With the activation of Oneil Cruz, who had been promoted from Bradenton, the Pirates released long-time fan legend, shortstop Gift Ngoepe. The defensive wizard was in his second stint in the Pirates organization, assigned to Altoona after being released from the Phillies Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley, but in 14 games went only 3-for-30 with 14 strikeouts. His younger brother Victor Ngoepe started his season at West Virginia and has since been promoted to Greensboro.
Altoona activated 1B Jerrick Suiter (237/286/310) from the Injured List, where he’d been since July 19 with a right groin strain.