Morning Rundown: Offensive struggles continues for the Pirates
Pirates held to a single run for third straight game.
The Pirates offensive woes continued on Friday night, as they managed just one run on four hits. Alika Williams hit a pinch hit triple, and scored on Edward Olivares ground out, which kept the Pirates from getting shutout.
That’s three straight games now the Pirates have scored just one run.
Quinn Priester made his 2024 major league debut and allowed four earned runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out two in 4.1 innings pitched. He allowed more home runs (3), than he got strikeouts (2).
There were times when it seemed like he would get rolling, but lack of command in the strike zone doomed him from the get-go.
The big story, however, is the lack of offense by the Pirates.
During their four game losing streak, the Pirates have managed just six runs on 17 hits while striking out 40 times.
Bradenton right-handed pitcher Carlson Reed continued his strong start to the season against the Dayton Tortugas Friday night. He struck out a career high eight batters across four innings pitched.
In 11 innings this season, Reed has struck out 18 batters on eight hits and eight walks.
The walks have stung a bit, but half came in a single blow-up three inning outing against Lakeland.
Drafted in the fourth round out of West Virginia, Reed spent the majority of his college career as a reliever but is being worked as a starter.
RHP Jaycob Deese was assigned to Greensboro Grasshoppers from the Altoona Curve
RHP Elijah Birdsong was sent on a rehab assignment with the Bradenton Marauders
Quinn Priester was officially recalled by the Pittsburgh Pirates
RHP Yunior Thibo was placed on the 7-day injured list by the Greensboro Grasshoppers.
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Top Exit Velocity
Juan Jerez - BRD - 110.6 MPH - Home Run
Jack Suwinski - PIT - 109.7 MPH - Groundout
Rowdy Tellez - PIT - 109 MPH - Groundout
Ji-Hwan Bae - IND - 105 MPH - Single
Malcom Nunez - IND - 101.8 MPH - Single
Top Pitch Velocity
Hunter Stratton - PIT - 97.7 MPH
Hunter Stratton - PIT - 96.8 MPH
Hunter Stratton - PIT - 96.5 MPH
Hunter Stratton - PIT - 96.3 MPH
Hunter Stratton - PIT - 96.2 MPH
Most Whiffs
Carlson Reed - BRD - 17
Quinn Priester - PIT - 9
Landon Tomkins - BRD - 7
Jack Carey - ALT - 7
Cy Nielson - GBO - 6
Brady Feigl - IND - 6
Sean Sullivan - ALT - 6
Indianapolis Indians - 7 vs St. Paul Saint - 2
Top Hitter - Nick Gonzales: 2-5, R, 2B, RBI
Top Pitcher - Brady Feigl: 2 IP, 4 K
Altoona Curve - 4 vs Bowie Baysox - 5
Top Hitter - Aaron Shackelford: 2-4, RBI, BB
Top Pitcher - Sean Sullivan: 5 IP, 6 H, K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - 3 vs Hickory Crawdads - 5
Top Hitter - Termarr Johnson: 1-3, R, 2 RBI, BB, 3B
Top Pitcher - Cy Nielson: 2.1 IP, H, 4 K
Bradenton Marauders - 1 vs Daytona Tortugas - 4
Top Hitter - Juan Jerez: 1-2, R, HR, RBI, BB
Top Pitcher - Carlson Reed: 4 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 8 K
Probable Pitchers
Pittsburgh Pirates - Mitch Keller
Indianapolis Indians - Michael Plassmeyer
Altoona Curve - Braxton Ashcraft
Greensboro Grasshoppers - Wilber Dotel
Bradenton Marauders - Michael Kennedy
Sorry, I can’t hear you guys over all of the loud contact NG is making in Indy. I know, I know, the way I’m pounding the table you’d think he leads the IL in xbh’s. Ohhh wait…
So apparently Skenes has taken to expressing his frustration at being treated like a vintage Lamborghini, that is taken out of a garage for a few minutes to show off once a week, rather than a baseball pitcher. Silly Skenes. He thinks the objective is to win games and not find endless excuses to keep him in AAA until Super 2 passes. The objective with the Pirates is never to win games. Soon Skenes will learn this. It seems even the new guys have learned this after they pulled Jones the other day. Losing is a habit.