Yes, that's right!
Sandlot Swashbucklers has been invited to join the team at Pirates' Prospects.   I hope to begin writing there within the next week or so.  Come on over and check it out!  They have many writers, and can do a lot more than I can do by myself.  I'll still be following the Indianapolis Indians, and there are several writers keeping track of the other minor league affiliates.  Hope to "see" you there!

Sandlot Swashbucklers is on break too!   Don't forget to check out the Futures Game with Starling Marte on Sunday, then the AAA  and Eastern League All-Star Games on Wednesday.  Matt Hague will be participating in the AAA All-Star Game, and five Curve players will be at the Eastern League All-Star Game -- Jeremy Farrell, Starling Marte, Brock Holt, Jeff Locke, and Aaron Pribanic.  



More news to come in a few more days. 

Indianapolis Indians  10,  Louisville Bats  1
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Eleven was a lucky number at Louisville Slugger Field tonight, as the Indians stomped on the Bats, and out-hit them 16 - 5.  The Tribe batters posted 11 doubles, the most in a game since the Indians moved to Victory Field.  The Tribe pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts, with starter Brad Lincoln (photo) taking care of 8 of those.  Lincoln earned his 7th win for the Indians this season, going 7 innings and allowing just one run on 3 hits and a walk.   

The lone run Lincoln allowed scored in the 2nd inning on two of the hits he allowed.  C Devin Mesoraco and RF Jeremy Hermida began the inning with back-to-back line drive singles.  1B Daniel Dorn grounded out to first, which moved both Mesoraco and Hermida into scoring position.  2B Chris Valaika brought in Mesoraco with a sacrifice fly.  

Mesoraco singled again in the 4th inning, but was forced out at second on Hermida's grounder to short.   CF Dave Sappelt walked to lead off the 6th inning, but he was erased when SS Paul Janish bounced into a 6-4-3 double play (SS Jordy Mercer to 2B Corey Wimberly to 1B Matt Hague).  Lincoln retired the side in all of the odd innings:  the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th.  He struck out 2 batters in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings.  

Louisville Batts  5,  Indianapolis Indians   2
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The Indianapolis Indians and Louisville Bats played 6.5 scoreless innings at Louisville Slugger Field, before each team scored in its last two at-bats.  The Bats' first rally was sparked by their winning pitcher Daryl Thompson, and the second rally, in the bottom of the 8th, was aided by 3 Indians' errors.  The Tribe was not able to catch up, and the Bats took the first game of this 4-game away-and-home series.  

Justin Wilson (photo) made the start for the Indians, coming off a tough start last Saturday in Toledo.  He got through the first two innings rather quickly, allowing just one hit, a double by Bats' 1B Todd Frazier in the 2nd.  Wilson worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the 3rd.  3B Michael Griffin reached base when his Tribe counterpart 3B Pedro Alvarez bobbled his grounder for an error.  After two outs, 2B Chris Valaika grounded to short, where SS Jordy Mercer also had trouble with bobbles on the scoop.  Valaika reached base ahead of Mercer's throw, and the play was ruled a single.  LF Yonder Alonso walked to load the bases.  Wilson bore down and got C Devin Mesoraco to fly out to RF Anthony Norman, to escape the inning without a run scoring.   

Wilson worked around a single by Frazier in the 4th inning, then got into another jam in the 5th.  He walked the opposing pitcher Thompson, and hit Valaika with a pitch.  With two outs, Mesoraco hit a screaming liner right back at Wilson.  The ball hit Wilson's glove and dropped, but Wilson was so surprised that it took him a moment to realize that the ball had been stopped and had not sailed into the outfield.  Then he looked up, thinking that maybe the ball was still in the air, then finally looked down -- and still took a moment to realize that the ball was at his feet.  Mesoraco was safe on first, and the bases were loaded, but Wilson had kept the ball from going into the outfield and allowing at least 2 runs to score.  He ended the inning with a ground out by RF Jeremy Hermida, leaving the bases full of Bats for the second time in the game.  

