Howard goes deep twice, Polanco once

Lots of action on Saturday.

-- Indianapolis beat Syracuse, 3-1.  Brandon Cumpton gave up just an unearned run in eight innings, taking only 88 pitches to make it that far.  He gave up six hits and two walks, and fanned one.  Vic Black got the save with a 1-2-3 9th, striking out one.  Alex Presley went 3-4 and Robert Andino, who's hitting .352 since joining the Indians, went 2-4.

-- Altoona split a doubleheader with Erie.  The Curve played longball in game one as they won it, 7-0.  Gregory Polanco went 1-3 with a walk.  The one hit was a three-run HR, his fifth in AA.  Jarek Cunningham added his 16th.  Justin Howard (pictured) hit a pair, giving him eight on the year.  Howard is now hitting 325/429/483 after starting the season as a bench player.  Ali Solis went 2-3 with a double.  Eliecer Navarro started and went five and two-thirds innings, allowing three hits and two walks, and fanning seven.

The Curve dropped game two, 4-1.  Altoona had only two hits:  a triple by Alex Dickerson and an RBI single by Cunningham.  Dickerson has cooled off considerably and now has just a .687 OPS in August.  Gregory Polanco went 0-2 with a walk.  Alen Hanson went a combined 0-7 in the twinbill.

-- Bradenton got by Fort Myers in twelve innings, 3-2, with the winning run scoring on a balk.  Jose Osuna, Carlos Mesa and Benji Gonzalez each had two hits.  Stetson Allie went 1-4 with a double, two walks and two strikeouts.  Willy Garcia had a double but fanned four times.  Starter Robby Rowland allowed just an unearned run in six innings.  Converted infielder Kirk Singer pitched scoreless ball over the last two innings to pick up the win.

-- West Virginia lost to Hickory, 4-1.  Clay Holmes gave up four runs, three earned, in five innings.  He allowed only four hits, but two left the park.  He walked two and fanned six.  Ryan Hafner gave up three walks and one hit in three scoreless innings.  He fanned two.  The Power had only four hits, two by Max Moroff, including his seventh HR.

-- Jamestown lost to State College, 5-3.  Adam Frazier and Edwin Espinal each had three hits.

-- The GCL Pirates lost to the Astros, 3-2.  Jonathan Sandfort gave up two runs on six hits and two walks in five innings.  He struck out four.  The Bucs had only three hits, two by Enyel Vallejo.  Austin Meadows went 1-4 with a two-run triple.  Reese McGuire went 0-3 with a walk.

-- The DSL Pirates2 won for the twelfth straight time, thrashing the Braves, 12-5.  Alexis Bastardo went 4-5 with a double and a triple.  Eduardo FIgueroa and Carlos Munoz each went 2-5.  Michael De La Cruz continued to slump, going 0-5.