Just a few game results for the Pirates' players and friends in Thursday's winter league action:

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE
Venados de Mazatlan  3,  Yaquis de Obregon  1 --  Los Venados' bats were quiet until the 5th inning, when LF Rogelios Noris followed a one-out walk with a double, giving Mazatlan 2 runners in scoring position.  A single by SS Heber Gomez drove in both runners.  Obregon got one of the runs back in the top of the 6, but Mazatlan added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning with two singles and a sacrifice fly.  CF Jeff Salazar walked twice for Obregon but did not score.

AUSTRALIAN LEAGUE
Perth Heat  9,  Adelaide Bite  3 --  The Bite posted 12 hits, but could only score in one inning, and the Heat sealed their win with a 5-run 8th inning early on Friday morning.  Adelaide tried to threaten in the bottom of the 1st.  With a runner on 1st after a single and a grounder force out at second,  LF Quincy Latimore grounded to third, which resulted in another force out at second, but Latimore safe at first.  But Latimore was picked off first to end the inning.  Latimore doubled in the 4th inning, but was left on base, as were Bite baserunners in the 2nd, 5th, and 7th innings.  Latimore singled in the 6th, but that time he was erased in a double play.  Finally in the 8th inning, a double and two singles brought in one run for Adelaide.  Latimore followed with another grounder force out at second, which drove in a run and again left Latimore on first base.  Another double let him score from first, and that was all the runs Adelaide would score.  Perth scored 2 runs in the 2nd on a home run, and 2 more in the 5th on three singles, a walk, and a sacrifice fly.  Adelaide pitching fell apart in the top of the 8th, when four walks and a wild pitch aided a double and two singles to bring in 5 runs.  

 

The Pirates have announced the release of 9 players from the minor league ranks:

From Bradenton: 
OF Erik Huber -- Pirates' 12th round pick in the 2007 draft.  Huber's best season was 2009, when he hit .318 with 40 RBI in 72 games for West Virginia, then .262 in 33 games for A+ Lynchburg.  He remained at the A+ level with the Marauders in 2010, but hit .220 with 8 doubles and 20 RBI in 61 games.  

From West Virginia:
RHP Melkin Laureano  -- Laureano spent June and part of July with A+ Bradenton, but finished the season back in A West Virginia.  He threw 52 innings in 8 starts and 6 relief appearances for the Power, with a 4.15 ERA.  In 33 innings with Bradenton, the Dominican native had a 3.82 ERA.
1B Kyle Morgan  -- 36th round pick in the 2008 draft.  Morgan hit .296 for the Power in 2009, but when he returned to West Virginia in 2010, he hit just .203 in 87 games.  He hit 11 home runs and 36 RBI.

From State College:  
OF Kyle Saukko -- 28th round pick in the 2008 draft.  Saukko hit .138 in 34 games with the Spikes in 2010 and .172 in 28 games in 2090.
3B Andury Acevedo   -- This Dominican native has been in the Pirates' organization since 2007.  He played for the GCL Pirates in three seasons (2007, 2008, and 2009) but his batting average slid down each season (.444, .216, and .174 respectively).  In 2010, he hit .129 in just 13 games for the Spikes, with no extra base hits or RBI. 

From the GCL Pirates: 
RHP Dinesh Patel  -- Patel was the runner-up of the "Million Dollar Arm" contest in India, and he joined lefty Rinku Singh in coming to the US and learning about baseball and pitching.  He made 9 relief appearances in the GCL in 2010 -- four good, 3 poor, and one really bad.  In a total of 7.1 innings, he allowed 14 hits nad 7 runs, with 3 BB and 7 K.
RHP Sheng-Cin Hong -- A Taiwan native and a product of the Australian academy, Hong appeared in 11 games for the GCL Pirates in 2010.  He struggled more often than not, allowing 23 runs (21 earned) and 26 hits in 13.1 innings.  
1B Chih-Wei Hsu -- Another Taiwan native and Australian academy player, Hsu came to the US and played in the GCL for the first time in 2010.  He appeared in 16 games and hit .154 with 2 doubles, no RBI.
RHP Yomar Pacheco --  After two seasons with ERA's of 0.71 and 1.97 in his native Venezuela, Pacheco struggled in his first season in the US.  He made 13 relief appearances in the GCL and allowed 17 runs and 30 hits in 29.2 innings, for a 4.85 ERA.



Not getting game results from either the Venezuela or the Dominican Leagues yet tonight.  The Puerto Rican League is off tonight.  The Mexican Pacific League is playing late, of course, and the Australians will be playing at about 3 am Indiana time.  More info in the morning.  


 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  
Everyone has probably seen that Zach Duke has been traded to Arizona for a player to be named later.
Also, former Pirate Bryan Bullington, who was removed from the Kansas City Royals' 40-man roster last week, was released by the Royals yesterday.  Then Bullington signed a contract to play in Japan for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp for 2011.

