Pirates  4,  Phillies  1

The Pirates appreciated the warmer temperatures this afternoon -- warmer than last night, anyway.  They held the Phillies to just 2 hits, and starter Charlie Morton gave up only one unearned run in 5 innings, as they won the second of two pre-season games in Philadelphia.  

A throwing error by 3B Pedro Alvarez put the first Phillies' batter on base in the bottom of the 2nd inning.  Two ground outs moved the runner to third, then brought him in.  Morton worked around a single and a walk in the 1st and another walk in the 3rd.  He made an error in the 5th, when he missed the catch on a toss from 1B Steve Pearce, but worked around that too.  When Morton was done, Mike Crotta and Chris Resop each pitched a perfect inning.  Joel Hanrahan pitched the 8th and allowed a two-out triple, but left the runner standing on third.  Jared Hughes pitched a scoreless 9th, with a walk.

The Pirates scored two in the top of the 2nd, when 1B Lyle Overbay doubled, then Alvarez blasted a home run over the right center field wall.  Steve Pearce doubled to lead off the 6th.  He moved to second on a ground out, then scored on 3B Jordy Mercer's RBI single.  The Pirates added an insurance run in the 9th.  SS Josh Rodriguez singled, then pinch-hitter Josh Harrison moved him to third with another single.  LF John Bowker drove in Rodriguez with a sacrifice fly.  

2B Brian Friday also singled in the game, and CF Starling Marte got into the game as well.


The Indy Indians were scheduled to play the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in Bradenton this afternoon. 

The Pirates announced two roster moves this afternoon:
RHP Mike Crotta had been not-entirely-officially told that he'd make the major league team.  Now it's official:  Crotta and reliever Garrett Olson are on the Pirates' Opening Day roster. 
That means that reliever Chris Leroux will be assigned to Indianapolis.  Olson, a lefty, will be the only lefty in the bullpen, at least until Scott Olsen is healthy again.  Olson also pitched more effectively in last night's pre-season game against the Phillies.  It was not a good night for Leroux to surrender runs.  

Also, the Pirates have traded INF Jim Negrych to the Marlins, in exchange for minor league catcher Carlos Paulino.  Negrych had asked to be traded if he was not going to be assigned to AAA Indianapolis.  
 
Paulino is a 21-year-old Dominican native, who made his US debut with the Marlins' GCL team in 2008.  He moved up to the short-season A Jamestown team in 2009, and hit well there, though without much power:  .291 average, 11 doubles, one triple, one homer, and 14 RBI in 42 games.  In 2010, Paulino caught 60 games for A level Greensboro, but did not hit well, and still showed no power:  .184 with 10 doubles and 10 RBI.  He made 9 errors and 2 passed balls, and he threw out 33 of 81 batters trying to steal.  He was moved up to A+ Jupiter for 3 games, where he hit an RBI double in 8 at-bats.  Paulino's small size makes it easy to see why he doesn't have a lot of power.  He appears to have been the back-up catcher for his team in the past two seasons, and he's likely to do that again for the Pirates.  The Pirates have a lot of catchers already vying for a spot on the West Virginia and Bradenton teams, so it's not clear where Paulino will be assigned.  

Phillies  8,  Pirates  5

The Pirates' regular starters played the entire game on a chilly night in Philadelphia -- a big change from the weather they'd enjoyed in Florida for the past 6 weeks.  2B Neil Walker provided the offensive boost, reaching base in 4 of his 5 at-bats, with a walk, three singles, and one RBI.  Starter Ross Ohlendorf lasted 4 innings, and allowed 6 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits, one walk, and 3 hit batters.

LF Jose Tabata led off the game with a walk, and Walker followed with a single slipped into right field in the top of the 1st.  1B Lyle Overbay brought both runners in with a double, to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.  The Phillies got one run back in the bottom of the frame, on a pair of singles and a throwing error by C Ryan Doumit.  Ohlendorf began the bottom of the 2nd by surrendering a solo homer to Phillies' Ben Francisco, then loaded the bases with a walk and two hit batters.  A fielding error by SS Ronny Cedeno and a sacrifice fly brought in two more runs for Philadelphia.  The Phillies made it 6-2 in the 4th, when Ohlendorf hit his third batter of the game, and allowed 3 more singles.  

