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Pirates Minor League Infielder Pitches 5.1 Innings In 19-Inning Game

I suppose this is what happens when a minor-league team has a 19-inning game. Pirates minor leaguers are on fairly strict pitch count and have limits on the ways they can be used, since young pitchers' health is precarious and minor-league games are essentially meaningless.

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So after the West Virginia Power got through 13 innings against the Greensboro Grasshoppers with Porfirio Lopez, Zachary Fuesser, Justin Ennis and Rinku Singh, they turned to ... utility infielder Kevin Mort, who came in with a two-run lead in the bottom of the 14th. Mort gave up two runs to tie the game that inning, then pitched four scoreless frames to prolong the game before allowing a game-winning RBI single by Christian Yelich in the bottom of the 19th. That's a heck of a long time for a utility infielder to pitch, and Mort deserves serious credit for not getting destroyed. He took the loss, but it wasn't a bad effort for a hitter.

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Photographs by dizfunk used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.