The games from Thursday:
-P- Indianapolis has been getting very strong starting pitching for most of the season, but Jeff Locke had a bad one Thursday. He gave up five runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out two, as the Indians lost to Lehigh Valley, 5-1. Locke evidently had trouble with his command, as he threw only 54 of 101 pitches for strikes. Indy had only five hits, with Chase d'Arnaud and Gorkys Hernandez both going 2-4. Jordy Mercer had the other hit, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Evan Meek threw one scoreless inning, allowing a hit and a walk.
-P- Altoona dropped an 8-4 game to Erie as Nate Baker struggled for the fourth time in seven starts. He and the bullpen weren't helped by four errors, which led to half the Erie runs. Baker went five, allowing five runs, three earned, on seven hits and a walk. He fanned one. Ramon Cabrera had a big day, going 3-5 with his first AA HR and three RBIs. Robbie Grossman and Tony Sanchez continued their modest resurgences of late, each going 2-4 with a double and a walk. On the other hand, the formerly hot Matt Curry went 0-5. The Cole/Taillon watch in Altoona must be getting overheated, as the Curve starters have generally pitched poorly, aside from Brandon Cumpton. Getting Phil Irwin back should help.
-P- At this point, I don't know the exact outcome of the Bradenton game because MiLB.com, in its infinite lameness, lost its Bradenton feed after the fourth inning. At last report, the Marauders had a huge lead and Taillon was out, having thrown six shutout innings, allowing six hits and a walk, and fanning three. Wes Freeman had his first HR of the year. If MiLB.com gets its act together at a decent hour, I'll post an update.
UPDATE: The Bradenton final was 16-2. The Marauders had 14 hits and eight walks, including ten hits, seven walks and a dozen runs off the Clearwater starter, Brody "A.J." Colvin. Stefan Welch went 3-5 with a double and his fifth HR, Freeman hit his first, and Dan Grovatt hit his third. Drew Maggi, Mel Rojas, Jr., Alex Dickerson and Carlos Paulino all went 2-4, including doubles by Maggi and Dickerson. The only hitless starter was Gift Ngoepe, but he still drew two walks and had a sac fly.
-P- West Virginia got blown away by Charleston, 15-3. Matt Benedict, who's been the only reliable starter on a terrible pitching staff, allowed seven runs, five earned, over 5.1 IP. Joan Montero allowed seven runs and three longballs in one inning of relief, and now sports an ERA of 21.60. Seems like he might be better off in extended spring training. The Power managed only four hits, two by Kirk Singer. Gregory Polanco hit his 7th HR. Alen Hanson went 0-4 with a walk.