It will be an interesting day to watch the minor leagues, as two of the three teams playing today, have a Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher on rehab assignment. Charlie Morton will get the start for Indianapolis, while James McDonald begins his return with Altoona. Altoona has a noon start time. Bradenton has off today. For a look at the possible starters over the next few weeks, please check out our Probable Pitchers Chart. We have added a Recent Transactions section to the bottom of this page, for all Pirates minor league transactions. A full recap of yesterday’s action can be found here.
AAA: Indianapolis (34-17) vs Pawtucket (30-20) 6:05pm
Probable starter: Charlie Morton (0-0, 0.00)
Yesterday’s Result: Buffalo 6, Indianapolis 5
Charlie Morton will make his seventh rehab start as he attempts to come back from Tommy John surgery. Morton will be making his second start for Indianapolis, last time throwing three innings for them before suffering a setback that caused him to miss time and return to Altoona. He is scheduled to throw 90 pitches tonight. Morton has pitched a total of 24.2 innings, allowing 13 hits, three homers and eight walks. He has 14 strikeouts, a 1.68 GO/AO ratio and a .153 BAA. In his last start, he went 4.2 innings for Altoona, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks. He was on an 80 pitch limit that game.
AA: Altoona (20-29) vs Richmond (25-23) 12:00pm
Probable starter: James McDonald (NR)
Yesterday’s Result: Richmond 20, Altoona 9
James McDonald will make his first rehab start since going down with right shoulder discomfort. He was placed on the disabled list retroactive to May 1st. For the Pirates, he was 2-2, 5.76 in six starts before going on the DL. McDonald last pitched in the minors in 2010.
High-A: Bradenton (20-30) @ Ft Myers (35-14) 7:05pm 5/28
Probable starter: Zack Dodson (1-1, 3.04)
Yesterday’s Result: St Lucie 8, Bradenton 2
Bradenton is off today. When they resume play on Tuesday, they will begin an odd three game series with Ft Myers that includes one home game on Wednesday, surrounded by two road games. Bradenton lost a four game series to Fort Myers to begin the season and the two teams have not met up since. Zack Dodson will get his fifth start of the season on Tuesday. Bradenton is in last place in their division, 15.5 games behind first place Ft Myers.
Low-A: West Virginia (27-22) vs Greensboro (20-28) 5:05pm
Probable starter: Clay Holmes (1-3, 6.08)
Yesterday’s Result: West Virginia 8, Lakewood 3
Clay Holmes will make his tenth start of the year today. He has pitched a total of 40 innings, allowing 42 hits, three homers and 30 walks. Holmes has 27 strikeouts, a 1.83 GO/AO ratio and a .276 BAA. His worst start of the season came against Greensboro on 5/2, when he gave up eight earned runs over four innings of work. He allowed a season-high eight hits, walked three batters and picked up just one strikeout. In his last outing, Holmes gave up five runs over four innings, tying his season high with eight hits allowed. He has a 6.66 ERA in six home starts.
Recent Transactions
5/26 Wyatt Mathisen place on DL. Kawika Emsley-Pai added to West Virginia roster.
5/24 Chase d’Arnaud added to Indianapolis roster
5/23 Vic Black placed on disabled list.
5/22 Orlando Castro assigned to Jamestown. Josh Smith added to West Virginia roster
5/20 Alex Dickerson placed on DL. Justin Howard added to Altoona roster.
