Trenton Thunder� 8,� Altoona Curve� 3 (box)

The Curve stretched their losing streak to 5 games tonight while reliever Mike Colla struggled in his AA debut.� Derek Hankins made the start for the Curve, but didn't get out of the 4th inning.� He gave up a run in the 1st on a hit batter, a stolen base, a ground out, and an RBI single.� A fielding error and a double gave Trenton a second run in the 3rd inning, and a single and a double added run #3 in the 4th.� Colla relieved Hankins and got a strikeout to end that inning, but a solo homer, a double, two singles, and a passed ball gave Trenton 3 more runs in the 5th.� Colla came back out to begin the 6th, but that inning went no better.� A single, a walk, and a hit batter loaded the bases, and a single drove in two runs.

The Curve batters were also getting on base, in every inning but the 6th and 7th, but they were not coming around to score as often as the Thunder were.� They got onto the scoreboard in the 4th, when 3B Josh Harrison singled and stole second, then moved to third on a wild pitch.� 2B Jordy Mercer's single brought Harrison in to score, but Mercer was erased on a double play.� They came up with 2 more runs in the bottom of the 8th, when RF Miles Durham led off with a single.� SS Chase d'Arnaud walked, and Harrison plated both of them with a double into center field.

Harrison, Mercer, and Durham had 2 hits each, and C Hector Gimenez and LF Anthony Norman each had one hit.� Hankins was charged with the loss, his 2nd of the season.� Reliever Mike Dubee relieved Colla to finish the 6th with a double play.� Dubee gave up a single to lead off the 7th, but the runner was thrown out by Miles Durham when he tried to stretch it into a double.� Dubee had a batter reach on a fielding error by Mercer in the 8th, and he walked a batter in the 9th, but both of those runners were also erased with double plays.

The Pirates have placed catcher Ryan Doumit on the disabled list due to a concussion he sustained in a collision last night. Jason Jaramillo was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis to replace Doumit on the roster.

As you may know, the previously meek Pirates' bats have exploded out of the All-Star break. To properly present the dramatic improvement in such a short period of time, I plotted the team’s 2010 daily runs scored onto the following graph. I included a trend line that indicates a moving five-game average run total. Enjoy.

Pitching prospect Quinton Miller, previously on a rehab assignment with short-season State College, has been added to the roster of Single-A West Virginia.

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Van Every (#24) was supposed to be the hero

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Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs� 12,� Indianapolis Indians� 8 (box)

Two 4-run innings by the Iron Pigs stole the thunder from pinch-hitter Jonathan Van Every (photo above), as the Iron Pigs defeated the Indians for the third straight game at Victory Field this afternoon.� Van Every had given the Indians the lead in the 7th inning with the Tribe's first pinch-hit home run of the season, and the Indians were all set to have Van Every be the hero of the game... until disaster struck in the 8th and 9th.

The Indians took the early lead in the bottom of the 1st, when they jumped all over Iron Pigs' starter Michael Cisco, who was making his AAA debut.� LF Kevin Melillo led off with a grounder that hit the side of the mound and kept going right up the middle and into center field.� 3B Aki Iwamura dribbled a little oops-swing (not a bunt) down the first base line, and was tagged out, but it was just as good as a sacrifice bunt, as Melillo moved to second base.� CF Alex Presley extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single through the hole and into right field, driving in Melillo (photo).� 1B Jeff Clement moved Presley to third with another grounder to the right side, just past the Iron Pigs' first baseman, but both Presley and Clement were left on base when Cisco got a strikeout and a grounder to first to end the inning.� Cisco settled down after that first inning.� He faced just the minimum number of batters over the next three innings, striking out the side in the 2nd.� In the third, Melillo singled again, but was thrown out trying to steal second base.

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Brian Burres (photo) made the start for the Indians.� He retired the Iron Pigs in order in the 1st, and easily worked around a single to left-center field by 3B Neil Sellers in the 2nd inning.� He made a mistake in the 3rd, though, and that tied the game -- a 2-1 pitch taken over the left field wall and onto the sidewalk behind the grass berm for a solo home run by former Indy Indian LF Chris Aguila.

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The Iron Pigs broke the tie in the next inning.� Burres got the first out of the inning, then loaded the bases with the next three batters.� CF John Mayberry chopped a high bouncer off the plate and up and over the mound.� 2B Jim Negrych had to wait for the ball to drop out of the stratosphere before he could make the catch and throw to first, and by then, Mayberry had already crossed the bag.� Neil Sellers lined a single into right-center, moving Mayberry to third base, and 1B Paul Sellers walked to load 'em up.� Burres struck out C Dane Sardinha, and needed only one more out... but SS Brian Bocock, who had the huge game-winning RBI triple two days ago, doubled down the right field line, driving in both Mayberry and Sellers, and the Iron Pigs had a 3-1 lead.

Wednesday, with games going on all afternoon and evening....

