Cannonballs coming: Trevor Williams struggles for Indianapolis

Indianapolis lost 9-6 to Columbus. Trevor Williams, making his third start for Indy since returning from a shoulder injury, was already having a very poor outing before he and Rob Scahill allowed five runs in a messy fifth inning. Overall, Williams stretched 96 pitches over 4.1 innings that seemed to last an eternity, walking six batters (one intentionally) and striking out none while getting tagged with five runs. He threw 91-93 MPH but obviously didn't control any of his pitches particularly well.

Scahill was charged with three runs, while John Kuchno gave up a run on an eighth-inning homer by Jesus Aguilar. Remarkably, Indianapolis didn't strike out a single batter until Kuchno recorded a whiff to end the eighth.

Offensively, Indianapolis fared better. The team only scored two runs on Columbus starter Michael Peoples, but had a big seventh inning against Josh Martin, recording one run on three straight singles and then three more on an opposite-field three-run shot for Josh Bell, his sixth homer of the season. It was an impressive display for Bell, who also put on a show in batting practice. The game ended with Bell's hard-hit out to the warning track. Alen Hanson and Pedro Florimon also recorded two hits, with Hanson also notching his 13th steal of the year.

-P- Altoona beat Erie, 5-1. Cody Dickson allowed just two hits and one run over seven innings, although he struck out only two and walked three. Eric Wood doubled twice, Erich Weiss had a single and a double, and Edwin Espinal had three hits. Austin Meadows went 1-for-5, and Harold Ramirez 0-for-5.

-P- Bradenton was off.

-P- West Virginia is in a 3-3 tie against Delmarva in the 13th as I write this. J.T. Brubaker had an excellent outing, striking out nine batters while allowing one walk and one run over six innings and lowering his ERA to 3.48. Brubaker now has 77 strikeouts in 62 innings this season. Ke'Bryan Hayes hit his sixth homer of the season and Tito Polo his 10th for the Power. Polo's homer was his fifth in eight games.

-P- The DSL Pirates' matchup against the Yankees was postponed.