A full slate of games on Monday:
-P- Indianapolis beat Toledo, 2-1, in 14 innings. Jeff Locke had an uneven start, allowing only a run on four hits in five innings, while striking out nine. He walked seven, though, and threw only 50 of 98 pitches for strikes. That sort of performance will help his ERA but not his chances of appearing in Pittsburgh any time soon. It also won't enhance his value as trade bait, which was limited to begin with. Chris Leroux had his best game of the season, throwing four scoreless innings, with only a hit and a walk. He fanned five and bailed Locke out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the 6th with no runs scored. Duke Welker, Tim Wood and Jose Diaz followed. In all, Indians pitchers struck out 17. Jose Tabata went 2-5 with a double and a walk. Starling Marte went 2-6 with a double and three strikeouts. Brandon Boggs had a two-out RBI double that provided the winning run.
-P- Altoona used the longball to beat Reading, 7-1. Adalberto Santos hit his first two of the year and went 3-5 overall. Santos is doing just fine since his knee injury; he's got his average back up to .391. Overall, he has 18 walks and only 11 whiffs. The Curve also got HRs from Matt Curry, his 7th, and Ramon Cabrera, his 3rd. Cabrera added a double and went 3-4. Kyle McPherson had a strong start, allowing only one run in five innings and fanning eight. He gave up three hits and walked none. Oddly, though, it took him 91 pitches to get through five innings, even though he threw 68 for strikes. Vic Black pitched the last two innings, allowing a hit and a walk, and fanning two.
-P- Bradenton hammered St. Lucie, 10-2. Mel Rojas, Jr., went 3-5 and scored three times. Alex Dickerson also scored three runs, going 2-3 with a double. Andy Vasquez added three hits and Justin Howard drove in four. Tyler Waldron allowed two runs in six innings on six hits and two walks, while fanning two.
-P- West Virginia got a three-run HR from Gregory Polanco in the 1st, his 13th, and a strong start from Zack von Rosenberg in beating Greensboro, 5-1. Polanco finished 2-4 with his 38th steal and Taylor Lewis went 2-5. Eric Avila went 2-3 with a double and is hitting .315 (23-73) since returning to the Power. Von Rosenberg went six and a third and allowed only one run on two hits and three walks. He struck out five.
-P- State College came from four runs back to tie in the 7th, then from two back in the 8th, and finally beat Batavia, 9-8, on a walkoff single by Barrett Barnes in the bottom of the 9th. Jacob Stallings went 4-4, falling only a HR short of the cycle. Tyler Gaffney went 3-4 with a triple and now has seven hits in his last 14 ABs. Joely Rodriguez had a rough start, giving up five runs on ten hits and a walk in 4.2 IP. He fanned three.
-P- The GCL Pirates outlasted the Blue Jays, 8-7. Elvis Escobar hit his first pro HR, a three-run shot. Eric Wood hit his second and drew two walks. Candon Myles went 2-4 and Wyatt Mathisen went 1-4 with two steals. Martires Cadet fared the best of five pitchers, allowing no hits, walks or runs in 2.1 IP, with two Ks.
-P- The DSL Pirates1 got shut out by the Mets, 4-0. Carlos Esqueda went 2-3.
-P- No box score was available for the DSL PIrates2 as of 11:30.