A couple of unsung players, Josh Palacios and Mike Jarvis, had big games for Indianapolis and Greensboro, respectively. Bradenton was rained out.
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
Prospect Watch: Strong Start for Thomas Harrington; Rain Spoils Two Games
TRIPLE-A: INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS
INDIANAPOLIS VS COLUMBUS
Final Score: Indianapolis (10-16) 8, Columbus 5
Indianapolis Starter: Luis Ortiz
Pitching Line: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
Box Score
Top Performers:
- Canaan Smith-Njigba 0-2, 3 BB
- Ryan Vilade 3-5, 2B
- Josh Palacios 2-3, 2 HR (4), 2 BB, SB, 3 runs, 5 RBIs
- Aaron Shackelford 1-2, 2 BB, SB
- Josh Bissonette 1-2, 2 BB
Game Recap:
Josh Palacios stayed red hot as Indianapolis beat Columbus, 8-5.
Palacios hit a pair of home runs and drove in five. That included a three-run bomb in a five-run first that staked Indy to a big early lead. Palacios also walked twice. After a week in AAA, he’s riding a 1.478 OPS.
Ryan Vilade added a double and two singles, and Aaron Shackelford and Josh Bissonette each reached three times on a single and two walks. Canaan Smith-Njigba, in his first AAA game since being optioned, stayed in form, walking three times and striking out twice.
Luis Ortiz had a good start. He threw five shutout innings, then ran into some trouble in the sixth, allowing two runs. He finished with six strikeouts over six innings. Angel Perdomo threw a scoreless inning. Daniel Zamora entered with an 8-2 lead in the eighth and had trouble finishing it, giving up three runs and having to face the tying run in the ninth.
Endy Rodriguez returned to action as the DH. He went 0-for 4 with a walk.
DOUBLE-A: ALTOONA CURVE
ALTOONA @ READING
Final Scores:
Altoona 4, Reading 3
Reading 3, Altoona (10-9) 1
Altoona Starter: Aaron Shortridge and Matt Eckelman
Pitching Line:
Shortridge: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, BB, 3 K
Eckelman: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, K
Box Score Game One
Box Score Game Two
Top Performers:
- Liover Peguero 2-7, 2B
- Henry Davis 1-3, HR (6), HBP
- Fabricio Macias 2-6
- Andres Alvarez 2-5, 2B, HR (2)
- Mason Martin 1-2, HR (3), HBP
- Noe Toribio 2 IP, H, ER, 4 K
Game Recap:
Altoona took the first game of its doubleheader with Greensboro, 4-3. Aaron Shortridge had a good start, giving up two runs over five innings on four hits and a walk. Noe Toribio finished, allowing a run over the last two innings, with four strikeouts, to get the save.
Most of the Curve’s offense came from the longball. Henry Davis stayed hot, belting his sixth home run of the year with a man on. He only got hit by one pitch. Andres Alvarez hit his second, a solo shot. Liover Peguero, who had a double and a single, drove in the remaining run. Fabricio Macias had two hits.
In game two, the Curve couldn’t get any offense and lost, 3-1. Knuckleballer Matt Eckelman made the spot start and couldn’t get the knuckler over the plate, walking three and throwing just 23 strikes on 50 pitches in two innings. Still, he managed to allow only two runs. Braeden Ogle gave up the third run, and Oliver Garcia and Juan Minaya combined for two and two-thirds scoreless innings.
The offense consisted of two hits: Mason Martin’s third home run of the year and a double by Andres Alvarez. Altoona drew no walks and fanned seven times.
