Tag: Ryan Hafner

More brief notes for Saturday, since we're on the road....

Florida State League All-Star Game, played in Clearwater, Florida
FSL North  5,  FSL South  3
[ box ] 

Three Marauders' players got in on this game:  C Ramon Cabrera, 1B Aaron Baker, and 2B Jarek Cunningham were all starters for the South squad.  The North scored first, with a single, a triple, and fielding error in center field in the bottom of the 1st, for a 2-0 lead.  The South tied it up in the top of the 4th, thanks to the Marauders.  Cabrera led off with a single through to left field.  After two outs, Baker brought in Cabrera with a 2-run homer to tie the game.  

The North took the lead again in the bottom of the 5th.  A walk, a stolen base, an RBI double, and an RBI single gave the North a 4-2 lead.  The North added some insurance in the bottom of the 8th, on two singles and a double.  The South had one last chance in the top of the 9th, which began with a lead-off single.  Baker grounded out, moving the runner to second base, and another single put him on third.  A sacrifice fly brought in the run, but a ground out ended the rally and the game.  

Cabrera played 3.5 innings before being replaced by another catcher.  He went 1-for-2, with a ground out in his other at-bats.  Cunningham played 5.5 innings before letting another second baseman get into the game.  He grounded out and popped out in his two plate appearances.  Baker played the whole game, and went 1-for-2 at the plate, with two walks.   

Continuing to look at some of the pitchers in the Pirates' lower minor league organization.  Today we consider five more of the Pirates' 2010 draft picks.

Stetson Allie --  R/R,  6' 4",  225 lb
Allie was the second round pick in the draft, coming out of high school in Cleveland.  He signed at the last moment, so he did not get into any games in the regular season.  He did go to Fall Instrux, where he again impressed the Pirates' management with his velocity and also with his maturity.  He has a fastball that reached into the 100's several times toward the end of his high school career, but he has better control of it when it's in the mid 90's.  He also throws a slider and needs work on a changeup.  Control, along with the slider and the changeup, are what Allie is going to need to work on as he makes his pro debut.  He has been pitching in the minor league spring training camp and has struggled a bit as he faced more experienced players.  Allie seems to be slated to do more work in Extended Spring Training before beginning the 2011 season in State College.  

James Archibald  --  Bats L / Throws R,  6' 1", 190 lb
Archibald came to the Pirates in the 36th round of the draft.  He got signed and got down to business in the GCL, at first working out of the bullpen.  He did well in 3 relief appearances, allowing 5 hits and one run (a homer) in 5 relief innings, for a 1.80 ERA, with 3 strikeouts and no walks.  Archibald was moved to the starting rotation, and in 8 starts, he had more trouble.  His first two starts went well, as he allowed one run in 3 innings and one run in 5 innings.  The next three were a little shakier, with 5 runs on 15 hits over 12.2 innings.  His best game was on August 7th, when he struck out 7 batters in 5 innings.  Archibald's last 3 starts were very tough.  He allowed 14 runs on 19 hits in 9.1 innings, ballooning his total ERA to 5.40 for the season.  Archibald will be 21 years old in May.  He might spend some more time in the GCL before heading to State College in 2011.  

Less action than planned on Tuesday for the Pirates' lower minor league affiliates, mostly due to rain in the Bradenton area.� The Marauders' game against the St. Lucie Mets was postponed.� They will try for two tomorrow.� Yesterday's game between the Fort Myer Miracle and the Marauders was also rained out, as well as the game that they tried to start on Sunday (but only got into the second inning).� Those games will not be made up.� The GCL Braves at GCL Pirates games were washed out yesterday.� They tried to play two today, but only got one of the games in.

GCL Braves� 5,� GCL Pirates� 1 ..� (box)

Each team had 6 hits this afternoon, but the one that counted was the Braves' walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 7th.� The Pirates began the scoring with a run in the 3rd inning.� SS Kevin Mort led off with a double, then advanced to third base on DH Justin Howard's single into right field.� The two pulled off a double steal, with Mort scoring on the steal of home.� The Braves tied the score in the bottom of the 4th with a solo home run.