That was all for Wilson, on a hot and humid night.  He had thrown 97 pitches (57 strikes), and thrown 5 scoreless innings, allowing 4 hits and 2 walks, with 5 strikeouts.  Wilson was relieved by former Bat (just a couple of weeks ago) Steven Jackson, who retired his old teammates in order in the 6th.  

Watching from the dugout:  Pedro Alvarez, Tom Filer, Dusty Brown, Jordy Mercer, Kris Watts








Toledo Mud Hens  5,  Indianapolis Indians  1
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The Indianapolis Indians must have used up too many of the hits in their bats in yesterday's 10-4 win, because today they were back to scoring just one run, as they did in the two previous games against the Toledo Mud Hens.  Tonight at Victory Field, the Tribe posted just 4 hits on their way to their lone run, while the Mud Hens stacked up 12 hits and 5 runs.  

Rudy Owens (photo) struck out a season-high 8 batters in his start for the Tribe, but he also gave up 8 hits and could not get through the 5th inning.  He was charged with his 6th loss of the season, giving him a 6-6 record.  

The game began with LF Will Rhymes lining a double into right field for a double.  Owens struck out the next two batters, 3B Danny Worth and rehabbing 2B Carlos Guillen.  DH Ryan Strieby lined a single into left field, and Rhymes raced around to score from second base.  Owens struck out former Indy Indian CF Jeff Salazar to end the inning, then began the 2nd by striking out 1B Scott Thorman.  RF Ben Guez doubled into center field with one out in the 2nd, but a fly out and another strikeout left Guez on base.  

(Photo:  Pitching coach Tom Filer, Rudy Owens, Dusty Brown, Corey Wimberly)


Owens also worked around a one-out hit by Worth in the 3rd -- a bloopy hit that fell into no-man's land behind first base, out of reach of Tribe RF Miles Durham, 1B Matt Hague, and 2B Corey Wimberly.  Salazar struck out again to lead off the 4th inning.  Thorman singled into right field, then with two strikes on Guez, Thorman took off to try to steal second base.  Guez swung and missed on strike three, and as he finished his swing, he stumbled a bit, causing his bat to come around and hit C Dusty Brown.  Brown was in the middle of throwing to second base as he was hit by the bat, and it caused his throw to go off-target.  Guez was out on the strikeout, and since he was already out, the penalty for the batter interference ruling was that the base runner Thorman was also called out at second base.  

Corey Wimberly congratulates John Bowker on his 2-run homer in the 4th inning.







Indianapolis Indians  10,  Toledo Mud Hens  4
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It was a good night for hitting, at least for the Indians, tonight at Victory Field.  The Tribe posted 13 hits, 10 more than they allowed the Mud Hens, as they easily defeated Toledo to even up this 5-game series at 2 games each.  The Indians had scored only one run in each of their last two games, but tonight, all but one member of the Indians' line-up scored at least one run, and all but two had at least one hit.  SS Jordy Mercer (photo), who did not have a hit, scored one run.  CF Anthony Norman, who had neither a hit nor a run scored, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.  2B Corey Wimberly and DH Dusty Brown each smacked 3 hits, while LF John Bowker and C Kris Watts had 2 hits each.  


The Tribe scored in each of the first 5 innings:
In the 1st -- Wimberly led off with a double down the left field line, which landed about a foot inside the foul line and continued down to the left field corner.  Toledo LF Timo Perez had to fight the sun a bit, and had a little trouble tracking it down, so Wimberly made it into second base easily.  Mercer was hit in the back as he ducked away from the first pitch from Toledo starter LJ Gagnier.  A ground out to first by Bowker pushed Wimberly to third and Mercer to second.  Then rehabbing Pedro Alvarez, who played third base today, snuck a single between the Mud Hens' first- and second-basemen and into right field, scoring both Wimberly and Mercer for a 2-0 lead.  Two fly outs ended the inning.

