Triple-A Report
Indianapolis defeated Charlotte 9-7 on Thursday to improve to 24-23 on the season.
*Top prospect Pedro Alvarez (4-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI) had 4 hits and scored 2 runs in the win.
Alvarez is hitting .323 in his last 10 games with 1 home run and 7 RBI’s. The Pirates highly touted prospect has reached base in 8 straight games.
Alvarez has also bumped his batting average up to .267 and is starting to show signs of hitting up in late May like he did last season as he moved through the minor league ranks.

Jose Tabata batted leadoff and was 1-for-5 in the game. Tabata is batting .323 on the year.
Starting pitcher Hayden Penn (3.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 3 SO) who began the season with the Pirates, struggled mightily, allowing six earned runs on eight hits and six walks over 3.2 innings of work. Penn received a no decision.
Justin Thomas earned the victory to improve to 3-0 on the season after tossing 1.1 perfect innings.
Reliever Vinnie Chulk (2.0 IP, 5 SO) had a strong game, striking out five of the six batters he faced over two innings to earn his first hold of the season.
Brad Lincoln (5-2) will start for the Indians Friday night.
Double-A Report
Despite turning the second triple play in franchise history, the Altoona Curve had their eight-game winning streak snapped on Thursday morning with a, 5-2, defeat at the hands of the Akron Aeros at Canal Park. The Curve finished its eight-game, seven-day road trip with a record of 7-1.
The rare occurrence took place in the sixth inning after Cristo Arnal singled and former Curve player Miguel Perez was hit by a pitch to put two on with no one out. John Drennen lined a ball to Chase d’Arnaud for the first out and then d’Arnaud stepped on second base to double off Arnal before throwing to Matt Hague at first to retire Perez for the triple play.
Altoona’s only other triple play came on May 3, 2001 against the Harrisburg Senators at BCB when catcher J.R. House caught a pop up off the bunt attempt of pitcher Mark Mangum. After recording the first out, House threw down to second base to shortstop Shaun Skrehot for the second out and Skrehot threw to Chris Peterson at first to register the club’s first triple play.
Akron scored first in Thursday morning’s finale, putting up a run in the first inning off starter Jared Hughes (7-2). The Curve answered back with its only two runs of the game in the third when Kris Watts and Miles Durham scored on a fielding error by Akron’s Cord Phelps. Altoona finished the game with just four hits.
Hughes lasted 3.2 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits to suffer his second defeat of the season. Derek Hankins pitched the final 4.1 innings in his first bullpen action since April 28. The Effingham, Ill. native did not allow a run while walking two and striking out three.
Aeros starter Paolo Espino (5-2) earned the win for Akron with 5.2 innings of three-hit baseball.
The first-place Curve (30-17) returns home Friday at 6:30 p.m. to begin a short four-game homestand with its first non-divisional opponent of the 2010 season the Reading Phillies. Southpaw Justin Wilson (2-4, 3.15) will make the start in the opener for the Curve fresh off his second win of the season and the owner of a 1.63 ERA in five starts this month. He’ll be opposed by Reading’s Phillippe Aumont (1-4, 6.25), who was one of the key cogs in the deal that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle this offseason. The first 2,000 fans through the gates at Blair County Ballpark on Friday night will receive a Camouflage BBQ Apron Giveaway courtesy of Holiday Inn Express. It’s also Westmoreland County Community Night and kids can run the bases after the game. All active and retired military personnel can receive $2 off tickets on Friday night as well as all Memorial-Day weekend long at BCB.
*Courtesy Altoona Press Release