Cannonballs Coming: Holmes has strong outing, three hits for Newman

Indianapolis (41-31) defeated Louisville 6-2. Clay Holmes turned in one of his better performances of the year, striking out seven in seven innings. Holmes had strong command, throwing 68 of 101 pitches for strikes. He was also generating a lot of ground balls. The Indy lineup had no problems against Robert Stephenson, a former top pitching prospect of the Reds. Jason Rogers, Erich Weiss and Jackson Williams all hit home runs and the Indians put the game out of reach with a four-run seventh inning. Perhaps there is help for Gas Can Alley as Antonio Bastardo and A.J. Schugel both pitched scoreless innings in relief.

Clay Holmes 7 IP, 4 hits, 7 K, 1 walk

Jason Rogers 3-4, home run (8)

Phil Gosselin 2-5, triple

Altoona (38-32) lost 5-2 to Hartford. Austin Coley turned in a solid start, allowing only two runs in six innings while recording six strikeouts. Both runs came on solo home runs. Altoona was down 2-0 but tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when Edwin Espinal drove Pablo Reyes and Jordan Luplow home with a ground-ball single through the right side. But the game got away in the seventh as Jared Lakind allowed two runs to score.

Kevin Newman 3-5

Jordan Luplow 1-4, double

Wyatt Mathisen 0-3, walk

Austin Coley 6 IP, 5 hits, 6 K, 2 walks

Bradenton (38-31) beat Lakeland 1-0 as Cam Vieaux made his debut start for the Marauders. Vieaux only had two strike outs but induced a lot of ground balls and successfully kept the Flying Tigers off the board through six innings. The Marauders only managed three singles against Lakeland pitching, but bunched them all together in the sixth inning to score the only run of the game. Mitchell Tolman drove Casey Hughston home and Bradenton got three innings of scoreless relief from Daniel Zamora and Seth McGarry.

Cam Vieaux 6 IP, 5 hits, 2 K, 2 walks

Will Craig 0-4

Logan Hill 0-3

The West Virginia Power (31-36) were rained out.

The West Virgina Black Bears (4-1) rallied late for a 5-3 victory over Williamsport. Stephan Meyer was on the hill for West Virginia and allowed three runs over 4 2-3 innings. The Black Bears managed to score five runs on just three hits. Their first two runs came early in the game on fielding errors by the Crosscutters shortstop. Still, the Black Bears were trailing 3-2 going into the eighth inning. Raul Siri tied things up with an RBI single and Jose Barraza delivered the knock out blow with two-run triple. Julio Eusebio worked two scoreless innings of relief for his first save.

Stephan Meyer 4 2-3 IP, 5 hits, 2 K, 2 walks

Raul Siri 2-4

Jose Barraza 1-4, triple

Bristol (1-1) defeated Johnson City 4-3 for its first victory of the season. Travis MacGregor (68th overall pick of 2016 draft) was on the mound and had a solid 2017 debut, throwing four innings and only giving up one run. Bristol jumped out to a 3-0 lead on home runs by Yondry Contreras and Nelson Jorge. Chris McDonald relieved MacGregor and allowed two runs in the fifth, which tied the game at 3. Things would remain deadlocked until the top of the ninth, when Jhoan Herrera hit a line-drive double to score Edison Lantigua.

Travis MacGregor 4 IP, 4 hits, 3 K, 1 walk

Yondry Contreras 1-5, home run (1)

Edison Lantigua 2-4,double

Jhoan Herrera 3-5, 2 doubles

Felix Vinicio 2-4, 2 doubles

Nelson Jorge 1-3, home run (1)

The DSL Pirates (9-8) scored two runs in the top of the ninth on a home run by Samuel Inoa to defeat the DSL Rays 9-8.

Samuel Inoa 3-5, home run (1)

Sherten Apostel 3-5, double