De Los Santos and Murf Gray power Greensboro to a chaotic 16-14 win over Asheville

Two Pittsburgh Pirates prospects combined for four homers as the High-A Grasshoppers survived a major rally at HomeTrust Park.

By The Apex Times Newsroom3 min readAI-assisted Apex article

High-A Greensboro found itself in another kind of baseball game on Sunday, when it erased a back-and-forth deficit and pulled out a 16-14 win over the Asheville Tourists at HomeTrust Park. The Pirates’ system contribution showed up early and often, with Yordany De Los Santos and Murf Gray delivering the kind of extra-base swings that can shift momentum for a young lineup all at once.

De Los Santos sparked the opener, launching a solo homer in the first inning and then returning in the second as part of a Greensboro surge that ballooned into an eight-run inning. According to MLB’s game recap, the 21-year-old shortstop went 4-for-7 overall and set career highs with four hits and four RBIs, with his power twice landing in nearly the same part of the park. The day also fit a broader breakout stretch, after an undisclosed injury delayed his start to the 2026 season.

By the time the second inning was over, the game’s scoreline looked like it had already decided itself. The Asheville recap describes how Asheville’s starter, Dylan Howard, struggled through 1.2 innings, and Greensboro used the disruption to build a commanding early lead. Murf Gray then added a two-run blast to make it 7-1, helping extend the margin during what became a decisive offensive burst.

Asheville refused to go quietly. The Tourists answered in stages, rallying from the initial hole and taking the lead twice during the middle innings of the same game that seemed to be slipping away. Asheville’s report notes that the Tourists got a bases-loaded, run-scoring double from Nehomar Ochoa Jr. in the sixth to put them in front 10-9, before Greensboro’s bats regained traction again later. The seventh inning became a second turning point, when Gray homered again to restore Greensboro’s lead, 12-11.

Even then, the ending still belonged to the kind of late-inning chaos that makes these games hard to summarize. Greensboro pushed the advantage in the ninth, with Carlos Caro adding a solo home run and Edward Florentino coming through with an insurance sacrifice fly, per MLB’s recap. Asheville came back once more to make it 16-14, putting the tying run on base with the late rally continuing, but the Tourists could not finish the comeback as Greensboro’s final out preserved the win.

The results carried more than just highlight value. Asheville’s season record dropped to 15-41, while Greensboro improved to 35-22. The Tourists also noted that the series ended with Asheville winning four games to two, and that the overall season series with Greensboro is tied at six games apiece, underscoring that the two clubs have been trading punches even as the standings move in different directions. For Pirates prospects, the backdrop is development, but the scoreboard still matters.

Why It Matters

The combined four-homer output from two Pirates prospects highlights how quickly the organization’s top offensive profiles can swing a game, even in a league known for volatility.
De Los Santos’ production surge matters for evaluation because it comes after a delayed start, suggesting his power and run creation are translating into consistent at-bats.
Gray’s two-homer day, including the late-lead reclaiming blast, reinforces the value of game-to-game impact for middle-inning hitters in High-A.
The 35-22 Greensboro record and Asheville’s 15-41 mark show the widening gap in team performance, making Greensboro’s prospect-driven wins especially telling for momentum and lineup confidence.

Sources

Key Facts

Greensboro defeated Asheville 16-14 at HomeTrust Park on Sunday in High-A action.
Yordany De Los Santos hit two homers and finished 4-for-7 with four RBIs, including a career-high four-hit total.
Murf Gray added two homers, going 3-for-6 with four RBIs, including a two-run shot in the seventh that helped Greensboro retake the lead.
The game included a major Greensboro second inning that the Asheville recap described as an eight-run frame.
Greensboro added insurance in the ninth on a Carlos Caro homer and an Edward Florentino sacrifice fly, per MLB’s recap.
Asheville finished the series four games to two and left the season series tied with Greensboro at six games apiece, according to the Tourists’ game recap.