Pirates Prospects Throw Another Perfect Game

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates saw another group of minor league pitchers achieve one of baseball's most impressive feats.

The Greensboro Grasshoppers, the Pirates' High-A affiliate, threw a perfect game in their 4-0 win over the Bowling Green Hot Rods, the High-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, at home, First National Bank Field, on July 13.

Right-handed pitcher Hung-Leng Chang started the game for Greensboro and threw five innings with five strikeouts over 58 pitches, earning the win.

Left-handed pitcher Joshua Loeschorn threw 20 pitches over the sixth inning and seventh inning with one strikeout, giving him his first hold of the season. Right-handed pitcher Jake Shirk threw 18 pitches in the eighth inning with one strikeout and then right-handed pitcher Jarod Bayless closed out the game for Greensboro with a 10-pitch ninth inning.

Greensboro left fielder Titus Dumitru hit an RBI-single in the bottom of the third inning, scoring center fielder Will Taylor from second base. The Pirates acquired Dumitru in a trade with the Atlanta Braves for right-handed relief pitcher Hunter Stratton on July 1.

The Grasshoppers added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Taylor singled to left field, scoring first baseman Derek Berg and Taylor moved to second base. Third baseman Keiner Delgado would single later in the inning and scored Taylor, pushing the lead to 3-0.

Greensboro loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning and shortstop Javier Rivas got hit by a pitch, bringing home catcher Geovanny Planchart to make it a 4-0 lead.

This marks the second perfect game for Greensboro, who also did one back on July 4, in a 2-0 victory over the Aberdeen Ironbirds, the High-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, Md.

These are the first two perfect games in the minor leagues from Single-A or higher since 2017. The previous perfect game for the Pirates in the minor leagues came when right-handed starting pitcher John Wasdin threw one for the Triple-A Nashville Sounds vs. the Albuquerque Isotopes on April 7, 2003.

Chang, who hails from Taiwan, signed a minor league contract with the Pirates on Jan. 15, 2022 and has worked up from the Florida Complex League Pirates and the Single-A Bradenton Marauders.

The Pirates took Loeschorn in the 20th round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Long Island. He recently came off the 60-day injured list, just in time for the perfect game.

The Pirates took Shirk in the 18th round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of Wright State, making this his first season of professional baseball. He also got his first hold of the season in the first perfect game.

Bayless is 28 years old and signed a minor league contract with the Pirates this season, as he pitched at both Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis this season as well.