Polanco gets three hits in AA debut

Bradenton was off, but everybody else played Friday.

--Indianapolis overcame 16 strikeouts to beat Durham in ten innings, 6-4. Brett Carroll and Jerry Sands provided the winning margin with solo HRs in the top of the 10th, Carroll's 12th and Sands' 6th. Oddly, although Durham has a loaded pitching staff, ten of the strikeouts were recorded by Merrill Kelly in just 5.1 IP. Kelly was in his first AAA game after striking out only five batters per nine innings in AA. Matt Hague went 3-5 with his 6th HR. Carroll, Sands and Felix Pie all had two hits, and Andrew Lambo went 1-5 with a double. Josh Harrison struck out four times. Starter Andy Oliver, perhaps envious of Brandon Cumpton's promotion, threw five shutout innings, allowing four hits and fanning seven. Oliver's control problems remained, though, as it took him 109 pitches, of which only 62 pitches were strikes, and he walked three. Brooks Brown inherited a four-run lead, but gave up four to tie it. He had help, though, as Chase d'Arnaud errors put the leadoff hitters on in both the 6th and 7th, leading to two-run rallies in both innings. The tying run scored on a Tony Sanchez passed ball. According to multiple reports, Erik Cordier was hitting 100 on the radar gun, but he also had trouble throwing strikes. Duke Welker eventually got the save with a 1-2-3 10th.

-- Altoona dropped Trenton, 8-4. Gregory Polanco (pictured) made his AA debut, going 3-5 with a stolen base. Okay, two of the hits were of the infield variety, but still . . . . Adalberto Santos went 2-4 with a double and Alex Dickerson 2-3 with two steals, including a steal of home. Jarek Cunningham hit his 13th HR and is on a 320/528/840 tear over his last ten games, with five HRs. Starter Casey Sadler threw six scoreless innings. He gave up three hits and a walk, and fanned four.

-- West Virginia beat Greensboro, 6-3, in 12 innings. Dilson Herrera forced extra innings in dramatic fashion when his sixth HR tied the game with two outs in the top of the 9th. Barrett Barnes went 2-6 and Eric Wood 2-5 with a double. Stetson Allie went 1-5 with a walk and four strikeouts. Josh Bell went 1-4 as the DH, but exited for a pinch-hitter late in the game. Tyler Glasnow started and allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out five. Ryan Hafner threw three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk, and striking out four.

-- The DSL Pirates1 beat the Yankees2, 5-4. Pablo Reyes had three of the Bucs' five hits, in four ABs. Tito Polo went 1-4 to drop his average to .415. Starter Dan Urbina threw five one-hit, shutout innings.

No box score was available for the DSL Pirates2.