MVN - Most Valuable Network

Boone Earns Player of the Week

Monday’s games for the Pirates’ affiliates:
(The Indianapolis Indians had the day off.)

Altoona Curve 3, Akron Aeros 2
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The Curve began their series against Akron with a come-from-behind win on only 4 hits.

CF James Boone had started things off right for the Curve, by leading off the bottom of the 1st inning with a solo homer, his league-leading 6th of the season. Then both starting pitchers, David Huff of Akron and Derek Hankins of Altoona, held the game scoreless until the top of the 5th inning, when Akron C Chris Gimenez hit his own solo homer.

Hankins pitched 4.2 innings, but left the game in the top of the 5th after being smashed in the chest with a line drive. Besides the solo homer, he had given up 2 other hits and had struck out 2 batters. Patrick Bresnehan came in for Hankins, and finished the inning. But in the top of the 6th, Bresnehan walked 4 batters, giving Akron a run without benefit of a hit, for a 2-1 lead. Kevin Roberts relieved Bresnehan to finish the 6th, and he went on to pitch a scoreless 7th.

David Huff lasted into the 7th inning, and he was relieved by Jeff Stevens. SS Brian Finegan greeted Stevens by blasting a solo homer over the left field wall to tie the game. The Curve got the go-ahead run in the 8th inning, when James Boone led off with a walk. He went to third base on LF Jonel Pacheco’s single, and came in to score on DH Brad Corley’s infield grounder.

Brian Rogers pitched the last two innings for the Curve. He allowed one hit and struck out 2 batters in the final 2 innings, and he earned his second win of the season, while dropping his ERA to 0.69. Two of the Curve’s four hits in the game were homers — Boone and Finegan — while Pacheco and C Kris Watts each had singles.

CURVE NOTES:
James Boone was named the Eastern League’s Player of the Week (Week ending Apr 21st). In 6 games during the week, he went 11-for-21 at the plate (.524), with 2 doubles, 4 homers, including an inside-the-park shot, and 6 RBI. He has now reached base safely in 16 of his 17 games, with a .328 average (.452 OBP), 6 homers, and 10 RBI, with 12 walks. Those 6 homers are currently tops in the Eastern League.

The Curve have an 8-9 record and are in second place in the Southern Division of the Eastern League, 4 games behind first-place Harrisburg.

Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 3
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A 4-run 4th inning put the Hillcats ahead to stay as they opened a series in Myrtle Beach.

Lynchburg starter Jared Hughes earned his first win of the season with 5 innings of work, allowing 6 hits and 2 walks, with 2 strikeouts. He gave up one earned run in the 3rd inning on a double and a triple. One unearned run scored in the 4th inning, when LF Jared Keel made a fielding error on the second of two singles. The lead baserunner came around to score, but the second was out when Keel threw the ball in to SS Brian Friday, and on to C Steve Lerud and 3B Jim Negrych for the out. Another fielding error in the 5th inning, this one by Negrych at third base, allowed another unearned run to score.

The Hillcats batted around in the top of the 4th inning. 2B Angel Gonzalez led off with a single, stole second base, and advanced to third on a ground out. He scored on a wild pitch. 1B Kent Sakamoto and Lerud worked back-to-back walks, and Keel followed with a 2-run triple. After a walk to RF Eddie Prasch, CF Albert Laboy’s sacrifice fly brought Keel home.

Lynchburg added two more runs in the 7th inning, as Friday led off with a walk, and Gonzalez put down a bunt that the Pelicans’ catcher had trouble with — both men were safe at the corners on the throwing error. Friday scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Negrych. Sakamoto singled to load the bases, and another sacrifice fly, this one by Lerud, plated Gonzalez. Lerud added another insurance run in the 9th inning with a solo home run.

Christian Castorri pitched the 6th and 7th scoreless innings for the Hillcats. He gave up one hit and hit one batter with a pitch while striking out 3 batters. Kyle Pearson earned his third save of the season as he pitched the final two scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits and striking out 2 batters. Gonzalez went 3-for-4 in the game, and DH Tony Mansolino also had 2 hits.

HILLCATS NOTES:
Missed this a few days ago: Tony Mansolino is an author!

The Hillcats now have a 7-10 record and are sitting in third place in the Northern Division of the Carolina League. They are 5.5 games behind first place Potomac and 2.5 games behind second place Frederick.

Asheville Tourists 6, Hickory Crawdads 1
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Runners left stranded in scoring position were the Crawdads’ downfall, as they lost the final game of the series to Asheville, giving the Tourists a 3-game sweep.

The Crawdads had at least one man on base in each of the first 6 innings, but could not bring them home to score. Their only run came in the 7th, when DH Keanon Simon led off with a double, and scored on 3B Bobby Spain’s single. That was all they could do, though, as they went down in order in the final two innings. Total men left on base: 8.

Emilis Guererro started for Hickory, and pitched well despite being credited with the loss. In 5 innings, he allowed only 2 hits, one of which was a solo homer in the 2nd inning. He did not walk any batters and struck out 6. Carlos Amaro relieved Guererro to begin the 6th inning. He allowed a run in the 6th inning on a double and a single, and then another run in the 7th inning on two singles and a sacrifice fly. A 3-run homer in the 8th inning off reliever Tom Boleska added more insurance to Asheville’s lead.

CRAWDADS’ NOTES:
The three losses to Ashville have put the Crawdads’ record at 9-10, dropping them down to 4th place in the standings in the Northern Division of the South Atlantic League. They are 3.5 games behind first-place Greensboro and one game behind third-place Delmarva. The Crawdads have Tuesday off, and then return home to begin a series with Augusta on Wednesday.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 9:54 am and is filed under Patrick Bresnehan, Albert Laboy, Jared Keel, Eddie Prasch, Angel Gonzalez, Jonel Pacheco, Derek Hankins, Kevin Roberts, James Boone, Jim Negrych, Kristopher Watts, Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects, A - Hickory Crawdads, A - Lynchburg Hillcats, AA - Altoona Curve, Steve Lerud, Brian Friday, Jared Hughes, Keanon Simon, Bobby Spain, Pittsburgh Pirates Minor-League Affiliates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.