Cheering for Pirates' players and friends in the winter leagues on Wednesday..... 

VENEZUELAN LEAGUE
Tiburones de La Guaira  4,  Bravos de Margarita  1  (Game 1)  --  This was supposed to be a 7-inning game, but the score was still tied at 1-1 after 7.  A bases-loaded walk forced in Los Bravos' run in the bottom of the 1st.  Los Tiburones tied the score with a run on a single, a ground out, and another single in the 3rd.  Anthony Claggett had pitched a scoreless 7th inning -- he gave up a single, but then picked the base runner off first.  But he started the top of the 8th with a single and a sacrifice bunt, and was then relieved.  The next pitcher loaded the bases with a pair of walks, then he was relieved too.  Two singles and a sacrifice fly brought in 3 runs for Los Tiburones, with the first one charged to Claggett, making him responsible for the loss.  Margarita won the second game 3-0, holding Los Tiburones to just 3 hits in the 7-inning game.  Former Pirate farmhand Ronald Belisario allowed one of the hits along with a walk in the 7th inning, earning his 8th save.

Tigres de Aragua  7,  Navegantes del Magallanes  5  --  Both SS Ronny Cedeno and 1B Hector Gimenez hit 2-run homers for Los Tigres in this win.  Gimenez's blast got Aragua going in their 4-run 1st inning, and Cedeno's homer made the score 6-1 in the 2nd inning.  Gimenez also doubled in the game.  CF Jorge Cortes walked and scored for Los Tigres, and C Raul Chavez was 0-for-3 at the plate.  

Pirates' outfielder Quincy Latimore has continued to chomp on Australian pitching, while playing left field for the Adelaide Bite of the new Australian Baseball League.  The North Carolina native went 6-for-14 with 3 homers (2 in one game) and 8 RBI and two stolen bases in the Bite's first 4-game series against Melbourne.  The Bite played against the Perth Heat in their second weekend's action, and in that series, Latimore went 9-for-20, with 3 doubles, a triple, another homer, and 4 more RBI.  That gives him a .441 overall average, a .486 OBP, a .941 SLG, and a 1.428 OPS.  His 15 hits, 4 homers, and 12 RBI lead the league.  

Nov 17th --  Perth Heat 4,  Adelaide Bite 2 --  We looked at this game last week, but to recap:  Former Curve Paul Mildren suffered the loss when he allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks in 5.2 innings.  Latimore doubled in the top of the 1st, contributing to the Bite's 1-run rally.  He also singled in the 5th inning, but was left on base.

Nov 18th --  Bite  7,  Heat  3 --  The Heat out-hit the Bite 10-9, but it was the 6-run top of the 6th that gave the Bite the edge.   Adelaide sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning.  The first batter of the inning doubled but was picked off second base.  Then the onslaught started:  a solo homer, a walk, and an RBI triple by Latimore for the second run of the inning.  Latimore scored on 1B Ben Wigmore's double, and Wigmore scored on the next double.  After a pitching change, a walk and another double drove in the 5th run, and a walk and a sacrifice fly made it 6 runs.  Perth hit back-to-back homers in the bottom of the inning.  Then Latimore homered to lead off the top of the 7th, increasing the score to 7-2.  Perth added one more run in the bottom of the 7th.  Latimore was 2-for-5 for the game.

Pirates' infielder Benji Gonzalez is on the roster for Los Gigantes de Carolina in the Puerto Rican League.  He has not been seeing a lot of playing time, but he did get into the game on the 17th, starting at second base.  Gonzalez went 0-for-4 and struck out 3 times.  Los Indios de Mayaguez beat Los Gigantes 6-5.  
Ramon Vazquez has not been playing a lot either.  He was at third base for Los Criollos de Caguas on Sunday, and went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.  He led off the 4th inning with a walk, and he later scored when another walk with the bases loaded forced him in from third base.  Carolina beat Caguas 5-4, when a hit batter forced in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.  
Vazquez went 1-for-3 on Tuesday night, as Los Criollos beat Los Senadores de San Juan 4-1.  Caguas scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st.  Former Indy Indian SS Luis Figueroa singled with one out, then moved to second base on a passed ball.  Vazquez walked, then an RBI single plated Figueroa and put Vazquez on third.  A sacrifice fly brougth in Vazquez.  Figueroa had his second single of the game in the 3rd inning, and he scored on an RBI double.  Both Figueroa and Vazquez singled with two outs in the 7th, but that time they were both left on base.  A solo home run gave Los Criollos their final run in the 8th.  San Juan scored their one run in the top of the 5th. 

Pirates' Rogelios Noris has not gotten into any games for his hometown Venados de Mazatlan in the Mexican Pacific League since he pinch-ran and scored in the game against Guasave on the 14th.