Cannonballs coming: Brault dominates, Keller returns from rehab

— Steve Brault threw eight shutout innings as Indianapolis (44-35) blanked Durham, 4-0. Facing the International League’s highest-scoring team, Brault allowed four hits, walked nobody and fanned nine. He threw 69 of 106 pitches for strikes. Tyler Eppler pitched the ninth, giving up two hits and striking out two. (Giving starters a “break” by pitching in relief briefly has been a practice this year.) Eury Perez reached base five times, going 2-2 with three walks. Jason Rogers was not in the lineup, so it’s possible he may be headed to Japan.

Chris Bostick: 1-4, BB
Eric Wood: 2-4
Phil Gosselin: 0-3, BB (batting .222 in June)
Erich Weiss: 2-4, 2B

— Altoona (40-36) lost to Bowie, 9-3. Story is here.

— Mitch Keller returned to Bradenton as the Marauders (41-33) beat Dunedin, 7-3. Keller was slated to go four innings and he retired all 12 batters he faced, with two strikeouts. Bradenton ultimately broke a 3-3 tie with four, two-out runs in the 8th, with the go-ahead run scoring on a strikeout/wild pitch. Mitchell Tolman went 5-5 with a double.

Cole Tucker: 1-4, BB
Will Craig: 1-5, 2B
Logan Hill: 0-4 (batting .237 in June)
Christian Kelley: 1-4
Kevin Krause: 1-3
Casey Hughston: 2-3
Seth McGarry: IP, H, BB, 2 K

— West Virginia (34-40) beat Augusta, 6-5, in 11 innings. The Power scored three in the 8th to tie the game, 5-5, then got the winning run on a pinch-hit, sacrifice fly by Carlos Munoz. Blake Cederlind had another rough start, giving up five runs, four earned, in four and a third innings. He allowed four hits and two walks, and struck out four. Dylan Prohoroff threw three perfect innings in relief, fanning three. Adrian Valerio went 3-5 with a walk and Arden Pabst 3-5 with a double.

Hunter Owen: 1-6, 3 K
Brent Gibbs: 0-5, BB

— Morgantown (6-4) lost to Mahoning Valley, 6-3. Stephan Meyer gave up three runs, two earned, on eight hits over five innings. The Black Bears had only four hits. Bligh Madris was 1-3 with a triple, walk and two RBIs.

Jared Oliva: 1-2, 2B
Tristan Gray: 0-4
Joel Cesar: IP

— Bristol (3-5) pounded Princeton, 11-1. Braeden Ogle managed to get through five shutout innings despite some control problems, as he walked five and threw only 49 of 86 pitches for strikes. He gave up four hits and fanned four. Henrry Rosario and Matt Diorio each had a single, double and a three-run HR, Rosario’s second longball and Diorio’s first. Luis Benitez and Huascar Fuentes each went 3-5, with Benitez adding a triple.

Edison Lantigua: 1-5
Alex Manasa: IP

— The GCL Pirates (2-2) beat the Braves, 3-1. Austin Shields couldn’t throw strikes, which is why he’s in the GCL and not at Bristol. Still, he managed to get through three and two-thirds innings while allowing only one run. In the process, he walked four, threw two wild pitches, and gave up a single and three doubles. He struck out three. Oddly, when they relieved Shields, the Pirates moved third baseman Cristopher Perez to the mound and replaced the DH, Conner Uselton, with an infielder. That meant they lost the DH. Luckily, Perez got the last out of the inning after a walk. Yeudy Garcia, on rehab, followed by striking out the side in the fifth, then Adonis Pichardo threw four shutout innings. He allowed just a hit and didn’t walk or strike out anybody. Rodolfo Castro had two doubles in five at-bats.

Lolo Sanchez: 1-5, 2B
Jeremias Portorreal: 1-5, 2B
Cal Mitchell: 0-3, 2 BB
Conner Uselton: 0-2

— The DSL Pirates (13-10) beat the Indians/Brewers, 8-4. Jean Eusebio, the team’s top international signing of the past year, finally got the bat going with a 3-5 game, including a double. Shortstop Francisco Acuna, who’s also been struggling, was 2-5.

Samuel Inoa: 1-5, 2B
Sherten Apostel: 0-4
Larry Alcime: 1-4, 2B

UPDATE: Jason Rogers did in fact agree to terms (sub. req’d) with the Hanshin Tigers, so he’ll be moving on.