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Pirates Minor League Roundup: Robbie Grossman Has Four Hits and Five RBIs; Starling Marte Goes Deep

All three rookie level teams were off on Sunday as usual and Bradenton got rained out, but there were a couple of doubleheaders to add to the action:

-P- Indianapolis edged Toledo, 7-6, behind Starling Marte, Matt Hague and Jose Morales. Marte and Hague each went 3-5, with Marte, who played left again, belting his 12th HR. Morales went 2-4 with a three-run HR, his 1st. Daniel Cabrera allowed three runs over six innings and left with a 4-3 lead, but Dan McCutchen gave up three runs in one inning of work. He ended up with a win when Morales hit his HR in the next half inning. McCutchen has allowed ten earned runs in his last eight outings and continues to look like a candidate to come off the 40-man roster if the Pirates acquire a player at the deadline.

-P- Altoona swept a doubleheader from Erie for the second straight day. Game one was an 11-2 Curve blowout. Robbie Grossman went 4-5 with a triple and five RBIs. Adalberto Santos and Ramon Cabrera each had three hits, including a double by Cabrera, and Jarek Cunningham went 2-3 with his 4th HR. Brandon Cumpton allowed two runs, one earned over five innings. He gave up five hits, walked one and fanned one. Altoona won game two by a 2-1 count. Nate Baker returned to starting for at least this game and threw four shutout innings, allowing just one hit and two walks, and fanning three. Hunter Strickland allowed an unearned in three innings and got credited with the win. Matt Curry went 2-3.

-P- Ryan Hafner's problems continued, as he gave up seven runs in the first inning of West Virginia's 9-4 loss to Delmarva. Hafner recorded two outs, gave up two hits, walked four and hit one. Zac Fuesser relieved with the bases loaded and two outs, and allowed all the runners to score. Fuesser pitched better afterward, going 5.1 IP and allowing two runs on four hits and a walk, and fanning eight. In all, Power pitchers fanned 15. Gregory Polanco went 2-2 with a double and a hit batsman, but he and Alen Hanson, who was 0-3, were both pulled at the beginning of the 8th. There were five batters hit in the game, which may have been the reason the two were taken out. Eric Avila had his 3rd HR for the Power.

-P- State College split a doubleheader with Williamsport. The Spikes won a slugfest in game one by a 12-6 count. Tyler Gaffney went 2-3 with a triple, a walk and three runs scored. Walker Gourley had a double in his only official AB and drove in three. D.J. Crumlich went 2-4 with two doubles and Yhonathan Barrios also went 2-4. Adrian Sampson started and lasted four innings, allowing five runs, three earned, on six hits and a walk. He fanned four. The Spikes got shut out, 5-0, in game two. Clario Perez started and got pounded for five runs in two innings. State College had only three hits.