round) from East Tennessee State

Here's the list of all the draft picks, which will be updated with the signings as they occur.   

Sharp, Singer, and Trent are listed on the State College roster.  The State College Spikes begin their season on Friday.

The Pirates also signed LHP Robbie Kilcrease, an undrafted free agent from Texas Tech.  The redshirt junior made 12 starts this year for Texas Tech.  He had a total of 63.1 innings, with a 5.97 ERA. 


On to Wednesday evening's action:

West Virginia Power  3,  Greensboro Grasshoppers  0
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The Power did all the scoring they needed in their first at-bats, as three Power pitchers combined for a shutout.  With one out in the top of the 1st, 2B Andy Vasquez lined a single into center field, then stole second base.  He scored on RF Dan Grovatt's double lined into right field.  Grovatt stole third base, and he scored on 1B Justin Howard's RBI ground out.  CF Mel Rojas added one more insurance run for the Power in the 4th inning with a solo home run.  

After the homer, the Power lost some of their power.  They managed only 3 hits over the rest of the game -- a single by Rojas in the 6th, a double by DH Jairo Marquez in the 7th, and a single by 3B Eric Avila in the 9th.  

Brandon Cumpton worked around a walk and a single in the bottom of the 1st, then gave up two more singles in the 3rd, but got out of that jam too, partly due to a double play.  Cumpton also gave up lone singles in the 4th and 5th, but still did not let the runners come around to score.  He began the 6th with a walk and a double play, then loaded the bases with a single, a hit batter, and a walk.  Kevin Decker came on in relief of Cumpton, and Decker ended the inning with a fly out, still not letting a run score.  

Decker pitched 2 more scoreless innings, though he gave up a walk and two singles in the 7th, and another single in the 8th.  Jason Townsend pitched the 9th, also giving up a walk and erasing the runner with a double play.  Cumpton earned his 7th win of the season, and Townsend earned his 6th Save.  

Corey Wimberly got back to first base safely this time... but was picked off moments later.








Gwinnett Braves  4,  Indianapolis Indians  0
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Another pitching duel erupted at Victory Field tonight, as the Indianapolis Indians and the Gwinnett Braves battled it out over a scoreless tie for 8 innings.  The loss dropped the Indians to below the .500 mark as they finish this home stand.  The Indians and the Braves split this 4 game series, two games each.

Tribe starter Garrett Olson pitched 5 hitless and scoreless innings but did not figure into the decision.  He allowed one base runner over those innings.  Braves SS Julio Lugo worked the count full then took a walk in the top of the 1st.  After Olson struck out rehabbing Atlanta Brave outfielder Jason Heyward (photo, not looking too pleased), he got 1B Mauro Gomez to ground to short to force out Julio at second base.  Olson retired the next 12 batters in order, including 4 more strikeouts.  He got some help from his fielders.  In the 5th inning, 3B Dan Nelson took a long fly ball into deep right field.  Alex Presley, playing right field for the second day in a row, headed back for the wall.  He turned one way, then the other, and finally made the over-the-shoulder catch at the warning track for the second out of the inning.  That play was followed by a nice play by SS Brian Friday on a sharp grounder off the bat of 2B Ed Lucas.  Friday went to his right for a back-hand catch, then fired over to 1B Matt Hague to end the inning.  

Olson was relieved by Chris Leroux after 5 innings.  Olson was on a 50 pitch count for his last start on June 8th -- due to working in relief in the earlier part of the season, and also having been on the Disabled List.  So, even though he was pitching a no-hitter, Olson's outing was cut short after 66 pitches (44 strikes).  Leroux continued the no-hitter with a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th.