4/5 Baseball Round-up

Outcomes from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Altoona Curve, Bradenton Marauders, and West Virginia Power.





Pittsburgh Pirates (0-1) lost 1-0 to the Philadelphia Phillies (1-0) at PNC Park
WP: Roy Halladay (1-0) S: Jonathon Papelbon (1) LP: Eric Bedard (0-1)

The first inning looked very promising for the 2012 Pirates. Eric Bedard allowed only a meaningless bunt single with two outs in the first before getting Hunter Pence to line out. The bottom half of the inning began with singles from Alex Presley and Jose Tabata. However, neither Andrew McCutchen nor Neil Walker could produce in this case. McCutchen grounded into a double play, and Walker flied out. The game went pretty smoothly from there until the 7th inning. Ty Wigginton singled, and John Mayberry doubled to move Wigginton to third. Carlos Ruiz sent a low flyball to right. Tabata made the catch but his throw sailed enough for Wigginton to slide under the tag from Rod Barajas. The Pirate pitchers shut the door from there, but they never got a hit after the first inning. That may worry some, but it was Roy-freakin-Halladay. I'll reserve judgement.

Top Performers:
1 Phillies P Roy Halladay - pitching 8 scoreless innings, striking out 5, and giving up only 2 hits
2 Phillies C Carlos Ruiz - 3 for 3 with an RBI
3 John Mayberry - 2 for 4 with a double

AA: Altoona Curve (1-0) won 7-4 over Erie SeaWolves (0-1) at home
WP: Matt McSwain (1-0) S: Kyle Cofield (1) LP: Jay Voss (0-1)

CF Robbie Grossman went 2 for 5 with a HR, 2 RBI, and 2 Runs Scored to lead the curve to a season opening win.

A+: Bradenton Marauders (1-0) won 3-2 in 11 innings over St. Lucie Mets (0-1)
WP: Jhonathan Ramos (1-0) LP: Ryan Fraser (0-1)

SS Gift Ngoepe started off the season well, going 3 for 5 and scoring twice including the game winning run in the bottom of the 11th.

A: West Virginia Power (0-1) lost 11-9 to Hagerstown Suns (1-0)
WP: Christian Meza (1-0) S: Alex Kreis (1) LP: Rinku Singh (0-1)

RF Josh Bell struggled a little in his first game, collecting 1 hit (a double) and 3 Ks in 5 ABs. SS Alen Hanson went 3 for 4 with a HR, 2 RBI, and scored 3 times. LF Willy Garcia went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI. CF Gregory Polanco went 3 for 5 with a triple, an RBI, and 2 runs scored.