St. Cloud, MN – Former St. Cloud Rox pitcher Alex McRae made his Major League Baseball Debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.

McRae, a right-handed pitcher who played in St. Cloud during the 2013 Northwoods League season, appeared in relief on the mound in the fifth inning for the Pirates. He ended up tossing three innings, giving up just three hits and one run, while striking out three.

McRae is the second former Rox player to make his debut in the major leagues this season, joining Ben Meyer. McRae is the 26th former St. Cloud player to play in the major leagues, which is the most among Northwoods League franchises. He is also the 200th former Northwoods League player to reach the MLB level

McRae played in 14 games for the Rox during the summer of 2013, where he held a record of 2-2 with one save. McRae finished with 29 strikeouts in 39.2 innings. The Jacksonville University alum from New Berlin, Wisconsin was drafted by Pittsburgh in the 10th round of the 2014 MLB Draft.

Prior to being called up by the Pirates, McRae appeared in 20 games with the Indianapolis Indians of the Triple A International League. In 98.1 innings of work, he struck out 87 batters to grab a record of 3-8 and an ERA of 4.76.

The Rox are in their seventh season of Northwoods League Baseball in 2018. St. Cloud returns home on Saturday, August 4 at 6:05 p.m. for Championship Bobblehead Giveaway Night presented by Capital One. The first 400 fans will receive a token to be redeemed for a bobblehead after the fifth inning.

Single game and group tickets for the entire season are on sale now. For more information on purchasing tickets, visit the Rox Ticket Office on the west end of the Municipal Athletic Complex, call 320-240-9798 or visit www.stcloudrox.com.

The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rox as your favorite team.