Cannonballs coming: Osuna, Tucker keep hitting

-- Trevor Williams struggled early, but lasted six and two-thirds innings as Indianapolis (58-56) beat Toledo, 9-3.  Williams allowed single runs in the first two innings, and three in the game.  He gave up seven hits, walked two and struck out five.  Jose Osuna continued his hot spell, going 2-3 with a triple, a walk and three RBIs.  He's now hitting 300/353/591 in AAA.  Elias Diaz went 3-4 and Jason Rogers with a walk, a HR and three runs scored.  Rogers' HR was his fifth in 301 ABs, which isn't an impressive total for a veteran corner player in AAA, nor is his .412 slugging average.

Alen Hanson:  1-5
Max Moroff:  1-4, BB
Josh Bell:  2-5
A.J. Schugel:  1.1 IP, H, BB, 2 K

-- Alex McRae had a strong start for Altoona (61-50) against Reading's powerhouse lineup, allowing just one run in six innings.  He gave up five hits and two walks, and struck out six.  McRae left with a 2-1 lead, but Trey Haley, just demoted from AAA, failed to retire any of the four hitters he faced.  He allowed two runs and Brett McKinney another three, leading to a 6-3 loss.  Eric Wood, whom Toronto somehow overlooked, went 2-4 with his fifteenth HR.  He's now hitting 256/340/475.

Erich Weiss:  1-4
Kevin Newman:  1-3

-- Austin Coley couldn't throw strikes as Bradenton (56-53) lost to St. Lucie, 6-4.  Coley gave up five runs on six hits and six walks in three and two-thirds innings.  He didn't strike out a batter.  Coley has an ERA of 7.76 in his last seven starts.  Cole Tucker had his eighth multi-hit performance in his last ten games, going 2-5.

Tito Polo:  0-4
Kevin Kramer:  2-5, 3B
Jordan Luplow:  2-3, 2B, 2 BB
Connor Joe:  1-2, 2B, BB
Tate Scioneaux:  3 IP, 3 H, R, 0 ER, 3 K

-- I went out to Delmarva to see West Virginia (54-56) get shut out, 2-0.  Gage Hinsz had a strong start, going five innings and allowing a run on three hits and three walks.  He fanned seven.  Hinsz' fastball sat at 93-95 and touched higher.  It had good movement and produced a fair number of swings and misses.  His curve was very effective, getting strikes both called and swinging.  He didn't throw many changeups.  Hinsz walked one in each of the first three innings and had some long ABs, mainly due to hitters just battling him well.  As he threw more curves, the ABs got shorter, but he hung one in the fifth that went for a HR.  Hinsz' control wavered in some short stretches as he seemed to lose his release point, but he threw a lot of strikes.  His pitch count got high at 96, which got him out of the game, but he threw 70 for strikes.

As a note on Hinsz, I had an email exchange with Tim Williams when we were putting together a revised top 50 prospects list for P2 recently.  Tim's view was that Hinsz is largely the same pitcher as Mitch Keller, with Keller's main advantage being that he was ready to go at the start of this season and got more experience.  Hinsz started the season late due to a concussion he sustained in a March auto accident.  Having seen both pitchers this week, I'm inclined to agree with Tim.  That's less of a comment on Keller than on Hinsz.  Keller didn't have a good start the last time out, but the talent was obvious.  It was just one of those games where everything that could go wrong, did.  I also wonder whether he's wearing down a bit, being up over 100 IP after throwing only 20 last year.

Anyway, the Power never really threatened to score, getting only four singles, only two after the first inning.  The Delmarva starter was an overage, soft-tossing lefty and West Virginia could easily have had several HRs off him, but everything was dying in the humid, near-sea-level air.  Logan Hill and Daniel Arribas each hit two drives to the warning track that were caught, and Jordan George hit one.  Casey Hughston showed good range in center, making one long running catch and a diving, fully-laid-out grab.

-- Morgantown (20-27) lost its seventh straight, 6-5, to Mahoning Valley.  Starter James Marvel gave up six runs on seven hits in six innings.  Will Craig was 2-3 and Nick King was 2-3 with two doubles and a walk.

Clark Eagan:  2-5
Stephen Alemais:  0-4, BB

-- Bristol (17-24) fell behind Greeneville 4-0, went ahead 5-4, and eventually scored five in the top of the tenth in a 10-6 win.  Henrry Rosario hit a three-run HR, his first HR for Bristol.  Julio De La Cruz was 2-4 with a walk and his third HR.  Starter Adam Oller gave up four runs on seven hits in four innings.  He walked none and struck out four.

Victor Fernandez:  2-5, 2B
Michael De La Cruz:  2-5

-- The GCL Pirates (16-21) lost to the Phillies, 3-2.  Max Kranick had a good start, allowing a run in five innings on four hits.  He walked none and struck out two.

Melvin Jimenez, Edison Lantigua:  each 1-3, 2B
Yondry Contreras:  0-2, 2 BB

-- The DSL Pirates (20-33) beat the Yankees1, 5-3.  Yeudry Manzanillo allowed an unearned run on four hits in five innings.  He walked none and struck out three.  Sherten Apostel went 3-4 with a walk and Jeremias Portorreat 3-3 with two doubles and two walks.

Kevin Sanchez:  0-3
Gabriel Brito:  2-4, BB, 3 RBIs
Larry Alcime:  0-5