Plenty of HRs and blown leads in the Pirates' system on Thursday:
-P- Indianapolis took advantage of the wildness of former top prospect Andrew Oliver to hammer Toledo, 10-5. Oliver walked five and threw five wild pitches in four innings, and Chase d'Arnaud and Gorkys Hernandez scored five runs despite having only one hit between them (by d'Arnaud), as they drew two and three walks, respectively. Starling Marte provided the firepower, going 2-5 with a double, his 8th HR and five RBIs. Jeff Clement and Matt Hague each went 2-5, with Clement's hits both being doubles, and Brandon Boggs went 2-2 with two walks. Rick VandenHurk struggled, hitting three batters, walking three, and allowing nine hits and five runs in five innings, but he still got the win to go 7-0 on the season. Bryan Morris threw two scoreless innings, and Evan Meek and Chris Leroux one each.
-P- Altoona got six shutout innings from Brandon Cumpton and beat Harrisburg, 4-2. Cumpton gave up just three hits, walked one and fanned four. Vic Black had a 1-2-3 9th, fanning one, to record his 4th save. Matt Curry hit his 5th HR, which was also his 2nd in two games and 3rd in the last five games. Brock Holt came in as a sub partway through the game and had an RBI triple in two ABs.
-P- Bradenton got hammered by Palm Beach, 10-4. Matt Benedict struggled for the second time since moving up from West Virginia. He gave up six runs on five hits and four walks in five innings, while striking out two. The offense managed just four hits.
-P- West Virginia blew an early 6-0 lead and lost to Lakewood, 7-6, when Vince Payne gave up three runs in the bottom of the 9th. Alen Hanson and Taylor Lewis each went 3-4 with a double. Dan Gamache went 2-4 and Jose Osuna hit his 5th HR. Ryan Hafner started and once again had control problems, walking four in 4.2 IP. He gave up five hits and three runs, and fanned four.
-P- State College also blew a late lead in losing a seesaw game to Mahoning Valley, 6-5. The Spikes fell behind, 4-0, after two, but took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the 8th, when Thomas Harlan gave up two runs, leading to the loss. Jason Creasy did not have a good start, as he allowed four runs on six hits and two walks in 4.1 IP. He fanned only one. Jodaneli Carvajal and Chris Diaz each had two hits. After 11 games, the Spikes are the only team in their league not to have hit a HR.
-P- The GCL Bucs blew an early 5-0 lead, losing to the Yankees, 6-5. Starter Dovydas Neverauskas fanned six in four innings, and allowed only four hits and a walk, but still gave up three runs. Edwin Espinal apparently just had stage fright or something when he fanned in ten of his first eleven ABs; today he went 2-4 with no Ks. Dilson Herrera had only one hit in five ABs, but it was his 3rd HR. He has seven extra base hits in eight games.
-P- The DSL Pirates1 . . . you guessed it . . . blew a big early lead and lost to the Mets2, 11-7 (or did you think I was going to say the box score wasn't available yet?). The Bucs led 6-0 after two and a half innings. RHP Leandro Rodriguez, who signed for $80K (I guess that makes him a mini-prospect or something) gave up four runs on six hits, including three HRs, in 4.1 IP. The Pirates1 probably have more potential position player prospects than the Pirates2 and most of them had one hit today. Outfielder Adrian De Aza went 1-3 with a walk, and infielders Carlos Esqueda and Carlos Ozuna each went 1-4. Ozuna, a shortstop in his first pro year, is doing pretty well so far, hitting 257/358/371. He'll turn nineteen in a month. Firstbaseman Dennis Hurtarte, the Pirates' first Guatemalan signee, fanned all four times up.
-P- The one available laptop apparently was at the Pirates1 game today, so it's time for the Pirates2 to have their box score posted in the wee hours.