Cannonballs coming: Big outings for Glasnow, Keller

-- Tyler Glasnow had the sort of start the Pirates need to see from him in Indianapolis' 2-1 loss to Columbus.  Glasnow gave up one run on four hits and no walks in five innings, while fanning nine.  He wasn't very efficient, taking 83 pitches to get that far, but 53 were strikes.  John Kuchno, in his first AAA appearance, followed with just three hits and no walks allowed over four innings, but he gave up a solo HR to Jesus Aguilar that decided the game.  The Indians could do nothing with a string of thoroughly nondescript Columbus pitchers (unless you count a one-inning appearance by Tom Gorzelanny).  They had only three hits, including a HR by Danny Ortiz.  He and Willy Garcia had doubles to account for the rest of the offense.  Others:

Adam Frazier:  0-3
Max Moroff:  0-2, 2 BB
Josh Bell:  0-3, BB
Jason Rogers:  0-4

-- Altoona got five shaky but scoreless innings from Cody Dickson in a 3-0 blanking of Richmond, which I managed to attend.  Dickson was making his second AA start after having a control meltdown in his first.  He struggled with the strike zone in this one, too, throwing only 41 of 79 pitches for strikes, but every time he got into any trouble he seemed to gather himself and make pitches.  His fastball sat at 87-91, hitting 93 once.  He also threw a change that didn't seem effective, and a good curve that he controlled better than the fastball.  Dickson gave up a couple of loud outs, but despite missing few bats, he mostly avoided hard contact.  He gave up two hits, one of them a bloop by the opposing pitcher.  Dickson walked three and fanned two.  He also picked off two runners, although the Curve botched the rundown on one pickoff.

Frank Duncan followed Dickson for all but the last out.  Duncan just joined Altoona from extended spring training and this was his first appearance in AA.  He threw from a low three-quarters angle, with a fastball sitting at 90-91 his first inning and in the upper-80s afterward.  He also threw a slider and a change with very good fade that left-handed hitters repeatedly flailed at.  Duncan lost the strike zone in the ninth, walking two after two were out.  Montana DuRapau -- whose name effectively adds five mph to his fastball (sort of like wind chill) -- got the last out.

The Curve offense was pretty much non-existent for eight innings.  The Richmond starter, Joan Gregorio, is the Giants' 18th best prospect and he shut Altoona down for six innings with almost nothing hit hard.  Altoona remained scoreless until the ninth, when Ray Black, who throws 97-100 but can't find the plate, issued three, one-out walks on 12 pitches.  Black managed to strike out Jonathan Schwind, but Stetson Allie tripled into the right field corner to clear the bases.  Schwind and Allie each went 2-4.  Eric Wood had the only other hit.  Others:

Harold Ramirez:  0-4

-- Bradenton starter Austin Coley gave up six runs in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie and the Marauders went on to lose to Lakeland, 7-4.  Kevin Newman went 3-4 and Pablo Reyes hit his first HR.  Others:

Kevin Kramer:  1-3, BB
Connor Joe:  1-4
Jordan Luplow:  2-4, 2B

-- Mitch Keller threw five shutout innings for the second time in two starts as the Power beat Lexington, 7-2.  Keller allowed four hits, two of them bunts and another one a groundball that got through, and walked none.  He struck out three.  The box score says Keller threw 30 of 37 pitches for strikes, but as Brian Cartwright pointed out in yesterday's CC thread, there's reason to think the pitch tracker wasn't working during parts of the game.  On offense, Casey Hughston had his second straight good game after a bad start, going 2-3 with a walk and his second HR.  Hughston is intriguing because he's a big guy with prodigious power and surprising speed that lets him play center, at least at this stage of his career.  But he has to make much better contact than he mostly has so far.  Others:

Tito Polo:  2-4
Ke'Bryan Hayes:  0-3
Carlos Munoz:  1-2, 2B, 2 BB
Ryan Nagle:  2-4