Pirates MiLB recap: 4/12/14

-- Indianapolis won its ninth of ten games to start the season, beating Toledo, 6-3.  #FreeGregoryPolanco went 4-4 with his second HR (off a LHP) and three RBIs.  He's now hitting 500/537/763, with just three Ks in 38 ABs.  Chase d'Arnaud had two hits and Andrew Lambo went 1-2 with a walk.  Starter Adam Wilk struck out seven in six innings, allowing the three runs on four hits and a walk.  Vin Mazzaro made his Indy debut with a 1-2-3 inning.  Dan Schlereth also threw a scoreless inning and Jared Hughes got the save with a 1-2-3 9th.

-- Altoona lost to Richmond, 4-3, in a game that was surprisingly close considering that Curve pitchers walked a dozen batters, hit three and threw a wild pitch (and that was in just eight innings).  Starter Tyler Sample walked six in four innings and Joan Montero another four in an inning and two-thirds.  The winning run scored on a sac fly in the bottom of the 8th after Ryan Beckman loaded the bases with a walk and two hit batters.  Gift Ngoepe went 1-2 with two walks, Alen Hanson 1-4 with two strikeouts, Stetson Allie 0-3 with a walk, and Mel Rojas, Jr., 1-4 with a double.  Willy Garcia got his fourth hit of the year, a triple, and fanned three times.  Garcia now has 29 ABs with one walk and 14 Ks.  Allie, by contrast, has four walks and seven Ks.  He's only batting .208, but has a passable .738 OPS.

-- Orlando Castro (pictured), Robby Rowland and Jhondaniel Medina combined to shut out Jupiter, 1-0.  Castro went six, giving up five hits and fanning four.  In contrast to Altoona, Marauders pitchers issued no walks.  The game's only run scored in the 1st when Walker Gourley doubled and Adam Frazier singled him in.  Josh Bell went 0-4 and Jin-De Jhang 0-3.

-- West Virginia lost to Lexington, 2-1, as starter Luis Heredia left with shoulder soreness after throwing one pitch.  Relievers Felipe Gonzalez and Henry Hirsch stepped in to combine for eight innings, allowing just five hits and two walks, and fanning eight.  Gonzalez allowed the two runs.  Erich Weiss went 3-4 with two doubles, and is off to a .394 start.  JaCoby Jones went 2-4.