Bradenton Marauders� 3,� Tampa Yankees� 1 (box)

A 3-run 5th inning was all it took from the Marauders' bats this afternoon.� The inning began with 3B Jose De Los Santos reaching base on a fielding error.� RF Robbie Grossman singled, moving De Los Santos to third base, and LF Quincy Latimore doubled, scoring De Los Santos.� Both Grossman and Latimore scored on 1B Erik Huber's single into right field.� Huber stole second base, but was left there when the inning ended on a fly out. All three runs were unearned.

Those three hits were half of the Marauder's total for the game.� Latimore and Huber also singled in the 2nd inning, and C James Skelton walked, loading the bases, but three consecutive strikeouts ended the inning with all three runners still in place.� CF Austin McClune singled to lead off the 6th, 2B Adenson Chourio reached on a fielding error, but a double play ended the inning with Chourio forced out at second.� The Marauders went down in order in the last three innings of the game.

The only run the Yankees scored was also unearned.� Bradenton starter Aaron Pribanic pitched 5 innings and scattered 4 hits.� He came back out to begin the 6th, but was relieved after giving up a single and a walk.� Tom Boleska struck out the first batter he faced, then Skelton threw out the second runner as he tried to steal second in a double steal.� When the next batter reached on a throwing error by De Los Santos, the runner (who had stolen third base) scored from third.� Boleska pitched a scoreless 7th.� Tyler Cox allowed a single and a walk in the scoreless 8th.� Diego Moreno, who has finished his organizational suspension and has been reassigned to the Marauders, pitched a scoreless 9th, allowing just one walk.

Reliever Mike Colla has been promoted from the Marauders to AA Altoona, trading spots with Moreno.

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I have no idea how to explain this. Without the injured Andrew McCutchen in the line up, the Pirates bats have shown fire power that was lacking all season. Pedro Alvarez homered twice for the second straight game and Delwyn Young homered and knocked in five to support a nice outing from Zach Duke.

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Conference time

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Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs� 4,�� Indianapolis Indians� 2 (box)

Back-to-back home runs in the 3rd inning was all the Iron Pigs needed to beat the Indians at Victory Field tonight.� Former Indianapolis Indian CF Chris Duffy smacked the first homer, and 2B Ozzie Chavez followed with the second.

The start of the game was delayed by nearly 90 minutes, though it wasn't raining, and in fact the sun was shining for part of that time.� The sun was not shining in downtown Indianapolis at around 5 pm, though.� That's when a sudden downpour sprang up with virtual no warning, catching the Victory Field ground crew without the tarp on the field.� By the time the tarp could be spread, quite a lot of water had gotten onto the infield.� Shortly before 6 pm, the tarp was pulled back and the crew went to work, first on the third base line and the third base and home plate areas, then later on the opposite side of the infield.� Several times in the process there was a conference on the field (photo above), including Lehigh Valley manager Dave Huppert, two of the umpires (black shirts on the left), head groundskeeper Joey Stevenson (red shirt), Indians' assistant general manager Randy Lewandowski (white shirt), and Indians' manager Frank Kremblas (far right).� It took the crew more than 2.5 hours to get the infield into a safe and playable condition, and the game began at about 8:30 pm.

Daniel McCutchen (photo) made the start for the Indians, and he generally looked sharp.� He threw 80 pitches (52 strikes) over 5 innings, and was only removed at that point because his turn in the batting order came around in the bottom of the 5th and the Indians had a runner on base and were trying to catch up.

McCutchen gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk, and struck out 5 batters.� He retired the side in order only one time, in the 5th.� He worked around one base runner in the 1st (a walk to LF Domonic Brown), in the 2nd (a single by C Dane Sardinha), and the 4th (he hit Sardinha with a pitch).� The only inning that gave him any serious trouble was the 3rd.

That inning began with Iron Pigs' pitcher JA Happ taking a 2-2 pitch down the right field line and into the corner for a double.� Happ is a lifetime .070 hitter, who has had one previous double, in 2009.� Chris Duffy took McCutchen's next pitch for a ride over the wall in right-center field, for a no-doubt 2-run homer.� Then Ozzie Chavez also hit the first pitch from McCutchen ove rthe right field wall, to the right of where Duffy's sailed out.� McCutchen took a deep breath, and struck out the next batter, Domonic Brown, then ended the inning with two ground outs.� After the homers, McCutchen faced only one batter over the minimum for the rest of his might, and that was when he hit Sardinha with a pitch.

Pedro Alvarez hit his first career grand slam as part of a nine run first inning and the Pirates hung on to win 11-9.

The Pirates’ starting rotation has been awful in 2010. They rank 29th out of 30 teams in ERA, 30th in FIP, 29th in xFIP, 30th in innings and 30th in strikeouts. From Charlie Morton’s implosions to Chris Jakubauskas’ one scary inning, it has been a tough year to be in the Bucs’ rotation. Let’s take a deeper look, in graphical form.

Ryan Doumit is out of the lineup tonight after a foul tip struck his mask in last night's game. Erik Kratz will start in his place. Doumit may be available to pinch-hit.

Brian Friday is back with Triple-A Indianapolis after a rehab assignment. Friday has been out with a sprained ankle that he sustained on June 9th.