The Pirates extended their losing streak to four while the Braves extended their winning streak to nine after they beat the Bucs, 4-2, last night in Atlanta.
Joe Block has the recap.
Game three of the series is this afternoon. The Pirates will send RHP Zach Thompson (3-4, 4.60 ERA) to the mound. Former Pirate Charlie Morton (4-3, 5.63 ERA) will go for Atlanta. Airtime is 3:45 p.m. on WCCS 101.1 FM and AM 1160.
The on-going mystery into what it will take for the Pirates to promote No. 3 prospect Oneil Cruz continued yesterday as Director of Coaching and Player Development John Baker told reporters that the team “wants to be smart” about Cruz’s development and that they want to provide him a good opportunity to be great, not just good, at the MLB level.
“It’s kind of like Christmas,” he said. “You want the present. You want to open it up… That just requires patience.”
Cruz has gone 13-for-48 (.342) in his last 10 games with Indianapolis with four home runs, five walks and an on-base percentage of .435.
Meanwhile, he discussed other players, like Curve standout Mike Burrows and yesteday’s starter Roansy Contreras.
Baker said that, for Burrows to be promoted to Class AAA Indianapolis, the team needs to make room for him, but he adds that “when the time is right, we’ll see that jump.”
He kept it brief when discussing Contreras’ promotion to the MLB, saying “We were at a spot with [Contreras] after a couple starts in Triple-A where we were like ‘I don’t know how we can make this guy any better right now.’ It was time for us to pass him on.”
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