Cannonballs coming: Steven Brault suffers leg injury

Bradenton was off.

Steven Brault left with an injury in the third inning of Indianapolis' (15-13) 5-4 loss to Louisville.  He had to be helped off the field with an apparent lower leg, possibly ankle, injury after running to first on a force play in the bottom of the inning.  (With runners at the corners and one out, Brault's pinch runner, Chad Kuhl, promptly got picked off.  He obviously needs several more months in the minors to work on his pinch running technique.)  In the three innings he pitched, Brault allowed no runs, two hits and two walks, while striking out five.  Except for Cory Luebke, the Indians' bullpen had another bad game.  John Kuchno, Guido Knudson and Trey Haley combined to allow five runs on seven hits and four walks in five innings.  Haley gave up two runs in the top of the ninth, running his ERA to 10.95 and WHIP to 2.35.  The runs proved costly as Indianapolis scored three in the bottom of the inning to fall a run short.  Luebke gave up a single in a scoreless inning, striking out two and throwing 11 of 14 pitches for strikes, so maybe some bullpen help will be available soon.  (Luebke's pinch running ability is untested, though.)  Others:

Alen Hanson:  0-4, BB
Cole Figueroa:  3-5
Josh Bell:  0-5 (failed to reach base for the first time on the season)
Jason Rogers:  2-5
Max Moroff:  0-5, 4 K (now has 30 Ks in 80 ABs)
Willy Garcia:  0-4, 2 K
Ed Easley:  3-4

-- Jose Osuna (pictured) and Stetson Allie had back-to-back HRs as Altoona (14-16) beat Richmond, 6-2.  The Curve are now 8-3 against Richmond and 6-13 against everybody else.  Allie's HR was his third, Osuna's his fifth.  Osuna was 3-5 overall.  Reese McGuire was 2-4 with two RBIs.  Frank Duncan made his first start of the year, allowing a run in five and two-thirds innings.  He gave up five hits and a walk, and struck out two.  Others:

Harold Ramirez:  2-5
Barrett Barnes:  1-4

-- West Virginia lost to Hagerstown, 4-3.  Eli's writeup of the game is here.