Pirates Minor League Report: Palacios Nearly Hits for Cycle

Pirates affiliates picked up three wins on Thursday, with two familiar faces from the big league club making their presence known in Triple-A. Ji-hwan Bae and Joshua Palacios powering the Indians to a 6-2 win, and the latter came within a homer of hitting for the cycle.

Matt Fraizer doubled and homered in Altoona’s 8-1 win over Richmond, while shortstop and Pirates’ top 30 member Tsung-Che Cheng continued to make his way on base at an impressive clip.

Greensboro forced a decisive Game 3 in their Division Series matchup with Hudson Valley, aided by five scoreless innings in relief—including seven strikeouts—from 2023 14th round pick Garrett McMillan.

Here are the numbers from some of the top performances on Thursday.

Triple-A Indianapolis (72-66)

DH Joshua Palacios

• Game: 3-for-4 with a double and a triple.
• Season: .270/.344/.448 with 17 doubles, a triple and 4 homers in 50 games throughout the Pirates’ farm system.

2B Ji-hwan Bae

• Game: 1-for-2 with a triple and 2 walks.
• Season: .348/.435/.511 with 10 doubles, 4 triples and 6 homers in 59 games throughout the Pirates’ farm system.

Double-A Altoona (60-75)

SS Tsung-Che Cheng

• Game: 1-for-2 with a single and 2 walks.
• Season: .220/.324/.344 with 18 doubles and 11 homers in 123 games.

CF Matt Fraizer

• Game: 2-for-2 with a double, a homer and a walk.
• Season: .252/.325/.388 with 16 doubles, 2 triples and 8 homers in 99 games between Altoona and Indianapolis.

High-A Greensboro (76-56)

RHP Garrett McMillan

• Game: 5 IP, 0 ER, 7 K’s.
• Season: 70.1 IP, 2.18 ERA, 81 K’s in 36 regular season appearances (four starts) between Bradenton and Greensboro.

2B Duce Gourson

• Game: 1-for-3 with a single and a walk.
• Season: .203/.379/.270 with 5 doubles in 22 regular season games between Bradenton and Greensboro.