Pirates MiLB recap: 4/16/14

-- Indianapolis lost to Louisville, 7-3.  Locke gave up five runs in five innings on five hits, two of them HRs.  He walked two and struck out four, and threw 56 of 91 pitches for strikes.  Gregory Polanco went 0-4.  So did Andrew Lambo, putting #FreeAndrewLambo on hold for now despite the Pirates' recent discovery that Travis Ishikawa is still Travis Ishikawa.  Jaff Decker and Michael Martinez each had two hits.  Martinez is hitting .300, which ominously is 300 points higher than Josh Harrison.  Chris Dickerson hit his second HR and struck out three times.

-- Adrian Sampson threw six shutout innings as Altoona beat Harrisburg, 5-2.  Sampson allowed three hits and three walks, and fanned six.  It was his third straight good outing to start the year, after he struggled last year at Bradenton.  The Pirates evidently knew what they were doing in promoting Sampson aggressively.  Sampson even went 1-2 with a stolen base.  Alen Hanson continued to struggle, going 0-5 with two strikeouts.  Stetson Allie and Willy Garcia each went 1-4 with a double.  Gift Ngoepe went 0-3 with two walks.

-- John Kuchno (pictured), Thomas Harlan and Robby Rowland combined on a two-hit shutout as Bradenton topped Palm Beach, 4-0.  Kuchno went six innings, allowing the two hits and three walks.  He fanned one.  Adam Frazier and Josh Bell both broke out of slumps.  Frazier went 2-4 and Bell 2-3 with a triple.  Walker Gourley went 2-4.

-- West Virginia lost the first game of its doubleheader with Asheville, 5-4, as starter Buddy Borden failed to survive the 1st.  He got two outs, both on strikeouts, but walked two and allowed three runs, all unearned.  (As far as I know, he was lifted due to his pitch limit.)  Henry Hirsch threw three and a third scoreless innings of relief, but he also walked in two of the runs that were charged to Borden.  The Power had 13 hits and rallied for two in the 7th, but left the tying run on base.  Justin Maffei went 3-4 with his first pro HR.  Candon Myles and Danny Collins each went 2-3 with a double, and JaCoby Jones went 2-4.

The Power took game two, 3-2.  Cody Dickson went six innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits and two walks, with two strikeouts.  Maffei, Collins and Erich Weiss all went 2-3, with Collins connecting for his first HR.  Jones went 0-1 with a walk and Reese McGuire 0-2 with a walk.  McGuire was 2-2 in throwing out base stealers.