By Andy Bitter

Published: May 8, 2008

Pirates fans probably waited with great anticipation — or dread, depending on their level of pessimism — for Thursday’s game between the Hillcats and Keys.
Left-hander Daniel Moskos, the fourth overall pick in last year’s draft, took the mound for Lynchburg. Catcher Matt Wieters, the $6 million man the Orioles took one pick later (and the player many Pirates fans preferred), was behind the plate for Frederick.
The two are inextricably linked, whether they like it or not.
“Yup. Probably not going to shed that anytime soon,” Moskos said. “It’s something that other people are going to focus on. I’m not going to.”
For those who did take notice Thursday, tally one in Moskos’ column.
Wieters went 1-for-3 but Moskos threw 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball, turning in his finest outing of the season in Lynchburg’s 4-0 rain-shortened win at City Stadium.
Moskos (3-1), who is rated as the Pirates’ No. 5 minor league prospect, worked quickly, scattering six hits and striking out three with no walks. He did it all in just 75 pitches.
“That’s very efficient,” Hillcats manager Jeff Branson said.
Still, it was how he fared against Wieters that most Pirates fans cared about.
The first matchup went to the Keys catcher, who tops Baltimore’s organizational prospect list and is second in the league in average (.340) and home runs (5). In the first inning, he rocketed a ball off the right field wall so hard that he had to hold up at first initially, moving to second on an error.
Moskos got the better of Wieters in the fourth and sixth, though, mixing up his repertoire of pitches to get a pair of grounders to short.
“You approach him by just changing things,” said Moskos, who is familiar with the former Georgia Tech star from his time at Clemson. “You can’t have a predictable approach, because if he knows what’s coming, he’s going to hit it. … He’s a good hitter. Good hitters make adjustments.”
Frederick (18-15) did little else. The Keys didn’t get a runner past second and never had more than four batters in an inning. Moskos induced them to hit into 12 ground ball outs, which he deemed his “forte.”
“It helped working ahead in the count, throwing strikes, commanding the ball,” said Moskos, who made it through the fifth inning once in his previous three starts.
The Hillcats (15-18) gave him just enough offensively. They scored a run in the first without the benefit of a hit, the result of a wild inning by Frederick starter Pedro Beato (3-2), who walked a batter and hit another.
Lynchburg put the game out of reach after Moskos left in the seventh. Jared Keel crushed a solo home run, his second of the year.
The left fielder entered the game hitting .158 and was mired in a 1-for-15 slump prior to the homer.
“I can’t say I’m out of it yet,” said Keel, who hit .261 with 17 home runs at Low-A Hickory last season. “But I’ve been working. Hopefully it gets better from here on out.”
Alex Presley walked and later scored on Brian Friday’s infield single. Angel Gonzalez followed by sneaking an RBI double inside the left field line to make it 4-0.
Rain cut short the game in the home half of the eighth inning, making it an official Hillcats win.
NOTES: Reliever Jake Cuffman retired one batter for the second straight night. On Wednesday, he came in with a runner on and two outs in the fifth and got out of the jam. On Thursday, he came in for one batter in the seventh, getting Brandon Snyder to hit into a fielder’s choice on one pitch to end the inning. … Beato, the Orioles’ ninth-ranked prospect according to Baseball America, gave up one unearned run on one hit in four innings but still took the loss.