Keller, Meadows among top prospect performers Tuesday

Mitch Keller may have moved up a level, but the results stayed the same.

Keller made his debut with Class A Advanced Bradenton and led the club to a 8-1 win over Jupiter on Tuesday.

The Pirates’ No. 5 prospect spun six scoreless frames, struck out seven and surrendered five hits. Keller threw 88 pitches, 58 strikes.

“It’s a new level, so [I was] definitely anxious — nerves, ready to get going,” Keller told MiLB.com. “New team, new everything. Same game, though. That’s what [manager Brian] Esposito told me from the [Class A West Virginia] Power when he told me the news. He said, ‘It’s the same game, do the same thing and you’ll be fine.’ I took that and went with it and it really worked out.”

While it’s always nice to make a strong impression in a debut, the scoreless start was simply the latest in a string of several from the right-hander.

Keller, MLB Pipeline’s No. 80 overall prospect, hasn’t given up an earned run in any of his past five starts, a span of 29 innings. During that stretch, he’s given up 18 hits and struck out 35.

The rest of the best performances from top prospects Tuesday:

• Austin Meadows (Pirates’ No. 2, No. 9 overall) broke out of his slump with a career-high five RBIs. After going hitless in four consecutive games, Meadows stepped up offensively for Triple-A Indianapolis, going 2-for-3 with the five runs driven in. The 21-year-old had a sac fly in the first, a two-run single in the third and a two-run homer in the fifth.

• Ian Happ (Cubs’ No. 1, No. 24 overall) hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the ninth inning to win the game for Double-A Tennessee. The 2015 first-round pick went 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs and is hitting .253 with five homers and 24 RBIs in 58 games since he was moved up to Tennessee.

• Franklin Barreto (Athletics’ No. 1, No. 47 overall) drove in a trio of runs for Double-A Midland. Barreto doubled as part …

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