Early and late action for the Pirates' lower minor league affiliates:

�

Portland Sea Dogs� 9,� Altoona Curve� 8 (box)

Two home runs by 3B Josh Harrison and an early lead from a 5-run 2nd inning were washed away by the Sea Dogs' 6-run 7th inning this afternoon.� Harrison, the second batter of the game, put the Curve onto the scoreboard minutes after the game began with his solo home run over the left field wall.� He added the second home run (his 3rd of the season) in the next inning.� That rally began with back-to-back walks by RF Miles Durham and C Kris Watts. CF Anthony Norman was hit by a pitch to load the bases for LF Jose De Los Santos. A line drive single by De Los Santos brought in Durham, then a wild pitch let Watts score.� 2B Chase d'Arnaud lifted a sacrifice fly, which plated Norman.� That left De Los Santos on base for Harrison, who blasted his second home run, also over the left field wall, for a 2-run homer, giving the Curve a 6-0 lead.

Bryan Morris began his afternoon's work by allowing only a walk and a single over the first three innings.� In the 4th, he gave up a single just over the head of SS Jordy Mercer and into left field, then a home run on a rising line drive, cutting the Curve's lead to 6-2.� Those were the only runs Morris allowed, on 3 hits and a walk, with 4 strikeouts in 5 innings.

Morris was relieved by Tom Boleska to begin the 6th.� Boleska gave up a solo homer, to 1B Anthony Rizzo, inching the Sea Dogs closer, 6-3.� But the real trouble came in the 7th, when Boleska could not retire any of the 4 batters he faced.� The first blasted a solo home run, then the next three all singled.� Derek Hankins replaced Boleska with the bases loaded and no outs.� He got one out on the infield fly rule, then got former Curve Ray Chang to strike out.� That brought Rizzo to the plate again -- and he smashed a grand slam over the center field wall, and Portland had a 7-6 lead.� The grand slam was immediately followed by another solo home run, the third homer of the inning, for an 8-6 lead.� Five of those runs were charged to Boleska, and the other two to Hankins.

The Curve put one runner on base in each of the 4th through 7th innings, but could not get any of them around to score.� They rallied again in the 8th, starting with a single by 1B Matt� Hague and a double by Jordy Mercer, moving Hague to third base.� Miles Durham's sacrifice fly brought in Hague, and Kris Watts' double scored Mercer.� Norman was hit by a pitch and De Los Santos singled to deep short to load the bases.� But a grounder force out ended the inning with the Curve still one run short.� They went down in order in the 9th, and the Sea Dogs had the come-from-behind win.� Morris did not figure into the decision, but Boleska took the loss.

Probable Starters RHP Mike Pelfrey vs. RHP Jeff Karstens LHP Jonathan Niese vs. RHP James McDonald LHP Johan Santana vs. LHP Zach Duke

Early and late action for the Pirates' lower minor league affiliates on Thursday:

�

Portland Sea Dogs� 9,� Altoona Curve� 8 (box)

Two home runs by 3B Josh Harrison and an early lead from a 5-run 2nd inning were washed away by the Sea Dogs' 6-run 7th inning this afternoon.� Harrison, the second batter of the game, put the Curve onto the scoreboard minutes after the game began with his solo home run over the left field wall.� He added the second home run (his 3rd of the season) in the next inning.� The 2nd inning rally began with back-to-back walks by RF Miles Durham and C Kris Watts. CF Anthony Norman was hit by a pitch to load the bases for LF Jose De Los Santos. A line drive single by De Los Santos brought in Durham, then a wild pitch let Watts score.� 2B Chase d'Arnaud lifted a sacrifice fly, which plated Norman.� That left De Los Santos on base for Harrison, who blasted his second home run, also over the left field wall, for a 2-run homer, to give the Curve a 6-0 lead.

Bryan Morris began his afternoon's work by allowing only a walk and a single over the first three innings.� In the 4th, he gave up a single just over the head of SS Jordy Mercer and into left field, then a home run on a rising line drive, cutting the Curve's lead to 6-2.� Those were the only runs Morris allowed, on 3 hits and a walk, with 4 strikeouts in 5 innings.

Morris was relieved by Tom Boleska to begin the 6th inning.� Boleska gave up a solo homer, to 1B Anthony Rizzo, inching the Sea Dogs closer, 6-3.� But the real trouble came in the 7th, when Boleska could not retire any of the 4 batters he faced.� The first blasted a solo home run, then the next three all singled.� Derek Hankins replaced Boleska with the bases loaded and no outs.� He got one out on the infield fly rule, then got former Curve Ray Chang to strike out.� That brought Rizzo to the plate again -- and he smashed a grand slam over the center field wall, and Portland had a 7-6 lead.� The grand slam was immediately followed by another solo home run, the third homer of the inning, for an 8-6 lead.� Five of those runs were charged to Boleska, and the other two to Hankins.

