For an in depth review of yesterday’s games please check out our minor league wrap-up which can be found here. Bradenton now has a 4.5 game lead in their division with just 6 games left in the season. They start a two game series against 2nd place Palm Beach tonight. All five minor league teams won last night.
AAA: Indianapolis (72-66) @ Toledo (65-73) 7:05pm
Probable starter: Jeff Locke (0-1 2.20)
Locke will make 4th start with Indianapolis tonight. He started the year with Altoona and went 7-9 4.03 in 125 innings with 114 strikeouts. Jeff allowed one run over 5 innings in his last start on Thursday. He threw 5.2 shutout innings in his first AAA start on 8/15. His 125 strikeouts rank 2nd to Kyle McPherson in the entire Pirates farm system and he is just 14 behind his career high set last year.
AA: Altoona (61-73) @ Bowie (72-62) 7:05pm
Probable starter: Kyle McPherson (7-5 3.40)
Kyle will get his 15th start with Altoona tonight. Between Bradenton and Altoona this year he has an 11-6 3.16 record in 26 starts. In his last start, last Tuesday, he gave up 4 runs over 5 innings and took the loss. He is the Pirates minor league leader in innings with 151 and strikeouts with 134, both career highs.
High-A: Bradenton (69-63 overall 39-23 2nd half) @ Palm Beach (64-68 overall 35-28 2nd half) 6:35pm
Probable starter: Donald Veal (0-1 2.61)
Veal will make his 3rd start with Bradenton and fourth overall start this season. He has also pitched for the GCL team, Altoona and Indianapolis this year. Overall he has an 0-2 4.70 record in 17 appearances covering 23 innings. He has 24 strikeouts. In his last start on Friday he went 4 innings allowing just one hit, one walk and he struck out one.
Low-A: West Virginia (64-68 overall 28-35 2nd half) VS Lexington (56-77 overall 21-42 2nd half) 7:05pm
Probable starter: Porfirio Lopez (2-4 3.18)
Porfirio will get his 5th start of the year for West Virginia tonight. In each of his last two starts he has thrown 5 shutout innings. With WV he has a 2.12 ERA as a starter and a 3.81 ERA as a reliever in 13 games. Between Bradenton and WV he has a combined record of 4-5 3.84 in 29 appearances. He has pitched a total of 68 innings allowing 63 hits, 29 walks and he has struck out 63.
Short Season A: State College (27-42) @ Batavia (34-34) 7:05pm
Probable starter: Ryan Hafner (2-5 2.86)
Ryan will make his 13th start of the year tonight, he has also pitched once in relief. He gave up 3 earned runs over 4 innings in his last start on Thursday night. It was the first time he has allowed more than 2 earned runs in a start since July 11th. Ryan has a 1.82 ERA in his seven road starts this year. His 56.2 innings pitched is 3rd on the team behind Nick Kingham and Matt Benedict.
Rookie: GCL Pirates (34-26)
The GCL Pirates finished their season in 2nd place, 3 games back in the standings.
VSL: VSL Pirates (40-32)
The VSL Pirates have finished their season. They won the VSL pennant for a sixth straight year.
DSL: DSL Pirates (41-30)
The DSL Pirates finished tied for 2nd in their division, 5.5 games back.
