Cannonballs Coming: Mitch Keller returns, Drew Hutchison has strong start

Indianapolis (39-30) coasted to an 8-2 victory over Toledo. Drew Hutchison thew seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks. Indy broke the game open with five runs in the third inning. Austin Meadows started the scoring with a two-run double. Meadows had a nice at-bat versus a lefty, in which he battled off some tough pitches before finally poking the ball down the third-base line. Phil Gosselin and Eric Wood followed with RBI singles to give Indianapolis a 5-0 lead. The Indians added three more runs to eventually take an 8-0 lead. Casey Sadler came in and worked the final two innings, allowing two runs on four hits.

Altoona (37-30) had the night off

Bradenton (36-29) lost 3-1 to Clearwater. The Threshers scored three runs off Bret Helton, who only lasted four innings and allowed nine hits. Bradenton scored their only run in the top of the fourth, when Jordan George drove in Ke'Bryan Hayes on a groundout.

Ke'Bryan Hayes 2-3, walk

Will Craig 1-3, 2 K

Logan Hill 1-4, 2 K

The West Virgina Power (30-36) did not play.

The West Virgina Black Bears (1-0) won their home opener 3-0 vs Mahoning Valley. Mitch Keller returned from a back injury to pitch two innings. He had four strikeouts and allowed only a single. The game remained scoreless until the seventh inning, when Garrett Brown drove in Matt Diorio and Yoel Gonzalez with a two-out RBI single. Raul Siri followed with an RBI double. Scooter Hightower, Andrew Potter, Evan Piechota, and Yoandy Fernandez combined for seven scoreless innings. Fernandez is a 29-year-old Cuban pitcher signed a few months ago. He had seven strikeouts over three innings.

Mitch Keller 2 IP, 4 K, no walks

Yoandy Fernandez 3 IP, 7 K, 1 walk

Sandy Santos 1-4, double

Yoel Gonzalez 2-3

The DSL Pirates (6-8) were blown out 9-0 by the DSL Dodgers 2. Samuel Inoa had their only hit.