Morning Rundown: Pirates drop series to Cardinals, Garret Forrester returns, Thomas Harrington tosses seven shutout
Pirates drop series finale against Cardinals, Garret Forrester begins rehab, Harrington is fantastic in start
Martin Perez spun 7.1 innings of one-run (unearned) baseball in his second start since returning from the injured list, but the Pirates still lost in extra innings.
Kyle Nicolas, Colin Holderman, and Dennis Santana pitched in relief, with the latter allowing the final two runs in the 10th inning.
Bryan Reynolds hits his 14th home run of the season in the fourth inning, and Nick Gonzales drove in Michael A. Taylor on a sacrifice fly in the 10th.
The loss knocks the Pirates to a 41-45 record and fourth place in the NL Central. They are also four games back in the Wild Card race.
The Pirates will start a four-game against the New York Mets with Paul Skenes set to kick things off on the mound.
After Bubba Chandler pitched 7.2 innings of shutout baseball on Wednesday, the Altoona Curve got another fantastic outing from their starting pitcher.
Thomas Harrington tossed seven shutout innings on Thursday as the Curve won 1-0. Harrington allowed three hits and two walks while striking out six.
He needed 93 pitches, 61 went for strikes. Harrington, 22, has a 2.56 ERA in 52.2 innings pitched this season.
Garret Forrester returned to the field on Thursday, setting in the lineup as the DH with the FCL Pirates.
In true fashion, he drew a walk his second time to the plate.
Drafted in the third round out of Oregon State, Forrester hasn’t played since May 10 with the Bradenton Marauders. In 27 games in Single-A this season, Forrester has batted .262/.421/.381 with a 141 wRC+.
Bradenton Marauders sent 3B Garret Forrester on a rehab assignment to FCL Pirates
Indianapolis Indians activated C Dylan Shockley
Pittsburgh Pirates sent C Henry Davis on a rehab assignment to Indianapolis Indians
Pittsburgh Pirates recalled CF Joshua Palacios from Indianapolis Indians
Altoona Curve placed SS Francisco Acuna on the full-season injured list
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Top Exit Velocity
Omar Alfonzo - BRD - 110 mph - Groundout
Oneil Cruz - PIT - 108.8 mph - Groundout
Liover Peguero - IND - 107.9 mph - Fielders Choice
Bryan Reynolds - PIT - 107.8 mph - Home Run
Javier Rivas - BRD - 107.6 mph - Lineout
Top Pitch Velocity
Colin Holderman - PIT - 97.7 mph
Kyle Nicolas - PIT - 97.6 mph
Kyle Nicolas - PIT - 97.5 mph
Kyle Nicolas - PIT - 97.4 mph
Kyle Nicolas - PIT - 96.8 mph
Most Whiffs
Thomas Harrington - ALT - 13
Aaron Shortridge - BRD - 10
Connor Oliver - BRD - 10
Hunter Barco - GBO - 10
Yoldin De La Paz - GBO - 7
Indianapolis Indians - 5 vs Louisville Bats - 3
Top Hitter - Alika Williams: 3-4, 2 R, RBI
Top Pitcher - Brady Feigl: 1.1 IP, BB, 2 K
Altoona Curve - 1 vs Harrisburg Senators - 0
Top Hitter - Tsung-Che Cheng: 2-3, BB, 2 2B
Top Pitcher - Thomas Harrington: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K
Greensboro Grasshoppers - 8 vs Aberdeen IronBirds - 4
Top Hitter - Termarr Johnson: 2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, HR
Top Pitcher - Hunter Barco: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 5 K
Bradenton Marauders - 1 vs Fort Myers Mighty Mussels - 2
Top Hitter - Omar Alfonzo: 2-4
Top Pitcher - Aaron Shortridge: 4 IP, 2 H, 7 K
FCL Pirates - 8 vs FCL Braves - 2
Top Hitter - Yordany De Los Santos: 2-3, R, 3 RBI, BB, HR
Top Pitcher - Zander Mueth: 5 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 5 K
DSL Pirates Black - 6 vs DSL Blue Jays - 5
Top Hitter - Michell Ojeda: 1-3, R, 3 RBI
Top Pitcher - Wali Pierre: IP, H, BB
DSL Pirates Gold - 0 vs DSL Cubs Blue
Top Hitter - Edward Florentino: 1-3, BB, 2B
Top Pitcher - Keuri Almonte: 3 IP, H, ER, 3 BB, 5 K
A great day for the Pirate MiLB Affiliates - especially pitching - very strong.
Harrington, AA - 7 IP, 3H, 0ER, 2BB/6K; Borucki, AAA, 1 IP, 0H, 0BB/3K, 11P; Barco, A+ - 5 IP, 4H, 3 ER, 0BB/5K, 59 P; Shortridge, A (Rehab) 4 IP, 2H, 0 BB, 7 K; Mueth, FCL, 5 IP, 4H, 2BB/5K, 1 ER. It is possible that Chandler and Harrington could be available for late season efforts for the Pirates if the circumstances require as much. Not forgetting Priester who had an excellent outing earlier in the week, or Ortiz! Perez, Gonzalez, and Chapman were all necessary to start 2024, but the 2 SP's have just about all been replaced by the Jones, Skenes, Falter, etc. In the BP, Borucki is close to returning and Bednar should be ready after the AS Break. Those 3 FA's mentioned earlier could return at least a few much needed hitters to take us down the last 2 months of the season.
The Pirates are still in need of a CF and why not Jonatan Clase, 22, Switchhitter, strong D, now playing at the AAA level in the Seattle org. Stats are 221 AB, 61 hits, 11 doubles, 4 triples, 9 HR, 30 RBI, 39BB/69K, 24 SB, Slash of 275/379/482/861 OPS. The Mariners could use a SP (due to Injuries) to carry them through the last 2 months, and at 2B, 3B they have 3 guys who are being paid $18.1 mil combined and have fWAR numbers of 1.8, -0.2, and -0.4. Perez would fit nicely as the SP, and we have MI's/Ut IF's that can step right in!
Nice offensive games by TJ at A+ with a HR, 3 RBI's, Jhonny Severino, FCL, a double and a HR, 5 RBI; and YDLS, FCL, a HR, 3 RBI
Sorry about this but I'm headed out after today for a two week vacation and probably won't have much chance to comment during that time so here goes. The upcoming draft will likely dominate talk, but all I can say is I hope they get one of the college bats instead of a high schooler or another pitcher.
As far as the trade deadline, I think BC is waiting to see if the team goes on a winning streak (seems unlikely at this point) and if so will use that to say the team is fine as is and no additions are needed. If they keep losing and are 5-10 games under .500, he'll use that to say they aren't contending and no additions are needed. He'll probably trade away as many of the one year free agents as possible at that point and again try to sell the notion that he'll add next year. Hoping to be wrong and that they're solidly in the wild-card by the time I get back.