When in doubt...blame the pierogi

Someone had to take the fall.

Firing an employee after 12 straight losses sends a message to a fledgling major league organization. In Pittsburgh, General Manager Neal Huntington is safe; as is manager John Russell. They secretly received contract extensions last fall.

It was all the pierogi’s fault!

Andrew Kurtz, 24, of New Brighton, Pa., will no longer be dressing up as Sauerkraut Saul or Jalapeno Hannah for the popular, fifth-inning pierogi race at PNC Park after posting his displeasure with the contract extensions on his Facebook page, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The move obviously worked.

The Pirates haven’t lost since the doughy pocket of goodness was sent to find a new park to run around two games ago.

Sunday minor league roundup

Triple-A Columbus (41-29) – Rain forced a suspension of the Clippers-PawSox game in the top of the sixth inning Sunday. The game will be resumed when the PawSox visit Huntington Park in late July. At the time of the suspension, Columbus led 4-3. Josh Rodriguez hit his fourth home run in the last 10 games. During that span he is hitting .364 with nine RBI. Carlos Carrasco pitched all five innings, allowing three earned runs. He struck out two, walked two and gave up two home runs.

Double-A Akron (34-35) – Designated hitter Jerad Head hit two home runs to lead the Aeros past Portland 3-2. Lonnie Chisenhall had three hits to raise his average to .294 for the season. Over the last 10 games he has three home runs, seven RBI and a .326 average (14-43). Left-hander Scott Barnes got the win. He struck out eight over five innings and allowed two hits, but walked five.

High Class-A Kinston (36-34) – Shortstop Ron Rivas had two hits, two RBI and hit his second home run of the season to lead Kinston to a 4-1 win over Salem. Right-hander Joe Gardner struck out nine in six innings. He walked one and gave up two hits. Since joining Kinston from Lake County, Gardner is 6-1 (nine starts) with a 1.58 ERA. He has struck out 49 in 51.1 innings and walked 18.

Low Class-A Lake County (44-25) – Shortstop Casey Frawley led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a game-winning, home run to left-center field, giving the Captains a 3-2 win over Lansing. Bo Greenwell had two hits, both singles, and was caught stealing.