The Curve put one runner on base in each of the 4th through 7th innings, but could not get any of them around to score.� They rallied again in the 8th, starting with a single by 1B Matt Hague and a double by Jordy Mercer, moving Hague to third base.� Miles Durham's sacrifice fly brought in Hague, and Kris Watts' double scored Mercer.� Norman was hit by a pitch and De Los Santos singled to deep short to load the bases, but a grounder force out ended the inning with the Curve still one run short.� They went down in order in the 9th, and the Sea Dogs had the come-from-behind win.� Morris did not figure into the decision, but Boleska took the loss.

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

�

The Pirates have signed top Mexican prospect Luis Heredia for $2.6 million, the highest international bonus in team history.

I'd like to give Ross Ohlendorf a do over for 2010. He was injured. He was hit in the head by a line drive. The Pirates have given him minimal run support in his 10 losses (four shutouts and just one game with more than three runs scored). It happened again against Florida.

Indianapolis Indians� 4,� Toledo MudHens� 1 (box)

Indians' starter Brad Lincoln (photo) had no problems with the Mud Hens tonight at Fifth Third Field in Toledo, Ohio.� Lincoln beat the Mud Hens for the first time in his career, earning his 7th win of the season with the Indians.� After the game, Lincoln said that he felt great tonight.� "I was able to just get out there and pitch my game today... I felt that I could go out there and dominate."

Dominate is what Lincoln did.� He pitched 7 innings and allowed just one run on 6 hits and a walk.� He also struck out 6 batters.� It all took him 97 pitches, of which 72 were strikes.� Lincoln did not get a 3-strike count on any batter until the 6th inning, when he walked SS Scott Sizemore -- the only walk he allowed.� He also had a 2-ball count on only 2 batters, and a 3-ball count on one other batter after Sizemore.

The 7th inning was the only one in which Lincoln allowed more than one Mud Hen batter on base, and it was the only inning in which Toledo scored.� LF Jeff Frazier led off with a line drive single into left field.� RF Casper Wells followed with a double into center field, and Frazier was off and running.� He was rounding third as Wells was heading for second base, but he was not counting on Tribe CF Alex Presley and 2B Brian Friday. Presley got to the ball quickly in center field, and fired it in to relay man Friday in short center field.� Friday whirled and sent the ball on a rope to C Erik Kratz, who held on to the ball as Frazier barreled into him, even holding up the ball, still in his hand, as the dust settled.� Lincoln struck out the next batter, DH Ben Guez, but 1B Michael Bertram lined a single up the middle, and Wells scored from second base.

Lincoln allowed only 3 other hits, scattered over the first 6 innings.� Guez singled in both the 2nd and the 5th innings and was left on base both times.� Former Indy Indian C Robinzon Diaz singled in the 3rd inning, but he was doubled up when 3B Justin Henry flied out to center field.� Alex Presley had to run back to get to the ball, and Diaz must not have thought Presley had any chance at all to make the catch, so he took off.� When Presley made the back-handed catch and turned around, he saw that Diaz was not even close to first base.� It was an easy throw over to 1B Jonathan Van Every to double off Diaz.

It is a question that many Pirates fans want answered. When, exactly, will the front office sink some significant resources into the major league product? The Pirates’ best players in 2010 are mostly in their pre-arbitration years, which naturally keeps the payroll low. But for now, there is some financial flexibility. Should the Pirates start spending in the upcoming offseason?

A full day of action for the Pirates' minor league affiliates on Wednesday

Altoona Curve� 1,� Portland Sea Dogs� 0 (box)

Jeff Locke pitched 7 shut-out innings and struck out 8 batters to earn his 2nd win with the Curve.� Locke scattered 3 hits and one walk in those 7 innings.� All three of the hits were doubles.� Two of the runners were left on base, and the other was thrown out trying to stretch the double into a triple.� Locke never had more than one base runner on at a time.� Mike Dubee completed the shutout with 2 perfect innings in relief, including two strikeouts.

The Curve batters were not hitting a lot either, but they were the ones who put together a series of hits to score a run.� In the 8th, C Hector Gimenez doubled, and DH Yung Chi Chen and CF Anthony Norman followed with back-to-back singles.� Norman's single drove in Gimenez with the only run of the game.� The only other hits the Curve posted were back-to-back singles by LF Jim Negrych and 1B Matt Hague in the first inning.� Both were left on base.� After those two hits, the next 20 Curve batters were retired in order, until the 3 hits in the 8th.

�

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington was on The Fan morning show on Tuesday, discussing Monday night’s draft signing deadline. He talked about Jameson Taillon, Stetson Allie, a few 2009 draftees and some issues involving the major league team. For some reason, he made people angry.

The Pirates’ 2010 draft signings changed the profile of their farm system in a hurry.  Earlier in the season, the system had graduated several...

Ricky Nolasco pitched shutout baseball for six innings and also knocked in two runs with two hits. Zach Duke was undone by a bad inning. The Pirates winning streak is over at one.

Dejan Kovacevic reports that outfield prospect Andrew Lambo, acquired in the Octavio Dotel trade, has a sprained AC joint in his shoulder.