Cannonballs coming: Taillon strong again

— Jameson Taillon pitched well in another rehab start as Indianapolis (30-23) beat Gwinnett, 4-1. Taillon gave up just an unearned run (on his own error) in five innings. He allowed just three hits, walked none and fanned six, and threw 49 of 68 pitches for strikes. Barrett Barnes, possibly getting on track, went 2-3 with a double and a walk.

Austin Meadows: 1-4
Chris Bostick: BB, SF
A.J. Schugel: 2 IP, 2 K
Pat Light: IP, Sv

— I went to Bowie to see Altoona (29-23) drop an 8-7 game to the Baysox in walkoff fashion. The game was a study in contrasts, as Altoona hit a lot of balls hard with no result, including long drives by Kevin Kramer, Edwin Espinal and Wyatt Mathisen that were caught, along with a laser that Espinal hit right at the first baseman. Bowie, meanwhile, piled up 16 hits with an amazing number of pop fly hits and little rollers.

Yeudy Garcia started and looked good at times. His fastball sat at 92-93 and his slider was mostly effective. He also threw a good change, but didn’t use it much because he wasn’t getting in enough good counts. His command came and went, as illustrated by a six-pitch third inning followed by a fourth inning in which he allowed two walks, a hit batsman and a three-run HR.

The Curve took a 7-3 lead, partly due to Jerrick Suiter’s first HR, a no-doubt, three-run shot. Altoona also got an RBI double off the left field wall from Pablo Reyes and an RBI single and a sacrifice fly from Kramer. Kevin Newman was 2-5. He and Kramer looked slick on a pair of double plays and Jordan Luplow made a strong throw to nail a runner at the plate.

Bowie tied the game with Jared Lakind on the mound. Lakind was throwing mostly 88-89, with poor command of his fastball, which often ran wild high. His curve and change were more effective. He gave up four runs to tie the game in the seventh, with only one ball hit well. The carnage included a pop fly double, a swinging bunt that rolled about 30 feet down the third base line, a grounder the squeaked through into right, a chopper over the middle that got through into center, and a strikeout/wild pitch/throwing error. The tying run scored on a chopper off the glove of Miguel Rosario, who’d replaced Lakind.

Rosario showed his usual jerky, three-quarters motion, from which he throws mid- to upper-80s fastballs, along with a curve and change. His command is below-average, so he’s often behind in the count and can’t necessarily set up the softer stuff. He pitched effectively, though, allowing three hits but none that were hit at all well.

Buddy Borden finally lost the game in the bottom of the ninth. He gave up — sure enough — a pop fly double, followed by two walks to load the bases and a weak bouncer that just got through the drawn-in infield. Borden was throwing 90-92 with a fairly good curve, but below-average command.

Connor Joe and Espinal were 0-4, Kramer 1-3, Jin-De Jhang 0-3 with a walk, Luplow 1-3 with a walk, and Mathisen 1-4.

— Bradenton (32-23) could get no offense going and Taylor Hearn paid the price for a three-true-outcomes second inning as the Marauders lost to Fort Myers, 2-0. Hearn struck out the side in the second, but also gave up a walk and a HR, and that was all the scoring. He finished with just three hits and two walks allowed in six innings, with eight strikeouts. Casey Sadler threw two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and fanning one. The Marauders had only three hits.

Cole Tucker: 0-4
Ke’Bryan Hayes: 1-4
Will Craig: 0-4
Logan Hill: 0-2, BB
Christian Kelley: 0-3

— West Virginia (25-26) beat Rome, 3-1. Matt Anderson managed to give up just an unearned run over five and a third innings despite walking five. He allowed two hits and struck out two. Carlos Munoz went 2-4 with a double and his fifth HR, and Hunter Owen went 3-4.