Cannonballs Coming: Altoona produces lots of hits and drama

-- Indianapolis took a 3-2, walkoff win from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre when Willy Garcia led off the bottom of the 9th with a triple and Steve Lombardozzi followed with a single.  Chris Volstad allowed two runs over seven innings.  He gave up seven hits and two walks, and fanned five.  Alen Hanson went 2-3.

-- Altoona erupted for 24 hits -- in just six innings -- to destroy Erie, 18-7, in the first game of a doubleheader.  Everybody in the Curve lineup had at least two hits.  Jose Osuna (pictured) was 4-4 and scored five runs, Dan Gamache was 4-5, and Stetson Allie drove in five runs with a single and a grand slam, his 14th HR.  Sebastian Valle and Eric Wood each went 3-5 with a double.  Former Pirate draftee Austin Kubitza suffered a lot of the damage.  Tyler Glasnow didn't have his best control, walking four in six innings and allowing three runs.  He did strike out ten while giving up four hits.

Game two was a different sort of affair, as Altoona rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the 7th to pull out an 8-7 win.  Andy Vasquez ended the game with a two-out, two-run double.  Starter Matt Benedict threw three and a third scoreless innings, but Tom Harlan gave up two runs and Brett McKinney gave up five in two-thirds of an inning.  To add to the drama, Max Moroff was pulled early in the game for reasons not apparent from the box score.  Edward Salcedo, who replaced Moroff, went 2-3 with a double and a triple.  Josh Bell was 2-4 with a double, and Adam Frazier and Dan Gamache were each 2-3.

-- Bradenton lost to Palm Beach, 7-4.  Clay Holmes had a pretty easy time through three innings, but things went south when he started the 4th with a hit batsman and two walks.  He finished with three runs allowed in three and a third innings.  He gave up three hits and three walks, and fanned four.  Austin Meadows and Barrett Barnes each went 2-5.  Meadows connected for his fourth HR and Barnes had a double.  Jin-De Jhang went 2-3.  Harold Ramirez returned from the Pan Am games to go 1-4.  Reese McGuire didn't play.

-- The West Virginia Black Bears rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat Brooklyn, 5-3.  Starter Bret Helton allowed two runs in five innings on five hits and no walks.  He struck out three.  Logan Hill went 2-3 with a double, Kevin Kramer 2-4 and Maximo Rivera 2-3.  Kevin Newman and Casey Hughston were each 0-3.

-- Bristol blew another late-inning lead, this time in the 10th, but beat Burlington anyway, 6-3, in 13 innings.  Carlos Munoz kept hitting, going 3-6.  Nick Buckner was 2-5.  Billy Roth had one of his best outings as a pro, allowing one run on three hits in six innings.  He walked two and struck out three.

-- The GCL Pirates traded four-run innings with the Braves, but lost on those, 2-1, and on the scoreboard, 9-6.  Luis Escobar gave up four in the 1st while getting only one out through seven hitters.  Escobar failed to finish the 1st in his season debut, then followed with four strong outings in which he allowed only seven hits in 18.2 IP while striking out 17, so he's been just a bit erratic.  Justin Sellers continued his long-standing rehab, going 1-4 while actual prospect Adrian Valerio sat again.  Jhoan Herrera went 2-3 with a triple.  Sam Kennelly also went 2-3 and Michael De La Cruz 2-4.  Ke'Bryan Hayes remained out of the lineup.

-- The DSL Pirates beat the Rangers2, 8-1.  The Pirates had 13 hits, all but one of them by four players.  Mikell Granberry was 3-5 with a double and his fourth HR, Rudy Guzman 3-4 with two doubles and a triple, Melvin Jimenez 3-5 with two doubles, and Raul Hernandez 3-4 with a triple.  Starter Yerry De Los Santos threw four shutout innings.  He gave up three hits and three walks, and fanned two.  Julian Villamar threw three scoreless innings to get the win, striking out six.