In the 2nd --  RF Miles Durham led off with a blast into the right-center field gap, past the diving Toledo CF (and former Indy Indian) Jeff Salazar.  Once the ball got past Salazar's desperate reach, it bounced to the wall, and Durham had all the time in the world to motor around and into third base standing.  Brown ran the count full, fouled off five more pitches, then doubled down the left field line to almost the same spot as Wimberly hit in the 1st inning.  That brought in Durham to boost the lead to 3-0.  Norman  bounced back to the mound, where Gagnier whirled and caught Brown in between second and third bases.  Brown dodged back and forth long enough so that Norman could reach second base before he was tagged out.  Norman reached as far as third on Wimberly's ground out, but a strikeout ended the inning.

In the 3rd --  With one out, Alvarez worked a walk, as ball four bounced about two feet in front of the plate.  1B Matt Hague hit the Indians' third double down the left field line, just barely fair, which ducked under the bullpen bench so that Time Perez had to dig it out.  Alvarez was running "carefully" on his pretty-much-healed-up quad (photo), but manager Dean Treanor did not want to take any chances, so he held Alvarez at third.  Watts followed with a single lined into center field, picking up his first two AAA level RBI, as both Alvarez and Hague scored.  Durham hit a sharp bouncer toward third base, which bounced off former Indy Indian 3B Argenis Diaz's glove and into left field.  It was a 2-base error, putting Durham on second base and moving Watts to third.  Brown's long fly ball into right field became a sacrifice fly, bringing in Watts from third, as the throw in from Hens' RF Ben Guez was way wide of the plate.  Indians up, 6-0.  

Happy Fourth of July!


















Toledo Mud Hens  2,  Indianapolis Indians  1
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3B Pedro Alvarez (photo) arrived in Indianapolis today to continue his rehab work, after suffering a strained right quad muscle while playing for the Pirates.   He has had some set-backs in his rehab program, but has been on rehab assignments with both the GCL Pirates (1 game) and the A+ Bradenton Marauders (6 games).  Tonight Alvarez contributed 2 hits as the Designated Hitter in the Indians' loss to the Toledo Mud Hens in front of a sold-out crowd at Victory Field.  

Tribe starter Sean Gallagher made the start, but suffered his 9th loss of the season.  He pitched into the 6th inning, and allowed 2 runs on just 3 hits and 2 walks, with 4 strikeouts.  Gallagher had only one inning in which he retired the Mud Hens in order (the 5th).  He allowed a line drive single into center field by LF Timo Perez in the 1st inning, then walked DH Scott Thorman to open the 2nd inning.  RF Ben Guez followed the walk with a grounder back through the middle.  The ball glanced off Gallagher's glove then on to 2B Brian Friday, who flipped the ball to SS Jordy Mercer at second for the force out on Thorman.  The Indians were hoping for a double play, but Mercer's throw to first base was wide to the infield side, pulling 1B Matt Hague off the first base bag, and Guez was safe.  Gallagher ended the inning with a tapper back to the mound by former Indy Indian Argenis Diaz and a pop out by C Omir Santos.  

Toledo Mud Hens  7,  Indianapolis Indians  1
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Former Indy Indians Argenis Diaz and Jeff Salazar gave the Mud Hens both offensive and defensive boosts to help defeat the Indians at Fifth-Third Field in Toledo, Ohio tonight.  

Brian Burres (photo) suffered his of the season, going 7 innings and allowing 3 runs on 7 hits, with no walks.  He began his evening with 4 scoreless innings, giving up just 2 hits -- a double to CF Salazar in the 2nd and a single to C Omir Santos in the 3rd.  

The Indians put runners on base in each of their first 5 at-bats, but could not get any of them around to score.  DH Corey Wimberly opened the game with a double into left field and stole third base.  LF John Bowker walked to put runners on the corners.  1B Matt Hague bounced into an around-the-horn double play, started by 3B Diaz, to end the inning without a run scoring.  SS Jordy Mercer reached base on Diaz's fielding error in the 2nd inning, but was immediately erased when 3B Andy Marte bounced into a double play, again started by Diaz.  RF Miles Durham also walked in that inning, and was left on base.  

