Right now I'm on the road watching the minor league teams.  Last night I saw Altoona for the second night in a row, and...

Columbus Clippers� 5,� Indianapolis Indians� 2 ..�� (box)

�

The Columbus pitching staff held the Indianapolis Indians to just 4 hits at Victory Field tonight, while the Clippers' batters took advantage of timely hitting to slide past the Tribe.� The Clippers' win, combined with the Louisville Bats' 4-1 loss to the Toledo Mud Hens, means that the Clippers have regained first place in the International League Western Division by half a game.� It also means that Louisville is now on top of the Wild Card pile, with the Buffalo Bison and Syracuse Chiefs both tied at 4 games back.

RF Brandon Moss (photo) had two of the Indians four hits, a double and a single.� LF Kevin Melillo and 3B Akinori Iwamura each had a hit.� Three batters walked -- Iwamura, CF Alex Presley, and 1B John Bowker -- and that was all the base runners the Indians had.

The Indians threatened in the top of the 1st inning, when Presley walked with two outs, and Moss ripped a line drive down the right field line for a single, sending Presley to third base.� That inning ended when Bowker struck out.� The Tribe were first onto the scoreboard, with a rally in the 3rd inning.� Kevin Melillo got things stared with a grounder through the hole, just past the back-handed dive by Clippers' 1B Wes Hodges, for a one-out single.� Aki Iwamura worked a walk.� Alex Presley grounded to second base, and it looked like the Clippers were going to halt the rally with an inning-ending double play.� Iwamura was forced out at second base, but the speedy Presley beat out the relay throw back to first base.� That gave Brandon Moss a chance to come to the plate, and he took a fly ball past CF Ezequiel Carrera and into the deepest part of the stadium in the left-center alley.� The double drove in both Melillo and Presley, who was hustling all the way from first base, and the Indians had a 2-0 lead.

�

Tuesday's action for the Pirates' lower minor leaguers....

Altoona Curve� 9,� Bowie Baysox� 1 ..���� (box)

The Altoona Curve clinched the Eastern League's Western Division title tonight with a win over Bowie.� This is just the second time the Curve have won their division in their 12 years of existence, and it follows a 2009 when the Curve spent the season in the cellar.

Six different Curve batters had 2 hits in the game, and 1B Matt Hague's two hits were both home runs.� The batters provided plenty of run support for starter Rudy Owens, who won his 12th game of the season.� Owens pitched 6 scoreless innings, and struck out 9 Bowie batters.� Owens allowing 2 singles in the 1st inning but kept the Baysox scoreless thanks to an on-target throw in from RF Miles Durham to C Hector Gimenez, to tag out the lead runner at the plate.� Owens retired the next 11 batters in order, then gave up back-to-back singles in the 5th.� A strikeout ended that inning -- he struck out 3 batters in the 5th, and two more in the 6th to finish up his night.

Derek Hankins earned his 7th save with 3 innings of work.� He gave up a lead-off homer to the first batter he faced in the 7th inning, and that was Bowie's only run of the game.� Hankins loaded the bases with three singles following the homer, but got out of the inning with a strikeout.� He allowed only one more hit over the next two innings and struck out a total of 5 batters.

Meanwhile, the Curve batters were steadily stacking up the runs, scoring in 6 of their 9 at-bats.� Bowie held them off in the 1st inning, despite loading the bases on singles by 3B Josh Harrison and SS Jordy Mercer, and a walk to DH Andrew Lambo. Two strikeouts strikeouts ended the inning without a run scoring.� After that, the Curve took off.� Durham singled and CF Anthony Norman tripled for one run in the 2nd inning (1).� Hague was hit by a pitch, then singles by Gimenez and 2B Jim Negrych brought in 2 runs in the 3rd (3).� Hague homered for the first time, a solo shot, in the 5th (4).� Two more runs came in during the 6th.� Norman walked, and LF Jose De Los Santos reached on a fielding error.� Harrison doubled, plating Norman (5), and Mercer's ground out brought in De Los Santos (6).� In the 7th, Negrych singled and scored on Norman's double (7).� Hague homered again in the 8th inning, this time with Mercer on base with a single (9).

Three Curve position players have been named to participate in the Arizona Fall League:� OF Andrew Lambo, INF Josh Harrison, and INF Jordy Mercer will be with the Mesa Solar Sox.� Joining them will be C Tony Sanchez. (Each team is allowed one A-level player.)� The Pirates are also allowed three pitchers, though those assignments have not yet been determined.� The Arizona Fall League begins play in mid-October.

One night after being blown out, the Pirates piled on the Cubs, scoring 14 runs on 15 hits in a laugher.

While traveling for work, I was able to stop in Altoona for a few hours on Sunday to catch a Curve game. Jared Hughes made the start for the Pirates’ Double-A affiliate, which is gearing up for the postseason. Here are a few of my thoughts after taking in a 5-4 Curve loss on a beautiful evening at Blair County Ballpark.

