Pirates MiLB recap: 4/8/14

-- Indianapolis took the first game of its doubleheader with Toledo, 6-4.  Every hitter in the lineup had one hit, except Jaff Decker, who went 2-3.  Andrew Lambo went 1-2 with a triple and a walk, and Gregory Polanco went 1-3.  Brent Morel and Blake Davis hit their first HRs.  Most of the damage came against longtime Altoona mainstay Derek Hankins.  Phil Irwin got within one out of five shutout innings, but then gave up back-to-back HRs, the first one a three-run shot.  Zack Thornton threw one and a third scoreless innings, allowing two hits and fanning three.  Jared Hughes threw a scoreless inning for the save.

-- The Indians dropped the second game, 8-6.  Polanco and Chase d'Arnaud each went 2-4.  Lambo may be getting his bat going, as he went 2-3 with a double and a walk.  Nevin Ashley went 3-3.  Jay Jackson and Duke Welker combined to allow all the runs, seven of them earned, along with seven walks in five innings.  Dan Schlereth walked one and fanned one in one inning.

-- Willy Garcia's (pictured) first hit of the year was a walk off HR with one out in the 9th as Altoona used four solo HRs to beat Akron, 4-3.  The other three came off the bats of Stetson Allie, Jarek Cunningham and Mel Rojas, Jr.  Allie's and Cunningham's HRs came off former major leaguer Kyle Davies.  Gift Ngoepe went 2-3 with a double and a walk, and Alen Hanson went 1-4.  Joely Rodriguez allowed two runs over six innings in his first AA start.  He gave up five hits and three walks, and struck out none.

-- Bradenton had a walk off win by the same 4-3 score, beating Palm Beach with two runs after two were out in the bottom of the 9th.  Jordan Steranka tied the game with his second HR, then Walker Gourley and Raul Fortunato singled, with Gourley scoring on an error.  Josh Bell went 2-4 with a double and a triple.  Max Moroff and Adam Frazier each went 0-3 with a walk.  Chris Stewart made his second rehab start, going 0-2 before yielding to Jin-De Jhang, who also went 0-2.  Starter Jason Creasy allowed two runs on five hits and two walks in four innings, while fanning one.  Ryan Hafner gave up an unearned run in four innings on two hits and two walks, with no strikeouts.  Jhondaniel Medina fanned the side in the 9th to get the win.

-- West Virginia took game one of its doubleheader, 6-5 over Asheville.  JaCoby Jones went 3-3 with his first HR, three runs and three RBIs.  Erich Weiss went 2-3, Reese McGuire 1-4 and Wyatt Mathisen 1-2.  Dovydas Neverauskas allowed one run in five innings on six hits and three walks.  He fanned five.  Asheville rallied for three in the 9th before Yhonathan Barrios came in to get the last out, although he gave up a run-scoring hit first.

-- The Power dropped game two, 5-2.  Reliever Jerry Mulderig made a spot start and allowed four runs to take the loss.  Clario Perez fanned four in three innings of relief.  Danny Collins went 2-3 with a double.  Jones went 0-3.