Excitment filled the air of Victory Field Saturday night, due not to it being a night of family fun but, rather, because the crowd of 14,679 was about to have ots first look at the Pittsburgh Pirates' number one prospect Tyler Glasnow.

Glasnow, who was not taken until the fifth round of the 2011 MLB Draft by the Pirates, instantly showed the other 29 MLB teams that they made a mistake in not selecting him in the earlier rounds four years ago by going 9-3 with a 2.18 ERA and 164 strikeouts in 24 starts (111 1/3 innings pitched) during his first full professional campaign. The following year, the 2013 South Atlantic League All-Star continued to shoot up Pittsburgh's prospect rankings by turning in a 12-5 record, 1.74 ERA, and 157 whiffs with the Bradenton Pirates (Single-A Advanced).

Even when he moved up another rung in the organizational ladder, the 21-year old went 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 22 2/3 frames (4 starts) to begin the year with Altoona (Double-A)!

Although the California native would suffer a sprained ankle after two turbulent Eastern League starts, Glasnow was back on the mound for the Curve doing what he does best a month and 12 days later. In fact, a week ago Sunday, he struck out a career-high 12 in six innings of two run ball against Akron, resulting in Pittsburgh general manager Neal Huntington promoting Glasnow to Indianapolis for his Triple-A debut on Saturday.

Through the first two innings, the six-foot, eight-inch right-hander had much success in throwing bullets to Matt Davidson's Charlotte Knights (affiliate of the Chicago White Sox) as he had three K's in two innings and was rolling through the opposition until the ninth batter in the lineup. Drew Garcia singled with one out and then took second base on a throwing error by the Indians' pitcher.

Despite MLB.com's ninth-ranked prospect in baseball being able to induce Justin Sellers to line out to right field for the second out, Charlotte's Jason Coats and Matt Tuiasosopo plated runs and stole the lead for their team with an RBI-single and an RBI-double, respectively. Before matters became any worse, Glasnow was able to strikeout Davidson with a runner on second to end the inning.

Unfortunately, the Knights were back to putting bat on ball in the fourth inning with another two-out rally by Garcia, who shot a ball to left field, which brought home Kevan Smith and Tyler Colvin (on an errant throw by Keon Broxton).

While Glasnow was able to have a fantastic fifth inning by setting down the side via strikeouts, singles by Dayan Viciedo and Smith chased the righty from his Triple-A debut with one out in the sixth inning.

Thankfully, due to Bobby LaFromboise's ability to get the first batter he faced to ground out into a double play and the Indians' rallying to knot the game at four in the eighth, Glasnow received a no-decision even though he was hit hard for four runs (one earned) on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings pitched. 

Tyler Glasnow will have a chance to rebound from his rocky Triple-A debut in either Durham or Norfolk later this week.

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About the author
Peyton Wesner
Editor, that has loved and watched sports. He enjoys traveling the country to watch division one college basketball and professional baseball, basketball, and football. In addition, Peyton is a huge enthusiast of Missouri Valley Conference basketball and International League (Triple-A) baseball as he focuses about these topics and many more on his sports blog Courtside with PW at http://courtsidewpw.blogspot.com/?m=1. You can contact him through his email, [email protected], or his twitter, @courtsidewpw.