The three rookie-level teams were off on Sunday. Indianapolis and Altoona continue to pound the ball in turnarounds very similar to the Pirates'.
-P- Indianapolis beat Louisville, 8-3, in a game that was called in the 8th. Starling Marte stayed hot, going 2-4 with his 9th HR. Chase d'Arnaud and Yamaico Navarro also homered, their 2nd and 3rd, respectively. D'Arnaud added two steals and has yet to be caught in 22 tries. Matt Hague and Tony Sanchez each went 2-4 with a double. Rudy Owens did what Rudy Owens does: he went six innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on four hits and two walks. He fanned five. Chris Leroux gave up one run in one inning. He's given up a run in five of his last seven games and doesn't really seem ready for the majors. With the Pirates in contention and relying heavily on a productive bullpen, carrying a guy because he has no options isn't a very attractive proposition. Then again, they're pretty much doing that now with Chris Resop.
-P- Altoona rode a big game from Crocodile . . . er, Stefan Welch to a 7-4 win over Binghamton. Welch went 4-5 with a pair of HRs, giving him four in 15 games with the Curve. He drove in four runs. Robbie Grossman and Brock Holt each went 2-4 with a double and a walk. Holt is now hitting .325, but Kyle Stark is going to run for mayor of Altoona and doesn't want to ire the locals by promoting Holt. Ramon Cabrera went 2-4 with a walk and Quincy Latimore went 2-4 with his 9th HR. Jeff Inman, who's not quite looking like a prospect, allowed a run in two innings. Vic Black, who looks very much like a prospect, threw two scoreless innings for the save, although he did allow four hits and a walk. He fanned four, giving him 46 Ks in 35 innings.
-P- Bradenton split a doubleheader with Charlotte. The Marauders lost game one, 8-0. Tyler Waldron continued to struggle, allowing all the runs, six of them earned, in 5.1 IP. In game two, Bradenton took an early 5-0 lead and hung on to win, 5-4. Eliecer Navarro gave up an unearned run in five innings, allowing three hits and a walk and fanning five. Jason Townsend, who had been pitching well, gave up the other three runs in two innings. Alex Dickerson went 2-2 with a walk (3-5 on the day). Gift Ngoepe and Justin Howard each went 2-4, and Howard drove in three runs.
-P- West Virginia pounded out 21 hits, including four HRs, in a wild and crazy 15-10 win over Delmarva. Gregory Polanco went 5-5 with three doubles and a triple, and Alen Hanson went 3-6 with two doubles and his 13th HR. Willy Garcia had only one hit in six tries, but it was a three-run HR, his 10th, and he had five RBIs on the day. Ashley Ponce went only 1-3, but he walked twice and scored four runs. Chris Lashmet went 3-3 with his 1st HR, Jose Osuna went 3-5, and Elias Diaz went 2-5 with a double and his 1st HR. The bad news was that starter Zack Dodson got knocked out with two outs in the 2nd. He allowed five runs. Zac Fuesser threw three and a third scoreless innings in relief, allowing two hits, with no walks or strikeouts.
-P- State College beat Batavia, 1-0, in ten innings. Luis Heredia had another strong start, going five innings and allowing just three hits and no walks. He fanned three. Josh Smith, Kyle Haynes and Jordan Cooper combined for five scoreless innings in relief. Not much offense, but Chris Diaz went 2-4 and drove in the winner with a walkoff single.