— Indianapolis (2-5) finally broke its scoreless streak, but Drew Hutchison pitched poorly again and the Indians lost to Columbus, 7-6. Hutchison gave up five runs in five-plus innings on six hits and two walks. Four of the hits went for extra bases, including two longballs. Hutchison struck out seven. A.J. Schugel, who may not be better than Jared Hughes after all, continued to struggle, letting two inherited runners score and then two of his own over two innings. He allowed five hits and fanned one. Elias Diaz went 3-4 and Austin Meadows 2-4.
Max Moroff: 0-4, BB, 2 K
Gift Ngoepe: 1-4, BB, 2 K
Eric Wood: 1-4, 3B
Jason Rogers: 2-3, 3B
Chris Bostick: 2-4
— Altoona (4-3) shut out Richmond, 4-0. Alex McRae threw the first six innings, allowing four hits and two walks, and striking out four. McRae threw 51 of 78 pitches for strikes and got nine groundball outs to one in the air. John Kuchno, showing much better control (25 strikes in 33 pitches) than he did when I saw him a few days ago, went the last three innings, allowing one hit and fanning four. The Curve jumped on the Richmond starter for four runs in the first three innings, then settled in for a whiff-fest, striking out 15 times. Wyatt Mathisen and Elvis Escobar each went 2-3, with Mathisen collecting two doubles.
Kevin Newman: 0-4
Kevin Kramer: 1-4, BB
Connor Joe: 0-5, 4 K
Jordan Luplow: 0-3, BB
— Bradenton (7-0) won its seventh straight, 4-1, over St. Lucie. Pedro Vasquez had a solid start, but ran into pitch count issues. He exited with two outs in the fifth, having thrown 87 pitches. He allowed one run on six hits and no walks, with four strikeouts. Jess Amedee and Seth McGarry combined for four and a third hitless innings in relief. Kevin Krause went 3-4, coming up a HR shy of a cycle. Krause is now 8-for-15 with six extra base hits. Logan Hill also went 3-4 with a triple and is batting .433.
Cole Tucker: 1-4, BB
Will Craig: 1-5
— West Virginia (1-6) finally won a game in their seventh try, 8-4, over Asheville. Trae Arbet (pictured) provided the winning margin, driving in four runs with his first two HRs of the year. He finished 2-3 with a walk and three runs scored. Starter James Marvel struggled a little, allowing three runs, two earned, in four innings, taking 82 pitches to get that far. He allowed six hits and three walks, and struck out five. Ty Moore and Carlos Munoz each had two hits. Hunter Owen, who’s been the team’s best hitter, left early for reasons not apparent from the game log. Maybe the robot story writer will say why . . . .
Matt Eckelman: 3 IP, 2 H, ER, 5 K