Cannonballs coming: AAA prospect has strong start . . . whatever

Altoona was off.

-- For some reason, I keep imagining Indianapolis' starters coming in the dugout after the last inning of each start, looking at the other pitchers, and saying, "So top that, dude."  Today it was Jameson Taillon after allowing one run over seven innings against Norfolk, tying his longest career outing.  Best of all, he did it on 89 pitches, 58 of them strikes.  Taillon gave up five hits, issued his first two walks of the season, and fanned seven.  Norfolk has a solid AAA lineup, including Ryan Flaherty, who has extensive MLB experience, along with a couple decent hitting prospects and several other players who've spent time in the majors.  Taillon left with a 5-1 lead, but the bullpen unfortunately blew it for the second straight game.  Kelvin Marte and Guido Knudson gave up five runs in the eighth for a 6-5 Indianapolis (10-9) loss.  Max Moroff went 1-4 with his third HR and Alen Hanson had a two-run double in four at-bats.  Jung-Ho Kang struck out as a pinch hitter.  Others:

Josh Bell:  1-3, BB
Willy Garcia:  1-4

-- Bradenton (9-12) lost to Palm Beach, 3-0, in ten innings.  Alex McRae threw six shutout innings, giving up five hits and three walks, and striking out two.  Jose Regalado followed with three scoreless innings, but gave up three runs in the tenth.  The Marauders' hitters continued to be badly overmatched at the level, managing only four singles, half of them by Logan Hill, and no walks.  Five of the starters finished the game hitting .191 or below.  Others:

Kevin Newman:  0-4
Kevin Kramer:  1-4
Jordan Luplow:  0-4, 3 K
Taylor Gushue:  1-4
Connor Joe:  0-4

-- West Virginia (14-7) lost to Rome, 4-2.  The loss gave Rome, which came in with a 3-13 record, a sweep of the four-game series.  J.T. Brubaker pitched very well except for the third inning, when he gave up all four of the runs, one of them unearned.  Brubaker went six in all, allowing six hits and a walk, and striking out eight.  The Power offense did little against Touki Toussaint, who'd struggled badly in his previous starts, and two relievers.  West Virginia had only four hits, all singles.  Others:

Tito Polo:  1-3
Ke'Bryan Hayes:  0-3
Casey Hughston:  0-4, 2 K (now hitting .151, 73 AB, 27 K)
Carlos Munoz:  0-3, BB
Tate Scioneaux:  2 IP, 1 H, 3 K