Daily Archives: Apr 27, 2010

As expected, the Pirates have called up righty�Jeff Karstens from Indianapolis to help them with their pitching woes. �Karstens will have to be added to the 40-man roster -- he was removed from it back in November. �Over the past few weeks, Karstens had made 4 relief appearances for the Indy Indians, �for a total of 11 innings, allowing 11 runs (10 earned) on 15 hits. �He also made one start, last Thursday, and pitched 5 innings, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits.

In order to make room, Rule 5 Draft pick OF John Raynor has been designated for assignment. �If Raynor clears waivers, he will have to be offered back to the Marlins. �The Pirates are hoping they can work out a deal to keep him, like they did for Evan Meek a couple of years ago.

One late morning/early afternoon game today:

West Virginia Power 6, �Kannapolis Intimidators 1 (box)

The Power won the series over Kannapolis 3 games to one with today's early-bird win. �Gabriel Alvarado made the start for the Power, and pitched 4 solid innings, allowing one run on 3 hits and 2 walks. �The run he gave up was a lead-off homer to Kannapolis RF Nicholas Ciolli, to begin the 2nd inning. �Alvarado worked around a base runner in each inning, but did not allow any of those batters to score. �He struck out one and erased one of the runners with a double play. �Ciolli had another hit off Alvarado in the 4th, and a third hit off Zach Foster in the 8th, accounting for 3 of Kannapolis' 4 hits.

The Power answered the run in the bottom of the 2nd with 3 runs on 3 doubles in the top of the 3rd. �CF Evan Chambers walked with one out, and moved to third base when LF David Rubinstein doubled. �3B Jesus Brito brought Chambers in with a sacrifice fly. �Back-to-back doubles by 1B Aaron Baker and DH Rogelios Noris plated two more runs, giving the Power a 3-1 lead.

The Power were quiet over the next four innings, getting only one hit -- a single by Aaron Baker, who was then caught stealing second base. �In the 8th, they utilized singles and errors instead of doubles to do their scoring. �With one out, Rubinstein and Brito both singled, and when the Kannapolis centerfielder made a fielding error, Rubinstein was able to make it all the way around to score. �Brito was left on second base, and a wild pitch moved him up to third. �Baker singled next, scoring Brito, and another fielding error, this one in left field, put Baker on third base. �Noris lifted a sacrifice fly, and Baker came in with the third run of the inning. �Power up, 6-1.

Duke Welker relieved Alvarado for the 5th inning. �He walked three and struck out three (S,W,W, S,W,S), but gave up no hits or runs. �In the eyes of the official scorer, that earned him his first win of the season. �Maurice Bankston pitched the next two innings and allowed only a walk. �Zach Foster gave up a walk and Ciolli's third hit in the 8th, but left both runners on base, then retired the side in order to finish up the 9th.

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Indianapolis Indians 7, �Louisville Bats 6 (box)

It's just a few minutes after midnight, radio broadcaster Howard Kellman just said "Good Morning Everyone" as he came back from a station ID break, and Erik Kratz just earned his first career save with a nicely pitched 15th inning. �The Indians' fifth lead in this game was finally the one that stuck, and the 4 hour 57 minute game has ended with an Indians' win. �CF Jose Tabata hit the Indians' only home run of the game in the top of the 15th for the winning run. � And, these players have to be on a bus in about 4 hours to head out to catch a flight to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where they will be playing... later today. �"I just don't want it to go to my head," quipped Kratz about his first save.

The first half of the game was dominated by the starting pitchers. �Tribe starter Donnie Veal (photo) retired the first 8 batters he faced. �He gave up a walk and a single in the 3rd inning, but got out of the small jam with a strikeout. �Veal breezed through the 4th inning, then gave up a lead-off single in the 5th, but erased that batter with a double play. �Louisville starter Travis Wood gave up a single to LF Brandon Moss in the 2nd, and a single to 3B Doug Bernier in the 4th, but both of them were eliminated with subsequent double plays.

The Indians scored the first runs of the game in the 5th inning. �RF Steve Pearce led off with a single to third, and the next two batters struck out. �Then 2B Brian Friday rocketed a ball down the left field line, and while the ball was busy rattling around in the corner, Pearce came around to score all the way from first base. �SS Argenis Diaz followed with a line drive into right field, and Friday headed for home. �The throw in from the outfield came in on the first-base side of the plate, and Friday slid in safely, to give the Indians a 2-0 lead.

Veal seemed to be tiring in the 6th, when he walked two batters, but still held on to end the inning and keep the Bats from scoring. �With two outs in the 7th, Veal walked another batter, and he was relieved by Anthony Claggett. The first batter Claggett faced, C Wilkin Castillo, ran the count full, fouled off a few more pitches, then hit a 2-run homer over the right field wall to tie the game.

The Indians came right back in the top of the 8th. �Back-to-back singles by Argenis Diaz and Brian Myrow, who had come into the game in a double-switch to play first base, led off the inning. �Myrow's single dropped into left field just a few feet in front of LF Juan Francisco, who looked like he could have made the catch with a bit more hustle. �3B Doug Bernier surprised the Bats by dropping down a sacrifice bunt on a 3-2 count, and when pitcher Travis Wood threw to third in an attempt to get the force out on Diaz. �The throw was low and it skipped past third and into left field, allowing Diaz to score the go-ahead run. �Myrow made it to third base and Bernier was safe at first after his sacrifice. �That was the end of Wood's night, and Chad Reineke came on in relief. �Reineke struck out the next two batters, but then threw a wild pitch, allowing Myrow to score. �Indians 4, Bats 2.

West Virginia Power 8, �Kannapolis Intimidators 1 (box)

The West Virginia Power powered up, recording 17 hits on their way to 8 runs, to beat the Intimidators in Kannapolis on Monday night. �The West Virginia starter Kyle McPherson was also showing his Power, going 7 innings and allowing just one runs on 5 hits and a walk, with 3 strikeouts. �McPherson, in his best outing of the season, worked around a double in each of the first two innings. �In the 4th inning, he gave up a lead-off single followed by another double, and this double scored a run. �A Kannapolis runner reached base in the 6th on a throwing error by SS Benji Gonzalez, and another reached on a single in the 7th, and was erased by a double play.

Meanwhile, each member of the Power lineup had at least one hit, and C Ramon Cabrera led the charge by going 4-for-5, with a triple and 2 RBI. �1B Kyle Morgan had a single and two triples, and DH Aaron Baker homered and doubled. �They started with 2 runs in the 1st inning. �A walk by 3B Jesus Brito, a double by Baker, and a throwing error by the Kannapolis pitcher brought in two unearned runs.

The 4th inning began with a single by LF Rogelios Noris and Morgan's first triple, for an RBI. �Morgan scored on Cabrera's single. �Two more singles, by CF Evan Chambers and 2B Jarek Cunningham loaded the bases, and a walk to Brito forced in the third run of the inning. �Power up 5-0.

The Power put two runners on base in each of the 5th and 6th innings, but did not bring any of them around to score. �The 7th began with Morgan's single, and he scored on Cabrera's triple. �Gonzalez plated Cabrera with an RBI single. �Aaron Baker added one more run in the 8th with his solo home run. �Morgan tripled for the second time after the homer, but was left on base

McPherson's win was his first of the season. �Ryan Kelly pitched the last 2 innings for the Power, allowing just one hit, while striking out two batters.