Below Deck: Garcia struggles to lock in with Altoona

ALTOONA, Pa. – Yeudy Garcia shook his head left-to-right while walking toward the dugout after getting pulled during the second inning of Wednesday night's game. He was grimacing and uncomfortable as he walked off the field with the trainer and so too were the results.

While it was Garcia’s 11th start of the season, it was his first time facing the Portland Sea Dogs. After getting charged for five runs on five hits and walking two, it's 1 1/3 innings of Double-A ball he'd like to forget.



It was Garcia's shortest outing since he pitched 2/3 of an inning during his season debut on April 11. Garcia said his back tightened up and Curve manager Michael Ryan said Garcia will meet with a doctor on Thursday and likely will miss his next scheduled start.

"He just couldn't get much over, fell behind in counts," Ryan said. "The fastball, it looked like he didn't know where it was going, it seemed like. Big innings happen quickly if that's the case and they're going to zone in on one zone and that's what they've done."

Knowing how he wants to approach hitters and making sure his preparation is up to par is something Ryan continues to stress this season to Garcia, the Pirates’ 2015 minor league pitcher of the year. While Garcia worked himself out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the first inning by pulling off the 1-2-3 double play, the second inning unraveled in a hurry.

A leadoff double was followed by a one-out single, then a line drive to left, a walk, a double and a visit to the mound. After 44 pitches, 24 of which were strikes, and 11 batters Garcia was pulled. Ryan said this outing was less about a lack of preparation and more so about Garcia leaving pitches up in the zone. Figuring out if and when he can put it all together remains a mystery.