Suddenly there's a whole lot of baseball being played in the farm system, even with West Virginia off.
-P- Indianapolis survived 15 strikeouts to beat Gwinnett, 2-1. Jeff Locke started and gave up a lot of hits--eight in six innings--but walked nobody and allowed only one run while fanning eight. Dan McCutchen fanned two in a 1-2-3 inning in his first game back with the Indians. Chris Leroux had trouble in the 8th, retiring only one of the four batters he faced, although he picked one off. Evan Meek bailed Leroux out of trouble and pitched a scoreless 9th. Brian Friday doubled twice in four ABs and scored both runs. Gorkys Hernandez drove in the tying run in the 7th with a bases loaded walk and the winning run in the 9th with a double.
-P- Altoona picked up an 8-1 win over New Britain behind Jeff Karstens, who may be nearing the end of his rehab. Karstens went seven innings, allowing one run on six hits and a walk, while fanning five. He threw 59 of 78 pitches for strikes. Phil Irwin retired the last six batters, fanning three. The Curve have been getting more offense these days. This time Brock Holt went 3-4 with two doubles, Jarek Cunningham 2-4 with a double, and Robbie Grossman and Stefan Welch each 2-3 with a walk.
-P- Jameson Taillon broke a string of bad starts with seven one-hit, shutout innings as Bradenton dropped the FSL's best team, St. Lucie, by a 7-0 margin. Taillon walked three, two of them with two out in the 7th, as he evidently tired. He fanned five and recorded 12 groundball vs. two flyball outs. Mel Rojas, Jr., went 3-5.
-P- With the sheriff's deputy knocking on the clubhouse door, State College staved off homelessness by dropping Williamsport, 5-2. Starter Joely Rodriguez struggled with his control, walking five in four innings. He allowed three hits, fanned three, and gave up two runs. Four relievers, including 2012 draftees Thomas Harlan and Kyle Haynes, threw five shutout innings. The offense came mainly from Jodaneli Carvajal and Raul Fortunato. Carvajal went 2-3 with a triple, a walk and three runs scored. Fortunato went 3-4. Supplemental first round pick Barrett Barnes got hit by a pitch and fanned three times. Another 2012 draftee, Jacob Stallings, had a double and caught two of three runners stealing.
-P- A day after winning their opener 13-3, the GCL Bucs got shut out on two hits and lost to the same Blue Jays team, 7-0. The Bucs did get a good start from 2011 draftee Tyler Glasnow, who allowed just one run, on a solo HR, in 3.2 IP in his pro debut. Glasnow gave up two hits total, walked none and fanned four. The two hits came from Wyatt Mathisen and Dilson Herrera. Stetson Allie committed his second error.
-P- The DSL Pirates1 dumped the equally imaginatively named Yankees2, 9-4. Ulises Montilla went 2-4. The 20-year-old Montilla had a huge year in 2011, but went back to the DSL for his third year this year. Adrian De Aza, who got a six-figure bonus in 2011, went 2-4 with a triple. SS Carlos Esqueda went 2-3 with two walks. (There will be a test on these names tomorrow.) Esqueda had a big year in the Venezuelan Summer League in 2010, then missed most of 2011 with a broken ankle. He's listed at 5'8", 135.
-P- The Pirates2 beat the Cubs2, 4-2. Angel Sanchez, a 6'7", 19-year-old LHP, went four innings and allowed two runs on four hits and two walks, while striking out three. Luylli Miranda, a 5'11", 20-year-old LHP, retired the last 15 batters in order, fanning five. Yunerky Adames, a 21-year-old outfielder, went 2-4 with two doubles and now has an OPS of 1.042. Maximo Rivera, a six-figure bonus signee who's in his third DSL season at age 19, went 2-4 with a triple and is hitting .333. Shortstop Pablo Reyes, who's 18 and playing his first pro season, hit his first HR and is batting .350.