PIRATES PROSPECTSPITTSBURGH PIRATES MINOR LEAGUE NEWS, TRANSACTIONS, AND ARTICLES

It was a pitchers' duel in Altoona tonight. �Altoona's Brad Lincoln retired the first 6 batters he faced. �Two singles and a ground out produced a run in the 3rd inning, and Lincoln retired the side in order again in the 4th inning. �Lincoln scattered three singles and a walk, plus an�error by SS Brian Friday over the next three innings,�but none of them scored. �Lincoln finished with 7 innings, his longest outing of the season (he went 6.2 innings on Sunday). �He struck out 7 batters and gave up one run on 5 hits and one walk. �

Chuck Lofgren, on the mound for the Aeros, was doing just as well. �He gave up a lead-off single to Brian Friday in the 1st inning, but Friday was caught stealing second base. �LF Jonel Pacheco singled in the 2nd inning, and the next 12 Curve batters went down in order. �Friday tripled into left field in the 6th inning, but was left standing on third base at the end of the inning.�

The Curve finally broke through against Lofgren in the 7th inning. �RF Brad Corley singled and went to second base on a wild pitch. �Pacheco singled again, scoring Corley, and a throwing error by the left fielder let Pacheco advance to third base. �1B Jamie Romak hit the RBI single to score Pacheco, and the Curve took a 2-1 lead. �

Unfortunately, the Aeros also broke through. �Reliever Jeff Sues took over for Lincoln to begin the 8th inning, and he was greeted by a double, a fly out to move the runner to third base, a single, a double, and a 3-run home run, giving Akron a 5-2 lead. �

Altoona got one run back in the bottom of the 8th, when 3B�Anderson Machado led off with his first triple of the season. �Brian Friday walked, and when Brad Corley reached on a fielding error, Machado scored. �But it was too little, too late. �Lincoln got no decision, and Sues was charged with the loss. �Brian Friday, Jonel Pacheco, and Jamie Romak all had 2 hits in the game. �

3B Pedro Alvarez was the hero again for the Hillcats tonight. �His 2-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning broke a 4-4 tie to give Lynchburg the walk-off win.

The Hillcats first scored in the 2nd inning, on a single by 1B Matt Hague, a walk to C Kris Watts, and an RBI single by LF Jared Keel. �After going down in order in the 3rd inning, the Hillcats recorded a hit in each of the next four innings: �a single by RF Miles Durham, another single by Keel, a single by 3B Pedro Alvarez, and a double by Keel. �None of them could make it around to score.

Starter Chi-Hung Cheng pitched 5.2 innings for the Hillcats. �He gave up a run in the 1st inning on a double and a single, then retired the Blue Rocks in order in the next two innings. �Cheng gave up four singles and made a throwing error on a pick-off attempt, accounting for two runs in the 4th inning. �Cheng began to tire in the 6th inning. �He walked the first batter of the inning, then erased the runner by inducing a double play. �The next batter reached on a fielding error by 3B Alvarez, and that was all for Cheng. �Moises Robles came in from the bullpen to finish the 6th inning, and pitch a scoreless 7th inning. �Then Robles gave up a run in the 8th inning on a walk, a stolen base, and an RBI single, and Wilmington led 4-1.

The Hillcats got a big break in the bottom of the 8th, as Miles Durham hit an inside-the-park home run. �2B Jose De Los Santos and SS Jordy Mercer led off with back-to-back singles. Two outs later, Durham smacked the ball into the right-center field alley and just kept running, for a 3-run homer to tie the score. �

Mike Colla came in to pitch for Robles, and both teams singled in their respective halves of the 9th inning (Keel again), but neither scored. �Michael Dubee retired the Blue Rocks in order in the top of the 10th. �Mercer led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk, and Alvarez followed with his big boom over the right field wall for the win. �Dubee was the winning pitcher. �Keel went 4-for-4, with a double and three singles, and Durham and Alvarez had two hits each. �Durham now has 25 RBI and Alvarez has 28 RBI. �

West Virginia recorded 14 hits in tonight's game, with every member of the lineup getting at least one hit except for RF Austin McClune, who had a walk and and RBI on a grounder.

The Power got onto the scoreboard first, with a 3-run 1st inning. �CF Robbie Grossman led off with a line drive single into center field. �LF Quincy Latimore singled and SS Chase D'Arnaud was hit by a pitch to load the bases. �DH Calvin Anderson's single scored Grossman, 3B Jeremy Farrell's single scored Latimore, and�Austin McClune's grounder to shortstop scored D'Arnaud. �

The Shorebirds came right back to tie it up in the top of the 2nd inning with 3 runs of their own. �Kyle McPherson gave up 2 singles and 2 doubles, and a run scored on a double play. �The Power scored again in the 4th inning. �2B Greg Picart knocked his first home run of the season, a solo shot. �That was followed by C Josue Peley's double, and a sacrifice bunt by Grossman to move Peley to third base.��Latimore and D'Arnaud hit back-to-back singles, and Peley scored, to give the Power a 5-3 lead. The Power threatened again in the 6th inning, when Latimore singled and both D'Arnaud and Anderson walked to load the bases. �All three were left on base, though.

McPherson scattered 2 more singles over four other scoreless innings, and finished having allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, no walks, with 2 strikeouts, to earn his second win. �Brian Leach took the mound to begin the 6th inning, and he pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowing two singles and a walk. �Wilson Ortiz gave up a lone walk in the scoreless 8th inning. �In the top of the 9th, Ortiz got the first two outs, then allowed a double, a walk, and an RBI single. �Eddie Pena came on to get the final out and earn the save. �

Quincy Latimore went 4-for-5 for the Power, all four hits being singles. �Josue Peley went 3-for-4 with a double and two singles. �Chase D'Arnaud had two singles, and Erik Huber had the Power's other double. �

The Rochester Red Wings pulled off another come-from-behind victory over the Indianapolis Indians tonight at Frontier Field in Rochester, New York.