MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Tyler Glasnow wiped the sweat off his face with his jersey after walking a batter to load the bases in the second inning of his rehab start Friday night. It was the inaugural game for the West Virginia Black Bears, the Pirates’ short-season single-A team in the New York-Penn League, and the right-hander’s appearance in front of a sellout crowd was his first in more than a month.
Glasnow, the Pirates’ top prospect and the 16th-best in baseball according to Baseball America, was slated to pitch three innings in his first outing since spraining his ankle while sliding into second base during a start for the Altoona Curve on May 6.
Instead, he labored for 1⅓ innings, throwing 38 pitches and allowing three runs, two of which were earned, before he was removed from the game. Glasnow recorded two strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter. Matters continued to spiral downward for the Black Bears, who lost, 15-7, to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
“It was good for him to get back on the mound and throwing,” said Larry Broadway, the Pirates’ Director of Minor League Operations. “I think healthwise, he was all solid, velocity was there.”
Glasnow’s fastball hit 97 miles per hour multiple times, satisfying both Broadway and Glasnow. However, his breaking pitches were rusty, and Glasnow will make another start in Morgantown before returning to Class AA with the Altoona Curve.
Before his injury, Glasnow had made six starts for the Curve this season, compiling a 2-2 record and a 2.76 earned-run average. The Pirates opted to shut down Glasnow completely when his ankle was still bothersome after he attempted to make a start following the injury.
“It felt weird going up and throwing, I just haven’t done it in so long, just like the game atmosphere,” Glasnow said. “But my fastball felt pretty decent, better than I thought it would feel. I knew my secondary stuff wasn’t going to be there which was probably going to drag out innings a little longer.”
Glasnow’s struggles in Friday’s game came on a night when prominent members of the Pirates’ front office were in attendance. Owner Bob Nutting, President Frank Coonelly and General Manager Neal Huntington were introduced on the field before the game to celebrate the beginning of the Black Bears’ existence after the team moved to Morgantown from Jamestown.
The game also marked the professional debut of Pirates’ first-round draft pick Kevin Newman after the conclusion of his college career at Arizona. Before the game, Newman said he would be relieved once he recorded his first professional hit.
“Get the first one, get the monkey off your back, and hopefully many more after that,” he said.
Perhaps he was too eager. Newman, the team’s shortstop and leadoff hitter, swung at the first pitch he saw, popping it up in foul territory down the third-base line. He finished the night 1 for 5, with his hit coming on a single up the middle in the fifth inning.
“It’s good to get the first one under the belt,” Newman said after his debut.
Max Cohen: mcohen@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1720 and Twitter @MaxACohen.
First Published: June 20, 2015, 4:39 a.m.