The minor league season may be wrapping up for the Pirates Prospects, but that doesn't mean the prospects are done for the year. Up...

BOWIE -- Two hours to first pitch ... Game: Altoona Curve at Bowie Baysox, 7:05 p.m. Site: Prince George Stadium. Pitching: LHP Rudy Owens vs. RHP...

Monday's action with the Pirates' lower minor league affiliates....

Bowie Baysox� 2,� Altoona Curve� 0 ..� (box)

The Curve out-hit the Baysox 7-5, but were still shutout in Bowie.� 3B Josh Harrison and RF Miles Durham each had two hits, including a double for Harrison, while 2B Chase d'Arnaud, 1B Matt Hague, and LF Jim Negrych had one hit each.� Harrison's double was the only extra-base hit for the Curve.� In addition, Negrych walked three times, and two Curve batters, C Kris Watts and pinch-hitter Jose De Los Santos, were hit by pitches.� That all adds up to 10 Curve batters left on base.

The Curve had two runners on in the 3rd inning, when d'Arnaud singled and Harrison doubled, sending d'Arnaud to third with two outs.� A strikeout ended that inning.� Two Curve were on base in the 4th also, when Negrych walked for the second time and Durham singled, but Negrych was picked off second base.� In the 8th, Hague singled and Negrych walked for the third time, but again a strikeout ended the inning.� The Curve's best chance at scoring came in the 7th inning, when they loaded the bases on back-to-back singles by Negrych and Durham, and then Watts was hit by a pitch.� A strikeout and a fly out ended that inning with all three runners still on base.

Justin Wilson suffered the loss.� He threw 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, but with 5 walks and 4 strikeouts.� Bowie scored their first run in the bottom of the 1st without needing a hit:� a walk, a ground out, a stolen base, and a sacrifice fly.� A single and a double brought in their second run in the 3rd.� Mike Colla pitched the last 3 innings for the Curve.� He gave up only one hit, a double in the 7th, and retired the other 9 batters he faced, including 3 strikeouts.

SPIKES’ SANTOS NAMED NYPL PLAYER OF THE WEEK State College Outfielder the Fifth Spike this Season to Earn Weekly League Honors STATE COLLEGE, PA -...

This is the first in a series of 5 articles that will try to get Pirate fans inside the organizations of the Pirates' NL Central opponents. First up will be the Houston Astros. For the past few years, McLane has held steadfast to the premise that he could just reload and be right in the thick of the NL Central.

It has been a pretty ugly year for Paul Maholm and this game was no exception. The Cubs collected 18 hits - 10 for extra bases - in a laugher.

John Bowker homered in the 4th

�

�

�

�

�

Columbus Clippers� 6,� Indianapolis Indians� 4 ..�� (box)

The Indianapolis Indians could not keep up with the Columbus Clippers tonight at Victory Field, and the combination of the Indians' loss and the Clippers' win officially eliminated the Indians from any chance of making the International League playoffs as the wild card team.� The Louisville Bats lost to the Toledo Mud Hens, 6-2, so the Clippers have edged closer to the Bats, who are clinging to a half-game lead in the IL West Division.

The Indians and Clippers traded the lead back and forth in the middle innings of this game, but a 3-run 6th inning sealed the win for Columbus.� Jeremy Powell (photo) made his 20th start of the season for the Indians, and he suffered his 9th loss, allowing all 6 runs on 9 hits and a walk, with 3 strikeouts.� The Clippers got right down to business in the top of the 1st.� Lead-off batter RF Jose Constanza smacked Powell's first pitch on a line drive into center field, then hustled his way to second base before CF Alex Presley could get the ball back to the infield.� Powell got CF Ezequiel Carrera to ground out and got 2B Drew Sutton to pop out to 3B Akinori Iwamura in foul territory.� Then Powell got a 0-2 count on DH Wes Hodges, and was one strike away from escaping the inning unscathed -- until Hodges took the next pitch over the wall in dead center field, landing just behind the camera well for a 2-run homer.� 1B Jordan Brown followed the home run with a double to the warning track in right field.� Powell hit 3B Jared Goedert with a pitch, but both Brown and Goedert were left on base when LF Matt McBride flied out to left.

Not to be outdone, Aki Iwamura homered in the bottom of the 1st inning, taking the ball to almost exactly the same spot over the center field wall and behind the camera well -- no more than 5 feet away -- cutting the Clippers' lead to 2-1.� One out later, DH Brandon Moss was hit by a pitch from Columbus starter Yohan Pino.� Even though neither plunk appeared to be overtly intentional, home plate umpire Alan Porter must have decided he didn't want to have anyone even think about escalating anything, and so he stepped out and clearly warned Pino, Powell in the dugout, and both managers.� Moss ended the inning with a poor base running move -- he was caught out in the middle of nowhere on the base path, and easily caught stealing.