Morning Rundown: Pirates avoid sweep, Alika Williams has four-hit game

Pirates take the last of four against Cardinals, Alika Williams has big day at the plate in AAA

Sep 20, 2024

The Pittsburgh Pirates avoided a four-game sweep against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday with a 3-2 win.

Luis Ortiz pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out seven. Carmen Mlodzinski pitched a scoreless seventh to pick up his fourth win of the season.

Aroldis Chapman has 10 different seasons of double-digit saves after picking up his 10th this year.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa had another multi-hit game, including a double, and stole his 10th bag of the year. Nick Gonzales had a triple and RBI.

The Pirates will now head to Cincinnati for a weekend series against the Reds. They will have their top three starters—Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, and Paul Skenes—pitch for them.

The Indianapolis Indians dropped their game on Thursday 8-3 to the St. Paul Saints. Alika Williams came through with four hits on the night, scoring once. He has eight hits since returning to Triple-A.

Endy Rodriguez hit a double, going 1-5. He now has extra-base hits in back-to-back games after hitting a home run on Wednesday. He was the designated hitter on Thursday.

After picking up three hits, one a home run, Jack Suwinski was the only player in the lineup that didn’t register a hit.

Tsung-Che Cheng walked twice, giving him three in the last two games. He also went 1-2.

Isaac Mattson was recently named the Pitcher of the Year for the Indianapolis Indians. After getting his contract selected, he will now finish the season with the Pirates.

Share Bucs On Deck

In 37 games between Altoona and Indianapolis, Mattson has posted a 7-2 record with a 3.17 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 71 innings pitched.

He last pitched in the majors during the 2021 season with the Baltimore Orioles. He posted a 6.23 ERA with three strikeouts (and five walks) in 4.1 innings pitched.

Indianapolis Indians activated RHP Fineas Del Bonta-Smith
Indianapolis Indians transferred RHP Thomas Harrington to the Development List
Pittsburgh Pirates selected the contract of RHP Isaac Mattson from Indianapolis Indians
Pittsburgh Pirates designated RHP Jake Woodford for assignment

Support the site by becoming a paid member, and get access to all of our premium content, including our Top 25 list with complete player write-ups and video breakdowns, which come out weekly.

It will also give access to my player feature articles from on-site trips.