Pirates Prospect Watch: Peguero Hits Two HRs as Part of Four-Hit Night

Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Liover Peguero had one of his best games as a professional on Wednesday night for the Altoona Curve.

Peguero collected four hits, two of which were home runs along with a double. The Pirates’ No. 7 prospect has been on a nice roll at the plate in Double-A.

Even though Peguero had a big game, Altoona lost — as did all four of the Pirates’ minor league affiliates.

Even so, there were plenty of Pirates’ prospects who played well. Here are the highlights.

Indianapolis (33-42)

C Endy Rodriguez

• Game stats: 2 for 4, one double, one RBI, one run, one sac fly
• Season stats: .252/.333/.396, 12 doubles, three triples, five home runs, 32 RBIs, four steals, 57 games

RF Canaan Smith-Njigba

• Game stats: 3 for 4, one double, one run
• Season stats: .243/.339/.500, 11 doubles, one triple, eight home runs, 25 RBIs, eight steals, 38 games

Rodriguez and Smith-Njigba combined for five hits and a couple doubles, but Indianapolis was walked-off 7-6 by the Louisville Bats.

Pirates prospect Aaron Shackelford drove in a pair of runs in the loss.

Altoona (34-35)

2B Liover Peguero

• Game stats: 4 for 5, two home runs, one double, two RBIs, three runs
• Season stats: .275/.348/.483, 20 doubles, one triple, 11 home runs, 34 RBIs, 18 steals, 64 games

3B Andres Alvarez

• Game stats: 2 for 4, one home run, two RBIs, one run
• Season stats: .216/.283/.351, 12 doubles, six home runs, 26 RBIs, two steals, 63 games

Peguero’s big night and a homer from Alvarez weren’t enough for the Altoona Curve, who fell 6-5 to the Harrisburg Senators.

Braxton Ashcraft three three scoreless innings and Pirates prospect Abrahan Gutierrez went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.

Greensboro (37-32)

1B Ernny Ordonez

• Game stats: 1 for 2, one home run, two RBIs, one run, one walk
• Season stats: .220/.284/.362, five doubles, five home runs, 21 RBIs, one steal, 38 games

RHP Po-Yu Chen

• Game stats: 6.2 innings, seven hits, six runs (three earned), three walks, six strikeouts
• Season stats: 3-5, 4.31 ERA, 34er/71.0ip, 71 hits, 24 walks, 68 strikeouts, 14 appearances/13 starts

Ordonez hit his fifth homer of the season and Chen pitched pretty well in Greensboro’s 6-2 loss to the Hickory Crawdads.

Pirates prospect Jack Carey threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief and punched out three batters.

Bradenton (38-31)

LHP Dominic Perachi

• Game stats: 5.0 innings, three hits, no runs, three walks, five strikeouts
• Season stats: 2-0, 4.07 ERA, 22er/48.2ip, 48 hits, 24 walks, 49 strikeouts, 12 appearances/10 starts

SS Jack Brannigan

• Game stats: 3 for 4, one double, two runs, one walk, one steal
• Season stats: .225/.387/.419, three doubles, two triples, six home runs, 14 RBIs, 14 steals, 38 games

A strong start from Perachi and a three-hit night for Brannigan weren’t enough for the Marauders in their 8-5 loss to the Clearwater Threshers.

Pirates prospect Shalin Polanco hit a home run for Bradenton, giving him an even-dozen on the year.