Morning Rundown: Greensboro home run barrage continues on Wednesday

The home runs have been piling up for the Greensboro Grasshoppers this week.

Photo Credit: WTM

Greensboro has long been known as a hitter's haven, and the home team has fully capitalized on that over the first two games of their week-long series against the Winston-Salem Dash.

In just two games, the Grasshoppers’ offense has hit 10 home runs, five in each. Mitch Jebb, not known for his power, hit three on his own, with Charles McAdoo and Sammy Siani also hitting multiple.

Six different Pirates have gone deep so far this week, with Shawn Ross, Rodolfo Nolasco, and Maikol Escotto also joining in the fun.

The Grasshoppers currently have a 14-8 record, good for first in the North division of the South Atlantic League. They also scored the second most runs, with 127.

Their run differential of +52 is 28 runs higher than that of the next-best team. Greensboro's 14 wins are tied with Indianapolis for the most in the system, and they’ve done it in four fewer games played.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t manage a run in the finale of their three-game series against the Oakland Athletics. That’s the third time they’ve been swept in their last five series.

They’ve also lost four in a row and seven of their last eight now.

The offense couldn’t capitalize on multiple situations with runners on base, finishing with just four hits on the day.

Although he was bit by the long ball and had some control issues, Quinn Priester mostly had a solid day. He allowed two earned runs on five hits and four walks while striking out three across six innings.

There was an opportunity to be far more efficient, as a weak grounder by Tyler Nevin was gathered by Priester in the fifth, but as he went to throw Henry Davis—who was also trying to make a play on the ball—nearly fell into his legs.

Priester struggled to find the strike zone after that, walking the next two hitters before a Oneil Cruz throwing error allowed Nevin to score.

That’s pretty much how things have gone for the Pirates as of late though.

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• Indianapolis Indians placed C Carter Bins on the temporarily inactive list

• Indianapolis Indians activated C Eli Wilson

• Bradenton Marauders placed 2B Juan Jerez on the 7-day injured list

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Top Exit Velocity

1. Rowdy Tellez - PIT - 109 mph - Single

2. Yasmani Grandal - IND - 108 mph - Single

3. Andres Alvarez - IND - 106.3 mph - Home Run

4. Ji-Hwan Bae - IND - 105.9 mph - Double

5. Yasmani Grandal - IND - 105.6 mph - Groundout

Top Pitch Velocity

1. Aroldis Chapman - PIT - 99.7 mph

2. Aroldis Chapman - PIT - 98.9 mph

3. Aroldis Chapman - PIT - 97.7 mph

4. David Bednar - PIT - 97.4 mph

5. David Bednar - PIT - 97.3 mph

Most Whiffs

1. Patrick Reilly - GBO - 14

2. Sean Sullivan - ALT - 12

3. Quinn Priester - PIT - 10

4. Darvin Garcia - GBO - 8

5. Garrett McMillan- BRD - 8

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Indianapolis Indians - 14 vs Buffalo Bison - 5

Gameday

Top Hitter - Ji-Hwan Bae: 4-6, 2 R, RBI, 2B

Top Pitcher - Brad Case: 3 IP, 3 H

Altoona Curve - 4 vs Harrisburg Senators - 5

Gameday

Top Hitter - Brenden Dixon: 2-4, HR, RBI, R

Top Pitcher - Sean Sullivan: 5 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 5 K

Greensboro Grasshoppers - 14 vs Winston Salem Dash - 4

Gameday

Top Hitter - Mitch Jebb: 3-6, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2B, 2 HR

Top Pitcher - Darvin Garcia: 2 IP, 4 K

Bradenton Marauders - 0 vs Fort Myers Mighty Mussels - 2

Gameday

Top Hitter - Javier Rivas: 1-3

Top Pitcher - Tyler Kennedy: 2 IP, H, BB, 6 K

Probable Pitchers

Indianapolis Indians - Cam Alldred

Altoona Curve - Braxton Ashcraft

Greensboro Grasshoppers - JP Massey

Bradenton Marauders - Antwone Kelly