3B Brian Friday and 2B Chase d'Arnaud













Durham Bulls  12,  Indianapolis Indians  3
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For the second night in a row, the Indianapolis Indians struggled both at the plate and in the field, as they fell to the Durham Bulls in the first game of a 4-game series at Victory Field.  The Bulls posted 19 hits for 12 runs, in a game that seemed similar to last night's game against the Norfolk Tides.  They scored in all but three innings (same as the Tides last night), and had runners on base in every inning (as did the Tides).  In addition, the Bulls put the first runner on base in each of the first five innings, and in seven of nine innings.  

Sean Gallagher (photo) made the start tonight, and like yesterday, he had two batters reach base against him in the top of the 1st inning.  Gallagher hit the first batter, CF Desmond Jennings, with a pitch.  Jennings stole second base on the first pitch to LF Justin Ruggiano.  Then Ruggiano lined into left field, and Jennings came around to score.  An alert play by Tribe LF Alex Presley had the ball back in to the infield and to second base quickly, and Ruggiano was tagged out at second base by 2B Chase d'Arnaud.  

3B Russ Canzler began the 2nd inning with a looping single into right field, but after a pop up, Canzler was erased in a strike-out-throw-out double play.  Former Indy Indian 2B JJ Furmaniak led off the 3rd inning with a double into the right-center field alley, and after a sacrifice bunt, a sacrifice fly by Jennings brought Furmaniak in to score, giving the Bulls a 2-0 lead.  


The Bulls increased their lead to 4-0 in the 4th.  DH Chris Carter led off with a solo home run, which saw RF Andrew Lambo trying to climb up the padded right field wall (it never works) in a desperate attempt to grow 12 feet taller.  Gallagher walked Canzler after the homer, and two outs later, he hit Furmaniak with a pitch.  SS Ray Olmedo gr ounded sharply to first, and the ball dinged off 1B Andy Marte's glove for a single.  Canzler was off and running with the pitch, and he came around to score, even though d'Arnaud got to the ball quickly.  A ground out to third and an excellent scoop by 3B Brian Friday ended the inning.  

The Pirates' lower minor league affiliates wrap up the month of April:

Erie SeaWolves  5,  Altoona Curve  0
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The Curve were held to just 3 hits, plus two walks, as they were shut-out by the SeaWolves.  Their first hit of the game came in the 2nd inning, when 3B Jeremy Farrell singled, then moved to second base on a wild pitch.  The inning ended with Farrell being forced out at third base.  Altoona had their biggest threat with two runners on base in the 3rd inning -- a line drive single into left field by RF Eric Fryer and a walk to DH Jose Hernandez.  A ground out put both runners into scoring position, but they too were left stranded.  The Curve went down in order until LF Quincy Latimore's single in the 6th.  1B Miles Durham was the only base runner for Altoona in the last three innings, when he walked in the 7th.

Jeff Locke made the start for the Curve.  He pitched 6 innings but was the victim of some errors in the field behind him.  He gave up one earned run but 4 unearned runs, and was charged with the loss.  Erie's earned run came in the 2nd inning, on a double, a walk, and an RBI single.  The second base runner who tried to score was gunned down at the plate on a throw in from Fryer in right field to C Tony Sanchez.  The top of the 4th inning began with a single, and the next batter grounded to short for what should have been a double play.  But a missed catch error by 2B Brock Holt left both runners safe.  A walk loaded the bases, and a grounder allowed the lead runner to score.  A triple drove in two more runs, to give Erie a 4-0 lead.  Erie began the 6th inning with a double and a single, and with two outs, a fielding error by Farrell at third allowed another unearned run to score.  

Tim Alderson relieved Locke and pitched 3 hitless and scoreless innings.  The only batter to reach base against Alderson was hit by a pitch, then erased in a double play.   

The Pirates have promoted reliever Danny Moskos from the Indianapolis Indians to the major league team.  Moskos will take the roster spot opened up when Evan Meek was placed on the Disabled List.  
While Moskos struggled at the AAA level in 2010, he has done much better this season.  In 8 appearances, he has allowed just 2 earned runs in 10.2 innings for a 1.69 ERA.  Those 2 runs came in just one game, on April 20th in Toledo.  He has allowed 9 hits and one walk, while striking out 7 batters.  

Pedro Ciriaco gets back to first base safely














Norfolk Tides  11,  Indianapolis Indians  3
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The Norfolk Tides swamped the Indians at Victory Field tonight, ending this 4-game series with a 2-2 tie.  Starter Brian Burres (photo) suffered his 4th loss of the season (no wins) and lasted just 4 innings, allowing 7 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks, with 3 strikeouts.

The Tides had base runners on in every inning, and they scored in 6 of the 9 innings.  Burres began the game with a strikeout, but things went downhill from there.  The second batter, 2B Ryan Adams lined a single into right field, and LF Nolan Reimold followed with a long home run over the left field wall, all the way to the sidewalk behind the grass berm.  Burres got a fly out and a strikeout to end the inning.  In the 2nd, the Tides made it 3-0 with SS Brendan Harris' solo home run, which landed in almost the same place as Reimold's.  

The Indians had a chance to return fire in the bottom of the 1st inning.  RF Corey Wimberly and SS Chase d'Arnaud led off with back-to-back line drive singles, one to right field and one to left.  It would have been a great opportunity to answer the Tides, but the next three batters could not move the runners along -- a fly out, a pop out, and a fly out, leaving Wimberly and d'Arnaud standing there.  

Altoona Curve  8,  Erie SeaWolves  6
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Two big innings gave the Curve enough runs to withstand a late-inning rally by the SeaWolves and take the win to open this series.  The Curve got started with a two-out rally which scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 2nd.  After a line out and a ground out, C Tony Sanchez and DH Kris Watts both walked.  1B Miles Durham and RF Brad Chalk then hit back-to-back doubles, with Durham driving in one run and Watts adding two.  2B Brock Holt reached base on a fielding error at shortstop, moving Chalk to third base.  Chalk scored on a balk, giving the Curve a 4-0 lead.  They added 3 more runs in the 5th, beginning with Holt's lead-off single through the hole into right field.  CF Starling Marte dropped down a sacrifice bunt to moved Holt to second base. Three consecutive singles, by LF Quincy Latimore, Mercer, and 3B Jeremy Farrell brought in one run (Mercer's RBI).  After a pitching change, Sanchez made it four straight singles with a liner into center field, scoring Latimore and Mercer.  The Curve added one more insurance run in the 7t, on a single by Latimore and an RBI double by Mercer.  

Aaron Pribanic made the start for the Curve and earned his second win of the season.  He pitched 5 scoreless innings, allowing 4 hits and a walk.  Two of the hits, a single and a double, came in the 3rd inning, and were followed by a bouncer back to the mound, which Pribanic returned to Sanchez, who tagged out the lead runner at the plate.  Two more singles came in the 4th, and both of those runners were left on base.  Brian Leach pitched the 6th and 7th innings and gave up a run in each.  A walk and a triple plated the run in the 6th, and a walk, a single, and two ground outs brought in the run in the 7th.  Tom Boleska began the 8th inning, and got into trouble right away.  Two walks and a double loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly scored one run.  After another walk, Boleska was relieved by Noah Krol.  The first batter Krol faced doubled into left field for 2 runs, and a hit batter and an RBI ground out gave Erie the fourth run of the inning.  Krol ended the rally with a strikeout, then retired the SeaWolves in order in the 9th to earn his 6th Save of the season.