Here's what happened in the minors on Saturday:
While the major-league Pirates were getting their rear ends handed to them by the Reds, Indianapolis was beating the Reds' Class AAA Louisville team, 7-1. Rudy Owens pitched 6.1 innings and allowed three hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Owens also took a no-hitter into the sixth inning (although opposing batters found all kinds of ways of reaching base before that, including walks, HBPs, and reaching on an error).
Bradenton lost to Fort Myers, 9-6, with Nate Baker taking the brunt of the damage for the Marauders. Bradenton currently has the best OPS in the Florida State League but has allowed by far the most runs of any team, thanks in part to ugly performances so far by Baker and Quinton Miller, who combined have allowed as many runs as the entire St. Lucie Mets have. Oh well - it's early.
West Virginia beat August 8-5 after putting up crooked numbers in each of the first three innings. The Power has been a good hitting team so far, which isn't necessarily surprising for a squad that features a bunch of college bats, like Matt Curry, Justin Howard and Dan Grovatt. And Drew Maggi, although he's off to a slow start. He did have a single and double Saturday, so hopefully that's the start of something.