Top prospect Jameson Taillon will start at home for Altoona tonight, coming off a ten strikeout game in his last start. That strikeout total matched his career high, set earlier this season. Altoona had their game suspended by rain today in the eighth innings with the score tied at two runs apiece. The game will be finished on June 4th before their regularly scheduled game. 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 (33-15) @ Buffalo (26-19) 7:05pm
Probable starter: Kris Johnson (4-3, 3.80)
Yesterday’s Result: Indianapolis 7, Buffalo 3
Kris Johnson will make his eighth start of the season tonight. He has also pitched twice in relief. He has a 5.04 road ERA this season in 25 innings. At home he has a 2.04 ERA in 17.2 innings. He has pitched much better as a starter this year as well, posting a 2.79 ERA in the role. Johnson hasn’t been sharp as of late, allowing seven runs on ten hits and four walks over 12 innings, covering his last two starts.
AA: Altoona (19-27) vs Richmond (23-22) 6:30pm
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (2-5, 3.02)
Yesterday’s Result: Reading 2, Altoona 2(suspended)
Jameson Taillon will start for the tenth time this season tonight. Amazingly, it will be his fifth start against Richmond. In the previous four starts against them, he has shut them out twice, both times allowing two hits. In the other two games, he has allowed eight runs on 16 hits over 12 innings. Taillon’s 57 strikeouts ranks him fourth in the Eastern League, just three behind the league leader. His ERA ranks eighth in the league, second on Altoona to Casey Sadler.
High-A: Bradenton (19-28) @ St Lucie (26-19) 6:30pm
Probable starter: Nick Kingham (5-2, 3.42)
Yesterday’s Result: Bradenton 12, Tampa 4
Nick Kingham will get his tenth start of the season tonight. He has pitched a total of 47.1 innings, allowing 39 hits, four homers and nine walks. He has struck out 58 batters this year, the highest total in the Florida State League. His 1.01 WHIP is the 3rd best in the FSL. Two starts ago, Kingham had a very rough outing, giving up four runs in 2/3 of an inning before being pulled. He rebounded great in his last start(against St Lucie), allowing one run over seven innings, walking none and striking out nine batters.
Low-A: West Virginia (25-22) vs Lakewood (19-26) 7:05pm
Probable starter: Jake Burnette (0-1, 16.62)
Yesterday’s Result: West Virginia 3, Lakewood 2 in 12 innings
Jake Burnette will get his third start of the season today. In his season opener 11 days ago, he went 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on five hits(one homer) and three walks. He struck out seven batters. In his last game, he lasted just 2/3 of an inning, giving up six runs on three hits and two walks. Burnette pitched five games for State College last year before being shutdown due to elbow soreness. He went 1-2, 4.71 in 22 innings and recorded eight strikeouts, just one more than he had in his season debut this year.
Recent Transactions
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.
5/19 Chase d’Arnaud assigned to Altoona roster.
5/18 Jeff Karstens added to Altoona roster.
