PIRATES PROSPECTSPITTSBURGH PIRATES MINOR LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSACTIONS, AND ARTICLES

A last-ditch effort with two out in the bottom of the 9th came up short as the Indianapolis Indians lost to the Bison at Victory Field this afternoon. �The Indians struggled to produce on the offense, and that hurt starter Ian Snell (photo),�who suffered his second loss in this stint with the Indians.

Snell pitched 5 innings, and gave up 9 hits on the way to 2 runs. �He walked one batter and struck out 4. �The Bisons' first run came in the top of the 1st. �With two outs, Snell gave up three consecutive singles -- a grounder up the middle by CF Jesus Feliciano, a looper into right field by 1B Mike Lamb, and a line drive that just eluded Tribe 2B Shelby Ford's dive by�LF Nick Evans. �Evans' hit brought in Feliciano and the Bison were on the scoreboard.�

Tribe SS Brian Bixler (photo) didn't let the Bison have the lead for long. �He led off the bottom of the inning by taking Tobi Stoner's 2-1 pitch over the right field wall, 375 feet over the "Baseball Up Close" sign. �

LF Lastings Milledge followed Bixler's homer with a double into the right field corner. �Milledge advanced to third base on RF Brian Myrow's ground out to first, but that was as far as he could get. �3B Tagg Bozied grounded out to second base, with the infield in too close for Milledge to try to score from third. �1B Hector Gimenez struck out to end the inning. �

Ian Snell worked around a double by SS Wilson Valdez in the 2nd inning, including a little tapper back in front of the mound, which Snell took himself, tagging out the batter 2B Argenis Reyes (photo). �

Snell got into trouble again in the 3rd inning. �He gave up a lead-off walk to RF Andy Green, and Green moved to second base when Snell committed a balk as he faked a pickoff throw to first base. �Snell struck out Jesus Feliciano for the first out of the inning. �Mike Lamb lined an RBI single into left field, and Green was able to come around from second base to score easily, as the throw in from right field was wide. �Snell got a strikeout and a grounder force out to end the inning, but the Bison had taken a 2-1 lead. �

[Photo: �Chris Barnwell (left) backs up Brian Myrow (right) in the outfield.]

And that was all the scoring there was. �Snell got out of a jam with runners on the corners and one out in the 4th inning, by getting a foul pop up and a little bouncer back to the mound. �He had another jam in the 5th, when he gave up back-to-back singles to Jesus Feliciano and Mike Lamb to open the inning. �Snell's first pitch to Nick Evans popped out of C Erik Kratz's glove, and Feliciano took off for third base. �But, the ball only dropped to Kratz's feet, and he was able to quickly recover and fire down to third base in plenty of time for 3B Tagg Bozied to �tag out Feliciano. �Evans flied out, then 3B Javier Castillo lined a ball over Bozied's head and into left field for a double, moving Lamb to third base. �Snell got out of the inning by getting former Indy Indian (2001) C Robinson Cancel to ground out to second. �

After the first inning, Bisons' Tobi Stoner faced only one batter over the minimum in the next 5 innings. �Brian Bixler was plunked on the shoulder with a pitch in the 3rd inning, but was promptly erased when Lastings Milledge grounded back to the mound and Stoner started a 1-6-3 (Stoner to SS Wilson Valdez to 1B Mike Lamb) double play. �Shelby Ford (photo) slipped a single through the hole and into right field with two outs in the 5th inning, but he was left stranded when pinch-hitter Neil Walker popped out to third base. �

Tagg Bozied opened the bottom of the 7th with a line drive single into left field. �Hector Gimenez sacrifice bunted Bozied over to second base. �Erik Kratz smashed a line drive toward right field, but Bison 1B Mike Lamb robbed him of the hit by sticking out his glove at just the right second. �CF Chris Barnwell grounded to third base, where Javier Castillo was able to tag out Bozied as he tried to advance. �Stoner finished his afternoon by retiring the side in order in the 8th inning. �He gave up only 4 hits and the one run in his 8 innings, with no walks and 7 stirkeouts. �

After Ian Snell sat down, reliever S teven Jackson pitched 3 innings of hitless and scoreless relief. �He walked Wilson Valdez and Andy Green in the 6th inning, but left both stranded. �Then he put down the next 6 Bison batters in order. �Mike Koplove pitched the top of the 9th for the Indians, and he had to work around an error and a hit. �Argenis Reyes began the inning by grounding to first base. �1B Hector Gimenez made a diving stop to keep the ball from going through to the outfield. �He hopped up and flipped to Koplove, but the flip was off-target. �Koplove made the catch, but it broke his concentration and his foot completely missed the first base bag. �Reyes was safe on the throwing error. �

Andy Green dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Reyes to second base. �Jesus Feliciano followed with a short fly ball into center field. �Chris Barnwell charged in, but was not able to catch the ball on the fly -- only as a trap. �Reyes stayed on second base, since he could not be sure if Barnwell was going to make the catch or not. �Mike Lamb was next, grounding to second base, in what looked like it would be an inning-ending double play (photo sequence). Shelby Ford made the scoop and threw to Brian Bixler at second base to force out Feliciano. �But Feliciano disrupted Bixler as he slid into the bag, and Bixler's throw to first pulled Hector Gimenez off the bag. �

That left runners on the corners (Reyes on third and Lamb on first) with two outs. �Koplove bore down and got Nick Evans hit the first pitch right to Brian Bixler at short, for a routine ground out to end the inning.

The bottom of the 9th brought the Indians' last chance. �Lastings Milledge led off with a grounder through the hole and into left field for a single. �But he was eliminated moments later �when Brian Myrow grounded into a double play. �With two outs, Tagg Bozied also singled into left field. �Hector Gimenez further raised everyone's hopes with a single into right field, and Bozied advanced to third base. �Erik Kratz worked a walk to load the bases, and the crowd was screaming. �But their hopes ended when Chris Barnwell grounded to third on a 1-1 pitch to end the rally and the game. �

Indians' Hitting Gem of the Game: �Brian Bixler's home run to begin the bottom of the 1st. �It was his 6th of the season, all coming in July. �

Indians' Defensive Gem of the Game: �In the 5th inning, Nick Evans hit a long fly ball down the right field line, heading toward the corner. �RF Brian Myrow made the long run -- and then had to run even further, as the wind pushed the ball further toward the foul line. �Myrow made the catch, in the corner, right near the foul line, preventing a hit.

NOTES:

Indians' broadcaster Scott McCauley says that the Pirates' jerseys the Indians were wearing yesterday will be auctioned off and the money raised will go to the Indians' and the Pirates' charities.

More photos:

Lastings Milledge takes a lead off second base...... Neil Walker coaching at first base

Erik Kratz............... Steven Jackson�

Neil Walker and Daniel McCutchen watch from the dugout........ Mike Koplove

Erik Kratz fields a bunt in the 9th ...... �Frank Kremblas and Tagg Bozied on third in the bottom of the 9th

Go Tribe!

[Photos by Nancy Zinni -- MVN]