PIRATES PROSPECTSPITTSBURGH PIRATES MINOR LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSACTIONS, AND ARTICLES

The Indianapolis Indians might be a little afraid of the .500 mark. �After last night's game, they were one game away from .500. �They thought about .500.... they eyed it up.... and then they couldn't get the hits or push the runs across to get there. �They had done the same thing on April 24th -- entered the game one win away from .500 -- but couldn't get the win to even up the record. �In fact, they've reached 2 games below .500 eight times, and six of those times they couldn't get any closer than that.

This afternoon at Knights' Stadium outside Charlotte, NC, they missed it by a walk. �With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 9th inning and Jason Davis (photo) on the mound in relief, Charlotte DH Brian Myrow opened the 9th inning with a double. �Pinch runner Miguel Negron took over for Myrow at second base, and he advanced to third base on a grounder to second base by 3B Javier Castillo. �C Donny Lucy grounded to third base, but Tribe 3B Luis Cruz bobbled the ball, and Lucy was safe at first, though Negron remained at third. �Lucy moved to second base on defensive indifference, which made no difference since Davis intentionally walked 2B Keith Ginter. �That brought up CF Brent Lillibridge with the bases loaded. �Davis threw two balls... a strike... and two more balls to walk Lillibridge and force in the winning run.

Indians' starter Daniel McCutchen (photo)�pitched 6.1 innings, and allowed one run on 9 hits. �Despite a somewhat erratic curveball, he did not walk any batters, nor did he hit anyone. �He did strike out 4 batters. �The Knights put their lead-off runner on base in 7 of the 9 innings, and had at least one runner on base in every inning. �Daniel McCutchen worked out of all of the jams, big and small, except the one in the 4th inning. �Former Indy Indian LF Andy Phillips doubled to open the 4th, and moved to 3rd base after tagging up on a fly ball. �He scored on 3B Javier Castillo's RBI single. �

Daniel McCutchen began the 7th inning by allowing another lead-off double, this one by C Donny Lucy. �But Lucy got greedy and tried to make it to third base. �LF Jeff Salazar had a little trouble handling the ball at first, but quickly recovered and fired a perfect throw in to the cut-off man SS Brian Bixler, who relayed to 3B Luis Cruz for the tag out as Lucy slid into third. �2B Keith Ginter followed with a single, and that was all for McCutchen's night. �Jason Davis came on to get to grounders for force outs to end the inning. �Davis gave up a walk in the 8th inning, but erased the runner with a double play, and ended the inning with a ground out.�

The Indians were held to just 4 hits in the game. �While the Knights were busy putting lead-off batters on base, the Indians did not get even one of their lead-off batters on.��The Tribe had a runner on base in each of the first three innings, but couldn't get a run across. � 2B Shelby Ford singled in the first inning, but was caught trying to steal second base in a strike out/throw out double play. �RF Garrett Jones lined a single into left field in the 2nd inning, and moved on to second base on 3B Neil Walker's ground out, but got no further. �CF Andrew McCutchen walked in the 3rd inning, but he too was left stranded. �After the walk, the next 8 Tribe batters went down in order, until Andrew McCutchen singled in the 6th inning. �Walker (photo) reached base on a walk in the 7th.��More base runners left on base.

The final Indians' hit of the game was also their only run: �a solo home run by LF Jeff Salazar�in the top of the 9th inning, on a line drive that sailed over the right field wall. �The homer tied the score at 1-1 and set up the Knights' for the bottom of the inning, and the walk-off walk. �

The loss gives the Indians a split of the 4-game series with Charlotte. �The Knights will visit Indianapolis at the beginning of August. �The Indians will travel to the Atlanta area to begin a 4-game series with the Gwinnett County Braves tomorrow.

Indians' Hitting Gem of the Game: �The big hit -- Jeff Salazar's (photo) solo home run in the top of the 9th, for the Tribe's only run of the game. �The homer extended the Indians' streak of hitting at least one extra-base hit in every game so far this season. �

Indians' Defensive Gem of the Game: �Also Jeff Salazar, who made an outfield assist to throw out Donny Lucy trying to stretch a double into a triple in the 7th inning.

NOTES:

Streaks extended -- as noted, the extra-base hit streak is intact at 42 games. �A double play in the 8th, off the bat of Andy Phillips, extended the streak of games with at least one double play to 14 straight games. �It's the longest in the International League this season.

Go Tribe!

[Photos by Nancy Zinni --MVN]

Three hits by both Garrett Jones (photo)