Cannonballs coming: Daniel Arribas gets five hits

-- Trevor Williams made his AAA debut for the Pirates and pitched well after a tough start, but Indianapolis (24-23) still lost to Pawtucket, 3-1.  Williams gave up a single and HR to the first two hitters he faced, and later in the inning also gave up a double.  He went five more innings, though, allowing no more runs, and just one hit and one walk.  He struck out two and threw 45 of 67 pitches for strikes.  Indy managed only four hits, with a first-inning HR by Max Moroff, his fifth, producing the only run.  Moroff finished 1-3 with a walk.  Others:

Gift Ngoepe:  0-4, 4 K
Adam Frazier, Josh Bell, Jason Rogers:  all 1-4
Willy Garcia:  0-3, 2 K
Alen Hanson:  0-3 (now batting .160 in May and .241 on the season)
Trey Haley:  IP, 2 H, ER, BB

-- Altoona (27-20) beat Bowie, 5-3.  Clay Holmes gave up four hits, including two solo HRs, in the first two innings, but lasted seven overall and gave up only two more hits.  One of those was a third solo HR, but that was all the scoring.  Holmes didn't have the control problems he's had in some outings and walked only one.  He didn't strike out a batter and I'm pretty sure he didn't get a single swing and miss.  His secondary stuff mostly was outside the strike zone and the hitters didn't chase it, so he had to rely mainly on his fastball.  He showed better command as the game went along, keeping the ball down better and getting a good bit of weak contact.

Lefty Jared Lakind pitched a scoreless eighth.  He and Dovydas Neverauskas are providing the Pirates with what could be a couple of difficult decisions, as both are eligible for minor league free agency after the season.  That may be why Lakind is in AA now.  He missed some time with injuries after converting from first base to the mound, so he's had only limited time in low A and none in high A.  He's pitched well this year, except for some minor bouts with wildness.  He throws a low-90s fastball and a good changeup.  In this game he walked one and struck out one.

Among the hitters:

Harold Ramirez was 1-5 but generally made solid contact.

Erich Weiss went 3-4 with a triple and a walk.  He got off to a strong start this year, then slumped for a bit, but now is in a 13-for-29 stretch.  He also showed some good range in the field.

Austin Meadows was 2-5 with two steals.  He seems to be running at just about every opportunity.

Reese McGuire was 1-5, with a hard line out his last time up.  He threw two runners out at second with very accurate throws and continued to do an outstanding job of receiving and blocking pitches.

Stetson Allie was 2-3 with his second HR in as many nights and fifth on the season.

Barrett Barnes was 1-4 but hit the ball consistently hard.

-- Bradenton (27-22) beat St. Lucie, 4-2.  Austin Coley gave up a two-run HR in the first, but nothing more over seven innings total.  He allowed five hits, walked none and struck out five.  Tate Scioneaux walked two and fanned four in two hitless innings of relief.  Since moving up to Bradenton, he has a 0.63 ERA, 0.63 WHIP, .122 opponents' average and 12.6 K/9.  Pablo Reyes and Michael Suchy each went 2-3 with a double, and Chase Simpson hit his second HR.  Others:

Kevin Kramer:  0-4
Connor Joe:  1-3, 2B

-- West Virginia (25-23) broke free from its hitting woes in a big way, blasting Columbia, 12-2.  Daniel Arribas (pictured) led the offense, going 5-5 with a double, his sixth HR and five RBIs.  Arribas now leads the farm system in HRs and is hitting 287/420/493 overall.  He'll be 24 shortly after the season ends, so I'm not sure I'd get excited just yet.  Tito Polo went 3-5 and Tyler Filliben 2-3 with a triple.  Starter J.T. Brubaker gave up just an unearned run on four hits and a walk over five innings.  He fanned seven.  Brubaker has struggled at times this year, but has a K/9 of 10.3.  Others:

Ke'Bryan Hayes:  2-4, BB
Carlos Munoz:  1-4, BB
Logan Hill:  0-5, 2 K