Steve Pearce, out for several days due to patella tendinitis in his left knee, will receive a plasma-rich platelet injection in hopes of avoiding surgery. He will be out of action until at least August. Surgery remains a possibility.

In today’s Q&A at the PBC Blog, Dejan Kovacevic discussed the idea of converting Evan Meek to a starting pitcher. When I first read Dejan’s feature article on Meek a couple weeks ago, I had the same thought. "I wonder if Meek could become a starting pitcher. Maybe he could be the type of diamond in the rough that the Pirates desperately need." So I started digging.

The Bradenton Marauders and the GCL Pirates were both rained out on Monday.

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Altoona �Curve �6, �Binghampton Mets �1 (box)

Things went well for�Zach Duke as he made a rehab start with the Curve. �He needed only 29 pitches to get through his scheduled 3 innings, allowing one run on 3 hits, no walks, with one strikeout. �The game began with a double, a ground out to move the runner to third, then an RBI single. �Duke ended that first inning with a double play. �He gave up a single in the 2nd, but another double play erased that runner, and Duke retired the side in order in the 3rd.

That was the only run the Mets had in the game. �Justin Wilson took over when Duke was done, and he pitched 4 shutout innigs, scattering 4 hits and a walk, to record his 7th win of the season. �Ramon Aguero pitched the 9th inning, also scoreless, with a walk and 2 strikeouts.

The Mets' pitching staff was not so fortunate. �The Curve batters posted 15 hits, with each position player except LF Brandon Jones collecting at least one hit. �1B Matt Hague had his third 3-hit game in 5 days, and RF Miles Durham also had 3 hits. �The Curve responded to the Mets' 1st inning run with 2 of their own, on a single by SS Chase d'Arnaud, a double by CF Gorkys Hernandez, a sacrifice fly by Hague to bring in d'Arnaud, and a double by C Hector Gimenez which scored Hernandez.

The Curve put at least one runner on base in each of the next four innings, though did not get any of them around to score. �In the 6th, they added one run when 2B Shelby Ford smacked a ground-rule double, and scored on Durham's RBI single. �Another double-single combination, from Hague and Gimenez respectively, added a run in the 7th inning. �They picked up two more runs in the 8th, on a rally started by Durham when he singled and stole second base. �Pinch-hitter Anthony Norman and Hernandez also singled, driving in Durham. �After a pitching change, 3B Josh Harrison's RBI single brought in Norman to give the Curve their 6th run.

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Louisville Bats �6, �Indianapolis Indians �0 � --- � Game 1 (box)

It was all Louisville in Game 1 as the Bats battered starter Dana Eveland (photo above) in his Indians debut. �Eveland, who had not pitched since before being designated for assignment about two weeks ago, did not make it out of the third inning, and was responsible for 5 of the 6 Bats' runs, on 6 hits and a walk.

The Bats scored one run in the top of the 1st, on a single up the middle by SS Zack Cozart, a grounder by 1B Yonder Alonso to move Cozart to second, and an RBI double down the right field line by LF Todd Frazier. �Eveland began the second inning by giving up a single to RF Wladimir Balantien, then a 2-run homer by 2B Chris Valaika, to boost the Bats' lead to 3-0. � The 3rd inning opened with another home run, by Alonso, a solo blast to straight-out center field, bouncing off the top of the wall and into the ground cover in front of the batter's eye trees. �A double to the wall in the right-center field alley by Frazier followed the home run, then a groundout to second base, moving Frazier to third base.

That was all that manager Frank Kremblas wanted to see from Eveland. �He had thrown 53 pitches (34 strikes) in his 2.1 innings. �Brian Bass, who had pitched a 1-2-3 inning last night, came on in relief of Eveland. �The first batter Bass faced, Balentien, took a long fly ball to center field -- not deep enough for another home run, but plenty deep enough for Frazier to tag up and score from third base. �That run was also charged to Eveland. �Bass hit C Ryan Hanigan with a pitch and walked Valaika (unintentionally intentional?), then struck out Bats' starter Chad Reineke to end the inning.

The Bats kept going against Bass in the 4th. �With one out, Bass walked Cozart, who stole second base. �Alonso doubled into center field, bringing in Cozart from second base.

Dejan Kovacevic reports that the Pirates have signed six international players, pitchers Cristian Henriquez, Yunior Montero and Melvin Rosario, outfielders Miguel De Aza and Yunior Valdez, and shortstop Rodney Polonia. See link for brief scouting reports on each player.

Tim Williams at BuccoFans.com reports that the Pirates have signed two more draftees, 49th rounder Logan Pevny and 41st rounder Bryton Trepagnier.

The GCL Pirates were off, as usual for a Sunday. �In other holiday action....

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Bradenton Marauders �5, �Palm Beach Cardinals �3 (box)

The Marauders jumped out to an early lead with 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning. �1B Calvin Anderson began the inning with a single up the middle, and 3B Adam Davis walked. �Both were advanced with a sacrifice bunt by RF Austin McClune. C James Skelton brought them both in with a 2-RBI double, and another double by SS Greg Picart brought in Skelton.

Three straight singles by McClune, Skelton, and DH Erik Huber gave the Marauders another run in the 4th inning.

The Cardinals scored an unearned run off starter Jeff Locke in the 2nd inning. �A fielding error by 3B Davis put a runner on base, and a double combined with an interference error by SS Picart allowed the run to score. �A single, a walk, and an RBI single added an earned run in the 4th. �Locke pitched a total of 6 innings, allowing those runs on 5 hits and a walk, while striking out 6 batters.