Minor leaguer Mike Dubee, whose father Rich Dubee is the Phillies' pitching coach, pitched a perfect 5th inning for the Pirates.  Chris Leroux started the 6th inning and allowed a walk and a single, then an RBI ground out.  He was relieved by Garrett Olson, who finished the inning with a fly out and a ground out.  Jose Veras threw a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th.  Evan Meek took the bottom of the 8th, and began by giving up two singles, including one to former Pirate/Indy Indian C Erik Kratz.  A fielding error by Walker kept the inning going, and Kratz scored an unearned run on an RBI ground out.  

The Pirates scored again in the top of the 5th.  Pinch-hitter Josh Rodriguez and Tabata both walked to open the inning, and Walker lined into right field, where Francisco misplayed the ball.  Both runners scored and Walker ended up on third base, credited with a single.  CF Andrew McCutchen plated Walker with another single.  

The Indy Indians were scheduled to play the Las Vegas 51's in Dunedin this afternoon -- no word on the results. 

Moving on up, as we look at the Pirates' minor league pitchers....

Aaron Pribanic --  R/R,  6' 4",  200 lb
Pribanic came to the Pirates in July 2009, as a part of the trade with the Mariners for Jack Wilson and Ian Snell.  He was assigned to West Virginia, where he made 6 starts and one relief appearance to finish the season, earning a 4-2 record and a 2.15 ERA.  He didn't walk many 5 (1.2 walks/ 9 innings), but didn't strike out many either (18, 4.3 K/ 9 innings).  Pribanic was promoted to A+ Bradenton to begin 2010, and he spent the whole season there.  He was a starter for the whole season, making 27 appearances, and earning a 7-6 record with an overall 3.33 ERA.  He began the season slowly, with 4 starts in April, in which he gave up a total of 12 earned runs in 17 innings (6.35 ERA).  May was a little better, with 18 earned runs in 33.1 innings (6 starts), for a 4.86 ERA.  He gave up 11 runs in his first three starts in June, but by the second half of the month, things were beginning to turn around.  Pribanic gave up 4 runs over his last three starts in June (21 innings).  July was even better:  5 earned runs in 30 innings for a 1.50 ERA.  Pribanic finished up the season with 8 runs in 44.2 innings (1.61 ERA) in August/September.  Again in 2010, he did not walk many (33, 1.9 walks/ 9 innings) and did not strikeout many  (71, 4.2 K/ 9 innings).  Pribanic was assigned to the Arizona Fall League, where he made 11 appearances, all in relief, for the Mesa Solar Sox.  He threw 18 innings and allowed 4 earned runs on 18 hits (2.00 ERA), with 6 walks and 9 strikeouts.  The low strikeout rate has been attributed to Pribanic not having particularly strong breaking pitches.  He does get a lot of ground ball outs, though, which explains why he can allow 157 hits in 154 innings and still give up "only" 57 runs.  Pribanic needs to work more on those breaking pitches, as the Pirates would really like to see more strikeouts.  He should begin 2011, at age 24, as a starter for AA Altoona.

 
Brian Leach --  R/R,  6' 3", 195 lb
Leach was chosen by the Pirates in the 25th round of the 2008 draft.  He pitched as both a starter and a reliever in his first two seasons in the Pirates' organization, but in 2010, Leach pitched almost exclusively as a starter, with just 2 relief appearances.  He was promoted to Bradenton for the season, and like Pribanic, he got off to a slow start, leading the Marauders in earned runs (15) and walks (16) for the month of April, when he made one relief appearance and four starts, for 20.2 innings, for a 6.53 ERA.  He cut back on the walks in May (9), and did a little better with runs, for a 4.70 ERA in 23 innings.  Leach too turned things around in June, when he allowed 7 runs in 30 innings (2.10 ERA), with 7 walks.  That ballooned up to a 4.75 ERA in July, though he kept the walks down to 6, and slid back to 3.26 ERA in August/Sept, with 9 walks.  Overall, Leach earned a 9-9 record and a 3.85 ERA, with 144 hits in 138 innings.  He walked 44 (2.9 walks/ 9 innings), and struck out 98 (6.4 K/ 9 innings).  Leach also participated in the Arizona Fall League after the regular season.  He made 10 relief appearances for the Mesa Solar Sox, and while he allowed 11 hits and 7 walks in his 10 innings, he did not allow a run.  Leach has been somewhat on-again-off-again with his control -- it was better during the second half of the regular season, and not so great during the AFL.  He needs to work on that in 2011, when at age 25, he should be joining Pribanic in the Altoona starting rotation.