Cannonballs coming: Josh Bell homers again in Indianapolis' 3-2 loss

I'm here at Huntington Park in Columbus, so here's a quick recap of today's Triple-A game, which Indianapolis lost 3-2 in 10 innings. I'll post updates on the other affiliates tonight.

Justin Masterson pitched for Indianapolis and had a strong outing, working very fast, throwing plenty of strikes (56 in 83 pitches) and striking out five while walking two over six innings. True to his claim yesterday that he currently throws in the upper 80s, he worked in the 85-89 MPH range. That's fine for Triple-A, especially since a lot of Masterson's past success has been based on the sinking action on his pitches, but he'll probably have to bump that velocity up a bit to thrive in the majors.

Indianapolis hitters had a quiet day against Columbus lefty TJ House, although Josh Bell broke the silence in a big way with a no-doubt solo homer to left in the sixth. Bell's jack was his second in as many days (and he hit yesterday's to a similar spot, although that one came off a righty rather than a lefty), and his seventh on the season.

In the eighth inning, Indy tied the game as Gift Ngoepe walked and came around to score on a line-drive triple by Adam Frazier. Frazier's average this season is now up to .327, and he plays several positions and clearly has good speed -- it's not hard to see him helping the Pirates at some point soon, perhaps in a super-utility role.

Guido Knudson pitched the seventh and eighth, and Trey Haley took over the ninth with the game tied. I'd seen Haley on Monday and he had no idea where his high-90s fastballs were going, so there appeared to be a good chance the game would end in short order. Haley was brilliant in the ninth, throwing strikes and getting two whiffs with his breaking ball. But he came apart in fairly ugly fashion in the 10th and ended up giving up a game-ending sacrifice fly.