Cannonballs coming: Four hits each for Christian Kelley and Chris Bostick

— Drew Hutchison (pictured) got past his first-inning troubles for a day at least, giving up just one run (in the fifth) over six innings as Indianapolis (15-17) beat Norfolk, 4-1. Hutchison gave up four hits and a walk, and struck out four. Edgar Santana pitched the last three innings to get the save. He allowed a hit and two walks, and fanned three. The Pirates have used both Santana and Dovydas Neverauskas in some longer outings lately, possibly with a view toward finding a role for them in the majors. Neverauskas didn’t do so well in the longer outings, so it may be Santana’s turn. Max Moroff hit his ninth HR and Chris Bostick went 4-5 with two doubles.

Austin Meadows: 1-5
Elias Diaz: 0-4
Eric Wood: 2-3, 2 2B, BB
Phil Gosselin: 1-4

— Montana DuRapau couldn’t hold a one-run lead in the ninth and Altoona (20-13) lost to New Hampshire, 7-5. The Curve took a 4-0 lead in the first, mostly on a three-run HR by Edwin Espinal, his third longball on the year. Espinal is now hitting 343/403/514, and has struck out only 11 times in 105 ABs. At 23, he’s a decent age for AA, so it’ll be interesting if he starts showing some power. Alex McRae went seven innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and two walks. He struck out three.

Kevin Newman: 2-4
Kevin Kramer: 2-5, 2B
Connor Joe: 0-3, BB
Jordan Luplow: 0-4
Wyatt Mathisen: 1-4

— Bradenton (24-13) continued to bombard Palm Beach pitching in a 12-4 win, giving the Marauders 32 runs in two games. Gage Hinsz returned after being scratched from a start due to some shoulder soreness. The bad news is that Hinsz allowed four runs in the fourth, although he didn’t exactly get bombed. He gave up a run on two weak hits and a walk, followed by a three-run HR. Hinsz came out after four, having thrown 71 pitches, 41 strikes. He allowed six hits and a walk, and struck out one. Christian Kelley went 4-5 with a walk and is now batting .330. Casey Hughston hit his second HR and drove in four runs. Oddly, after getting four extra base hits and seven RBIs yesterday, Cole Tucker got the day off. Starter Dario Agrazal threw one inning in relief. Taylor Hearn threw two innings in relief two days ago, so I guess this is some strategy to manage workloads.

Logan Ratledge: 3-5, 2B, BB
Ke’Bryan Hayes: 2-4, BB, 3 runs
Will Craig: 2-5, 2B, BB
Logan Hill: 1-5
Yunior Montero: 2 IP, BB, no strikeouts (!!)

— Luis Escobar continued to struggle with the strike zone as West Virginia (16-19) dropped a 6-1 game to Charleston. Hitters in the South Atlantic League seem to have figured out that Escobar doesn’t throw a lot of strikes and he hasn’t adjusted as yet. In this game he threw only 39 of 80 pitches for strikes over four innings, walking five. He also allowed four hits, but got out of it with only two runs allowed. He fanned four.

Stephen Alemais: 0-4
Ty Moore: 1-4
Trae Arbet: 1-4, 2B