HIGH-A: GREENSBORO GRASSHOPPERS
GREENSBORO VS ROME
Final Score:
Rome 7, Greensboro 4
Greensboro (13-7) 9, Rome 4
Greensboro Starter: Po-Yu Chen and Valentin Linarez
Pitching Line:
Chen: 2.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, BB, 2 K
Linarez: 3.1 IP, H, ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Box Score Game One
Box Score Game Two
Top Performers:
- Tsung-Che Cheng 2-7, 2B, HR (3), BB, 3 RBIs
- Mike Jarvis 5-6, 2B, 3B, 2 HR (5), SB, 4 runs, 4 RBIs
- Ernny Ordonez 1-3, 3 BB
- Hudson Head 2-3, HR (2)
- Maikol Escotto 1-3, HR (2)
Game Recap:
Greensboro dropped the first game of its doubleheader with Rome, 7-4. Po-Yu Chen had a rough start, getting knocked out with one out in the third. He allowed five runs on seven hits, two of them longballs. His ERA stands at 7.31. Jaycob Deese gave up the other two runs on a two-run bomb. Santiago Florez threw two scoreless innings.
The Hoppers had only five hits, although they also drew six walks. Mike Jarvis had two hits, including his fourth home run. Ernny Ordonez had a single and two walks, Tsung-Che Cheng had a double and a walk, and Jase Bowen had a double.
The Hoppers took an early 8-0 lead and finished with a 9-4 win in game two. Most of the offense came from home runs. Jarvis hit another, with one on, and fell a single shy of a cycle. Cheng hit a three-run shot and Hudson Head belted a two-run shot. Maikol Escotto hit a solo shot to finish the Hoppers’ scoring.
Starter Valentin Linarez opened with three scoreless innings, but ran into trouble in the third. He left with the bases loaded and one out. Mitchell Miller hit a batter to force in a run, the only one off Linarez, but struck out two. Will Kobos and Brad Case each threw a scoreless inning. Eddy Yean got knocked around for three runs in the seventh.
LOW-A: BRADENTON MARAUDERS
BRADENTON @ DUNEDIN
Final Score:Postponed
Bradenton Starter:
Pitching Line:
Box Score
Top Performers:
Game Recap:
Bradenton’s game at Dunedin was postponed due to rain. No makeup date was announced, possibly because the forecast for tomorrow’s game looks iffy.
Having followed the Pirates fanatically since 1965, Wilbur Miller is one of the fast-dwindling number of fans who’ve actually seen good Pirate teams. He’s even seen Hall-of-Fame Pirates who didn’t get traded mid-career, if you can imagine such a thing. His first in-person game was a 5-4, 11-inning win at Forbes Field over Milwaukee (no, not that one). He’s been writing about the Pirates at various locations online for over 20 years. It has its frustrations, but it’s certainly more cathartic than writing legal stuff. Wilbur is retired and now lives in Bradenton with his wife and three temperamental cats.
Gorskis follow up to his breakout season is looking a lot like Matt Fraziers. Nice to see Endy back and a strong outing from Ortiz. What on earth has happened to Malcom Nuñez? I thought he was a pretty solid hitter across the board, but he doesn’t seem to be doing anything at the plate at all. Even when Mason Martin strikes out 50% of the time, he still gets ahold of one from time to time, but nuñez seems to just go 0-4 every night and then once or twice a week picks up a single.
Nice to see another solid outing from Cruz. Seems like he would be the natural call up if we needed to plug a rotation hole for extended period of time. Probably Bido gets call if it’s spot start. I guess it depends on timing & how Indy rotation lines up too
Cruz = Ortiz!
Does anyone have any thoughts on Palacios? He sort of looks intriguing as far as another potential late bloomer longshot sort of guy. I have to say, it seems Cherrington and co seem to have improved finding some interesting fringey sort of guys with upside for minimal cost.
Baseball Savant shows he runs very well in terms of sprint speed as well.
(sorry, originally posted this on wrong thread)
He’ll be 28 in July. It’s hard to see him as more than a guy you call up in case of injuries.
Glad to see Mason Martin back to 2021 form in Altoona and he is still young. Would be nice for him to study Jack Suwinski. 3 outcome hitters can make it but it’s the hardest career path to master. Ask Pedro Alvarez.
A Maddux is a complete game shutout with under 100 pitches. I propose that a Davis is a 1-3 night with a homer and a HBP.