Bristol gets offense and pitching in doubleheader sweep

Minor Transactions

Altoona Curve placed 2B Stephen Alemais on the 7-day disabled list retroactive to August 11, 2018.

Altoona Curve activated C Jin-De Jhang from the temporarily inactive list.

Games

The GCL and DSL teams don’t play on Sundays, and Bradenton’s game was suspended in the first inning.

— Indianapolis 65-54 took an early 5-0 lead over Pawtucket, but a late-inning bullpen meltdown left them with a 9-5 loss. Tyler Eppler gave up three runs over five innings. He allowed eight hits and two walks, and struck out four. Alex McRae and Jesus Liranzo combined to give up six runs in the seventh inning. McRae now has a 5.48 ERA in his last ten outings in AAA, 5.11 on the season. And, yes, that’s the guy the Pirates thought belonged in the major league bullpen. Max Moroff, Jose Osuna and Ryan Lavarnway provided most of the offense. Moroff was 2-4 with a walk, his sixth AAA home run and three RBIs. Osuna was 3-3 with a double and Lavarnway 2-4 with two doubles. Lavarnway is now hitting 298/384/521. Kevin Kramer was 0-4. Jason Martin’s struggles continued as he went 0-5 with three strikeouts. He’s mired in a 6-for-69 slide.

— Altoona (63-53) lost to Erie, 4-3, in 11 innings. The Curve tied the game, 3-3, in the eighth, but weren’t able to score either of their bogus runners in extra innings. The game at least lasted long enough for Ke’Bryan Hayes to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. He went 1-2 with three walks. Cole Tucker was 0-2 with three walks, Bryan Reynolds 1-4 and Will Craig 1-5. Craig drove in two runs, giving him 93 on the year. Scooter Hightower started and allowed just an unearned run in five innings. He gave up two hits and two walks, and fanned six.

— West Virginia (60-54) beat Rome, 10-4. Rodolfo Castro went 3-5 with a pair of doubles. Deon Stafford was 1-3 with a triple, a walk and three runs. Lolo Sanchez was 1-4 and Cal Mitchell 0-5 with three strikeouts. Mitchell has just a .557 OPS in the season’s second half. Sergio Cubilete started and gave up a run on four hits and a walk in five innings. He fanned five.

— Morgantown (21-35) got a walkoff, two-run home run by Brett Kinneman in the bottom of the tenth to beat Mahoning Valley, 9-8. Grant Koch had tied the game with a two-run blast in the eighth. The homers were the second for each. Koch finished 3-4, while Kinneman was 1-5. Travis Swaggerty went 2-4, and Connor Kaiser and Mike Gretler each went 1-3. Alex Manasa allowed just an unearned run through the first five innings, but he and Will Gardner combined to give up six runs in the sixth.

— Bristol (25-26) routed Johnson City in the first game of a doubleheader, 11-3. Sherten Apostel, Brendt Citta (pictured) and Dean Lockery all had big days. Apostel was 3-3 with a walk, a double and his sixth home run, and he scored four times. Citta went 3-4 with a double, his first pro home run and four RBIs. Lockery went 3-4 with a triple. Mason Martin was 1-3 with a walk and Jonah Davis 0-3 with a walk. Oliver Garcia went six innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks, while fanning eight.

The Pirates made it a sweep with a 2-1 win in game two. Denny Roman made his first start since he moved up from the DSL, where he put up playstation numbers. Roman is a 5’9” lefty who, per John Dreker, gets up to 94 mph. He signed in April and was in the DSL due to visa issues, which seems to be the rule now for Mexican signees. (Or it was the rule, as MLB has now forbidden teams from signing Mexican players.) Roman had a fair amount of experience in Mexico (he’s 19), so he wouldn’t ordinarily have started off in the DSL. Tonight he went five and a third innings, allowing just a run on four hits and a walk, with three strikeouts. Yondry Contreras hit his first home run of the season and Christian Navarro went 2-3 with a triple. Apostel was 0-3.

Disabled List

Triple-A Indianapolis

• 2018-06-27 3B Jung Ho Kang, left wrist sprain (underwent possible season ending surgery)
• 2018-07-14 RHP Bo Schultz, right forearm strain
• OF Daniel Nava

Double-A Altoona

• 2018-08-11 2B Stephen Alemais
• 2018-08-04 RHP Austin Coley, right shoulder strain
• 2018-08-05 RF Braelin Jackson (left quadriceps strain)

Single-A West Virginia

• 2018-04-16 RHP Dylan Prohoroff
• 2018-05-03 LHP Braeden Ogle, sore shoulder
• 2018-05-21 3B Dylan Busby, struck in head with pitch (on rehab 8-11 at Bristol)
• 2018-07-19 LF Chris Sharpe
• 2018-07-20 RHP Cody Bolton
• RHP Will Reed
• LHP Angel Martinez

Rookie Bristol

• 2018-08-02 RHP Leandro Pina (60 day)

Rookie GCL

• 2018-06-18 RHP Luis Gonzalez (60 day)
• CF Emison Soto (60 day)