2B Brian Friday doubled with two outs in the 3rd inning, then Mercer walked and Marte lined a single into left field in the 4th inning.  The first two Tribe batters reached base in the 5th, CF Gorkys Hernandez on a throwing error by Toledo SS Cale Iorg, and Wimberly on a fielder's choice by Toledo starter Fu-Te Ni.  Wimberly moved to second on the fielders' choice as Hernandez was out at third.  Wimberly stole third base and Friday walked, again giving the Tribe runners on the corners.  And again, a double play ended the inning without a run scoring.  

Sunday's action in the Pirates' minor league organization began with an afternoon game in Charleston.  The GCL Pirates have the day off.

Greensboro Grasshoppers  10,  West Virginia Power  2
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Three late-inning rallies gave the Grasshoppers the advantage over the Power this afternoon.   Power starter Colton Cain pitched 4 innings and allowed 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk.  The first 'Hoppers' run came in the 1st inning, on a double and an RBI single.  Cain allowed only one base runner over the next two innings (hit batter), then gave up a 2-run homer in the 4th, to give Greensboro a 3-0 lead. Cain and C Kawika Emsley-Pai had two bases stolen against them in the 1st inning (one runner, two bases), and a double steal in the 4th.  Kevin Decker replaced Cain to begin the 5th, and retired the side in order.  In the 6th, Decker gave up 2 runs on a single, a walk, a sacrifice fly, and an RBI single.  There were three stolen bases in that inning.  Decker was still pitching in the 7th, when 3 more runs scored.  Three more stolen bases contributed to the scoring, which also included two walks, a sacrifice fly, an RBI double and an RBI single.  The Grasshoppers had an 8-0 lead.   

The Power batters went down in order in the first two innings, and had only 3 base runners over the first 6 innings.  Emsley-Pai led off the 3rd with a single lined into left field, but he was thrown out trying to steal second base.   1B Chase Lyles singled in the 5th and was left on base.  SS Kevin Mort singled to open the 6th, and was erased in a double play.  2B Andy Vasquez singled to lead off the 7th, and he was also out in a double play, when CF Mel Rojas lined out to first and Vasquez was easily doubled off.  Finally, after that double play, three consecutive hits pushed the first Power run across the plate.  DH Cole White and Lyles hit back-to-back singles, and LF Rogelios Noris drove in White with a line drive double into left.  

Justin Ennis pitched the 8th inning, and gave the 'Hoppers another 2-run homer, following a single.  The Power got one of the runs back in the 8th.  With two outs, Vasquez was hit by a pitch, and Rojas walked.  White lined a single into center field, and Vasquez came around from second to score.  Jason Townsend pitched a scoreless top of the 9th, and the Power also went down in order in the bottom of the 9th.  

Indianapolis Indians  4,  Toledo Mud Hens  3
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After 5 scoreless innings with a tie score, the Indians pushed across a run in the top of the 12th, then held on for the win over the Mud Hens at Fifth-Third Field in Toledo, Ohio.    

With two outs in the top of the 12th, 2B/3B Brian Friday worked a walk.  LF John Bowker (photo) lashed a double into the right-center field alley, over the head of Toledo RF Ben Guez, and off the wall.  Friday was off and running with the pitch, and he rounded third and headed for the plate as Guez chased down the ball.  He crossed the plate well ahead of the throw, scoring the go-ahead run for the Indians.  

The Mud Hens jumped right on Tribe starter Justin Wilson in the bottom of the 1st inning.  Lead-off batter DH Will Rhymes with a single, and LF Timo Perez doubled, putting runners on the corners.  Rhymes scored on an RBI single into right field by rehabbing 2B Carlos Guillen, and Perez came in on an RBI single by 1B Ryan Strieby, for a 2-0 lead.  Strieby stole second base and 3B Danny Worth walked.  Wilson got out of the inning when he struck out RF Scott Thorman, and C Kris Watts fired down to third base, throwing out Strieby trying to steal third.  SS Cale Iorg added a run in the 2nd inning on a solo homer, giving the Mud Hens a 3-0 lead.  

Wilson went on to pitch 4 more innings, scattering 3 more singles (by Rhymes, Iorg, and Strieby) and two walks (Guillen and Strieby), but he did not allow another run.  He threw 91 pitches, with 52 strikes.