The Pirates loaded the bases in the 5th, on singles by Howard and CF Junior Sosa, and a walk by 2B Jorge Bishop. A strikeout ended that threat.� Sosa also singled in the 1st inning and stole second base.� LF Exicardo Cayonez also singled in the 4th, but was thrown out trying to steal second.� 1B Jared Lakind made his pro debut, but went 0-for-3 at the plate.

Joely Rodriguez pitched 5 innings in his start, and scattered 3 hits, no walks.� One of those hits was the solo homer in the 4th.� Ryan Hafner also made his pro debut, pitching the 6th inning.� He gave up a lead-off single in the 6th, then got a grounder force out and struck out the next two batters to end the inning and continue the tie.� Hafner began the 7th inning with a single and a walk.� Fraylin Campos relieved Hafner, but he hit the first batter he faced to load the bases.� That set up Braves' 3B Brandon Drury for the game-winning grand slam.

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a lot of jawing going on

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Norfolk Tides� 9,� Indianapolis Indians� 1 (box)

Norfolk Tides' starter Chris Tillman pitched into the 7th inning and struck out 9 Tribe batters as the Tides easily washed over the Indians at Victory Field tonight.� Indians' starter Jeremy Powell (photo) had a rough outing, and did not get through the 4th inning, as he allowed 7 runs on 10 hits.

Powell allowed at least one base runner on in each of his 4 innings, though he did have a bit of luck in the top of the 1st.� CF Matt Angle opened the game with a double into the right-center field gap.� He moved to third base when one of Powell's pitches to SS Robert Andino came up and in and high, and got past C Jason Jaramillo for a wild pitch.� Andino struck out, then Powell struck out former Indy Indian RF Jeff Salazar.� On strike three to the left-handed hitting Salazar, Jaramillo hopped up and fired down to third base, surprising Angle, who was a little too far off the bag.� 3B Akinori Iwamura was easily able to tag out Angle to end the inning.

Unfortunately, there was not much more luck going for Powell.� In the 2nd inning, with one out, DH Michael Aubrey smacked a sharp grounder to the right of 2B Brian Friday. Friday was able to make the diving stop, but had no time to throw Aubrey out at first.� Aubrey went to second base on 1B Brandon Snyder's ground out.� Then 3B Scott Moore rocketed a rising line drive out of the park just inside the right field foul pole for a 2-run homer.

Three straight hits off Powell gave the Tides another run in the 3rd.� With one out, Andino tripled into the left-center field alley, with the ball rolling to the wall in the deepest part of Victory Field.� Salazar brought Andino in with a bloop single into short center field.� Salazar was thrown out trying to steal second base -- the first time this season that Salazar has been caught stealing, in 17 attempts.� LF Nolan Reimold grounded a single up the middle, just out of reach of SS Pedro Ciriaco, but he was left stranded when Powell struck out Aubrey.

Things got worse in the 4th.� Brandon Snyder began the inning with a line drive down the right field line and into the corner.� Powell walked Moore, and C Adam Donachie, just arrived from AA Bowie, dropped down a sacrifice bunt, moving the runners to second and third bases.� 2B Paco Figueroa grounded toward short, where the ball scooted past the diving Ciriaco, who might have been distracted by Moore, who was running in front of him and between Ciriaco and the oncoming ground ball.� It was ruled a hit, and Snyder came in to score.� Angle drove a high bouncer just barely inside the chalk line and into the right field corner for a triple, plating both Moore and Figueroa, and the Tides had a 6-0 lead.� That brought up Andino.� When Powell's first pitch came in tight and hit Andino's jersey, Andino took exception (remember that high and tight wild pitch in the first inning? ).� Andino stood at the plate and yelled out at Powell.� He was restrained by the home plate umpire and Jaramillo, and by his own teammates who quickly came out of the dugout.� Powell returned the jawing, and took several steps toward the plate, but was also blocked by the umpires and his teammates.� Manager Frank Kremblas kept the rest of the Indians' bench from emptying, and after a bit more yelling and milling around, order was restored (photo here and at the top).� No one was ejected, but Kremblas decided that it was a good time to end Powell's night.

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