Cannonballs Coming: Kuhl dominates, Snider goes deep

The GCL Pirates were off and the DSL season is over.  Extended comments on Altoona at the bottom.

-- Indianapolis beat Charlotte, 5-2.  Travis Snider went 3-5 with a HR off Brad Penny.  Josh Bell was also 3-5 and had a double and triple.  Dan Gamache went 2-4 and Alen Hanson 1-3 with two walks.  Corey Hart went 1-4.  Willy Garcia was 0-5 with four strikeouts.  Starter Chris Volstad allowed two runs in five innings.  Radhames Liz threw three scoreless innings in relief, possibly a sign that he'll be called up as a long reliever in September.  He allowed one hit, walked none and fanned six, while throwing 26 of 30 pitches for strikes.

-- Luis Heredia's season of woe continued in a 5-2 Bradenton loss to Palm Beach.  Heredia exited after starting the 4th with two walks and a double.  Overall, he allowed four runs in three-plus innings on two hits and five walks.  He struck out two.  Austin Meadows was 2-4.  Harold Ramirez was 0-3 but drove in two runs.  Reese McGuire was 1-3 with a double.

-- West Virginia rallied for two in the bottom of the 9th to beat Lakewood, 3-2.  Michael Suchy led off the inning with his tenth HR to tie the game and Francisco Diaz later hit a one-out, walkoff single to end it.  Suchy, Diaz and Elvis Escobar all went 2-4.  Kevin Newman was 1-3.  Colten Brewer gave up two runs over five and two-thirds innings.  He allowed four hits and two walks, and struck out four.  Jordan Luplow was removed from yesterday's game for a pinch-hitter and didn't play today, so he may be dinged up somehow.

-- Morgantown's bullpen couldn't hold a 3-1 lead as the Black Bears lost to Mahoning Valley, 5-3.  The pen wasted a good start by Dario Agrazal, who allowed one run on six hits in six innings.  He walked one and struck out two.  Juan Paula and Cesilio Pimentel combined to allow four runs in two innings, although Pimentel did strike out five in an inning and two-thirds.  Kevin Kramer went 2-4 with two doubles.  He's 16-for-39 (.410) in his last eleven games.  Logan Hill, on the other hand, went 0-2, leaving him hitless in his last six games, although he did walk twice.  Ty Moore went 0-4 and is hitting .167 in August.

-- Bristol dropped the first game of a doubleheader with Kingsport, 6-3.  Trey Supak gave up four runs, three earned, in four innings.  He allowed five hits, walked none and struck out two.  Tomas Morales went 2-4 with a double, Carlos Munoz 1-3 with a double, and Bealyn Chourio 2-3.  The second game was rained out.

-- Chad Kuhl (pictured) dominated over seven shutout innings as Altoona shut down Bowie, 2-0.  Kuhl needed only 66 pitches and threw 52 of them for strikes, which was a relief after last night's walkathon.  He allowed only two hits, walked none and fanned four.  The two runs came when Jacob Stallings led off the 5th with a triple and scored on a Stetson Allie sacrifice fly, and in the 8th when Allie doubled and Eric Wood singled.  Comments on specific players:

Kuhl:  Tim Williams reported that Kuhl hit 97 mph in his last game.  In this one he mostly threw 92-95, but repeatedly reached 96-97 in the 3rd inning, and hit 96 several times in the 5th.  His command was exceptional, as he pitched inside and out, hitting the corners and never getting anything over the heart of the plate.  He threw a few changeups that looked at least serviceable to LH hitters.  As the game went on, he increasingly threw sliders to RH hitters.  It wasn't a sharp-breaking pitch, but he was very good at locating it down and in.  He doesn't have a big swing-and-miss pitch, but his location was good enough that he missed a fair number of bats anyway.  This wasn't a product of a weak opposing lineup.  Bowie is the third-best hitting team, and also the oldest team, in the Eastern League, with several veterans in the 27-29 age range, plus a rehabbing Steve Pearce.

John Kuchno:  He pitched a scoreless 8th, throwing a lot of sliders and a 90-91 mph fastball.  His control was poor (6 of 12 pitches for strikes), but he got a GIDP after walking the second batter he faced.

Jhondaniel Medina:  He threw almost all fastballs in a scoreless 9th, mostly 93-95, and one curve that I saw.  He walked the second hitter he faced on four pitches, but otherwise had solid command.

Adam Frazier:  He looked very solid at short, making a good toss to start a DP and coming in on a slowly hit grounder well, although he didn't have any really tough plays.  He went 1-4, but hit two drives to the track, in left and left-center, that were caught.  (The Bowie starter was a sidearm RHP who was very tough on the Curve's RH hitters, except Jose Osuna, but who got hit hard by all the LH hitters.  Quite a few hard-hit balls were caught.)

Max Moroff:  Still DHing.  He hit a long drive in the 1st (as did Frazier and Osuna) that was caught.  Moroff seems to be swinging for the fences more than earlier in the year.

Osuna:  Hit the ball on the nose all four times, including three against the sidearm guy, and ended up with two doubles.  The LF reached over the fence to take a HR away from him in the 1st.

Barrett Barnes:  Didn't seem to be picking anything up from the sidearm guy and went 0-4.  Made a nice running catch in left.

Jacob Stallings:  Very agile behind the plate, but can't run at all.  He got a triple because the RF let the ball get away in the corner and even then needed Bowie to botch the relay.  Picked Pearce off second.

Stetson Allie:  Made consistent, good contact the last two days.  He may have toned his swing down, but the results aren't there yet.  He seems to have improved a lot defensively.  Made a very nice catch down the RF line after a long run.