Morning Rundown: Bradenton Marauders throw a combined one-hitter, Braxton Ashcraft pitches six innings
Morning Rundown: Bradenton Marauders throw a combined one-hitter, Braxton Ashcraft pitches six innings
Marauders hold Fort Myers to one-hit, Braxton Ashcraft hits milestone innings pitched.
While the hitting has struggled this season, the pitching for the Bradenton Marauders has been solid.
Finally, both showed up on the same night as the Marauders’ offense put up eight runs while Antwone Kelly and Connor Oliver combined for a one-hit shutout of the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.
Kelly has continued to improve this season, and didn’t allow a hit in his five innings of work. After a really bad first game with the Marauders, Oliver has been solid as well.
Esmerlyn Valdez picked up a pair of hits, scored twice, and drove in a run on the offensive side of things. Solomon Maguire also picked up a pair of hits while Garret Forrester and Javier Rivas registered the only extra-base hits (both doubles).
The Marauders have won two of the first three against this week, with a weekend rotation of Carlson Reed, Michael Kennedy, and Khristian Curtis left to go.
After being limited in his first year back from Tommy John in 2023, the Pirates have started to build Braxton Ashcraft up this season.
He never pitched into the fifth last year, but has completed at least five innings in each of his last two starts.
After pitching five innings last week against Akron, Ashcraft completed six frames on Thursday in game one of a doubleheader at Harrisburg. The results haven’t been pretty, he’s allowed eight earned runs in the two starts, but it’s encouraging nonetheless that Ashcraft has been pitching deeper into games.
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Top Exit Velocity
Canaan Smith-Njigba - IND - 109.6 mph - Double
Yasmani Grandal - IND - 108.9 mph - Double
Nick Gonzales - IND - 107.8 mph - Single
Billy McKinney - IND - 107.3 mph - Home Run
Josh Palacios - BRD - 107 mph - Single
Top Pitch Velocity
Connor Sadzeck - IND - 97.6 mph
Connor Sadzeck - IND - 97.4 mph
Connor Sadzeck - IND - 97.3 mph
Connor Sadzeck - IND - 97.3 mph
Antwone Kelly - BRD - 97 mph
Most Whiffs
Braxton Ashcraft - ALT - 18
Cam Alldred - IND - 13
Connor Oliver - BRD - 10
Antwone Kelly - BRD - 8
JP Massey - GBO - 8
Dominic Perachi - GBO - 8
Indianapolis Indians - 6 vs Buffalo Bison - 4
Top Hitter - Billy McKinney: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR
Top Pitcher - Geronimo Franzua: 2 IP, H, 2 BB, 3 K
Altoona Curve - 5 vs Harrisburg Senators - 6
Top Hitter - Joe Perez: 2-3, R, 3 RBI, HR
Top Pitcher - Braxton Ashcraft: 6 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 5 K
Altoona Curve - 2 vs Harrisburg Senators - 7
Top Hitter - Wyatt Hendrie: 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI
Top Pitcher - Valentin Linarez: 1.1 IP, H, 2 K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - 3 vs Winston Salem Dash - 7
Top Hitter - Shawn Ross: 2-3, 2 R, RBI, BB, 2B, HR
Top Pitcher - Luis Peralta: 2 IP, H, ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Bradenton Marauders - 8 vs Fort Myers Mighty Mussels - 0
Top Hitter - Esmerlyn Valdez: 2-3, 2 R, RBI, BB
Top Pitcher - Connor Oliver: 4 IP, H, BB, 6 K, SV
Probable Pitchers
Pittsburgh Pirates - Martin Perez
Indianapolis Indians - TBD
Altoona Curve - Po-Yu Cheng
Greensboro Grasshoppers - Wilber Dotel
Bradenton Marauders - Carlson Reed
Pipeline mock draft has us taking Rainer, thoughts?
Any words being spoken or written out there about how maybe the mechanical changes Davis has made aren't working?
Pretty substantial differences in position, stance, and load. Early returns are, uh, not great.