Bradenton scored their final run in the 8th. �With two outs, Anderson doubled, and Davis walked. �McClune singled into right field, and Anderson raced around from second base to score. �Davis tried to score from first base, but was out at the plate on a good throw in from right field.

Mike Colla pitched 2 innings in relief, and allowed another unearned run in the 7th. �With two outs and a runner on first, a throwing error by Colla on a pick-off attempt put the runner on second, and another throwing error by Davis on the next play allowed the runner to score. �Noah Krol pitched a perfect 9th inning to earn his league-leading 19th save (Florida State League).

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Louisville Bats �4, �Indianapolis Indians �2 (box)

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A 3-run first inning and four more double plays gave the Bats the win over the Indians tonight at Victory Field. �Charlie Morton (photo) suffered the loss, and the rehabbing Edinson Volquez (Cincinnati Reds) held the Indians to just 4 hits in 5 innings and took the win.

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Charlie Morton got into trouble right from the start, as five of the first six Bats' who came to the plate in the top of the 1st reached base safely. �CF Gary Matthews Jr led off with a single lined into right field. �Matthews stole second base, as SS Zack Cozart took four pitches for a walk. �After a fly out, LF Todd Frazier doubled to the wall in center field, driving in both Matthews and Cozart, who came around all the way from first base. �3B Juan Francisco followed with another double, down the right field line. �The ball bounced around in the corner, making RF Brandon Moss chase it around before he could pick it up and fire it back to the infield. �That brought in Frazier with the third run of the inning. �RF Danny Dorn was hit by a pitch, and both runners moved up one base when Morton got another out, a grounder back to the mound. �Finally a fly out to Alex Presley in center field ended the inning, with the Bats up 3-0.

That first inning took Morton 28 pitches to get through. �He settled down in the next few innings. �In the 2nd, Morton walked Matthews, but got Cozart to bounce a grounder to behind second base. �SS Doug Bernier went to his left to make a diving stop, then flipped the ball with his glove to 2B Jim Negrych, forcing out Matthews. �Negrych threw on to first base, but Cozart was fast enough to beat the throw and he was safe. �Not a problem for Morton, who just got 1B Yonder Alonso to fly out to end the inning. �Morton retired the side in order in the 3rd, then worked around a single by 2B Chris Valaika in the 4th.

Photo: �Erik Kratz, pitching coach Dean Treanor, and Charlie Morton

The Bats added an unearned run in the 5th inning, as they proved the old warning about walking the lead-off batter. �Cozart walked to lead off the 5th, and moved to second base on a ground out. �Frazier grounded to short, where Doug Bernier made a nice pick-up, but airmailed the ball to first base. �Cozart rounded third and headed for the plate as the Indians chased after the ball, but he scored easily. �The play was initially ruled a hit and a throwing error that allowed the run to score, and the run was earned. �A few innings later, that was changed so that it was not a hit at all, but just an error, making the run unearned.

The Pirates bunched all their hits together and used a six run seventh inning to propel themselves past the aching Phillies.

Pirates reliever Evan Meek was named to his first All-Star game today. Meek's 0.98 ERA is the best in baseball among pitchers with 40+ innings.

Wouldn't it have been great if the Pirates had gone undeafeated for the month of July and gotten back in the pennant race? Wouldn't it be great if monopoly money was real? Wouldn't it be great if cars ran on water?

Louisville Bats �2, �Indianapolis Indians �1 (box)

Four double plays turned by the Bats did in the Indians at Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, Kentucky tonight. �The Indians posted a total of 6 hits and also were given 3 walks and two more base runners due to Bats' errors, but could not take advantage of any of that, and were unable to bring any of their runners around to score.

The game began hopefully for the Indians, when LF Kevin Melillo led off with a single into right field. �3B Akinori Iwamura (photo) lined a single into left field, moving Melillo to second base. �2B Jim Negrych tried to move both runners up with a sacrifice bunt, but Bats' pitcher Jesus Delgado was fast enough in getting to the ball that he was able to fire to third base for the force out on Melillo. �That halted the Indians' little bit of momentum, and the next two batters went down quickly on a strikeout (1B Jeff Clement) and a line out (RF Brandon Moss).

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The Tribe put a runner on third base in the 2nd inning. �C Erik Kratz took a fly ball into center field for a big double, and he advanced to third on SS Argenis Diaz's ground out. �That was as far as Kratz could get, though, as a fly out ended the inning. �The Indians went down in order in the 3rd.

Starter Brian Burres (photo) retired the first 7 batters he faced. �With one out in the bottom of the 3rd, Bats' 2B Chris Valaika lined the first Bats' hit of the game into left field for a single. �Delgado dropped down a sacrifice bunt, moving Valaika to second base, and he scored from there when CF Gary Matthews doubled into left field, giving the Bats a 1-0 lead.

The double plays started coming in the 4th inning. �Jeff Clement led off the inning with a single slipped into left field, but he was immediately erased when Brandon Moss bounced right to 2B Valaika, who started a 4-6-3 double play. �Argenis Diaz reached base on a throwing error by Bats' 3B Juan Francisco in the 5th. �He was off and running with the swing by�Brian Burres, and when the ball Burres hit landed right in the glove of LF Todd Frazier, Diaz had already rounded second base. � It was an easy play for the Bats to throw the ball back to first, well ahead of Diaz, to double him up.

With one out in the 6th, the Tribe got a little something going again. �Aki Iwamura worked a walk, and Jim Negrych singled through the right side of the infield and into right field. �With two runners on, the Indians looked like they might have a chance to tie the score. �But Jeff Clement bounced to second base, where Chris Valaika started another 4-6-3 double play to end the inning and the threat.