— Nick Kingham bounced back from a string of poor starts and Indianapolis (56-45) beat Rochester, 4-1. Kingham allowed the one run in seven innings. He gave up eight hits, walked none and fanned six. Kingham threw 67 of 98 pitches for strikes. Kevin Newman went 2-4 and is now 8-for-23 (.348) since his promotion. Eury Perez was also 2-4 and had a double. He’s now batting .336.
Phil Gosselin: 1-2, BB
Elias Diaz: 0-3, BB
Chris Bostick: 1-4, 2B, 3 K
Eric Wood: 0-4
Gift Ngoepe: 0-1, 2 BB
— Altoona (51-48) blanked heavy-hitting Reading, 2-0. Austin Coley threw seven innings, allowing just two hits and a walk, and fanning six. The bullpen was shaky, but held, which it hasn’t often done lately. Jake Brentz got into trouble in the eighth, walking two and hitting one while recording just one (via strikeout), but Luis Heredia came on to strike out the next two hitters. Tate Scioneaux gave up a pair of one-out singles in the ninth, but worked out of it. The game’s only runs scored in the top of the eighth on a two-run double by Jerrick Suiter, his only hit in four ABs.
Cole Tucker: 1-2, 2 BB
Logan Hill: 1-4
Jin-De Jhang: 2-4
Wyatt Mathisen: 0-3, BB
— Bradenton (56-41) beat Clearwater, 6-3. Pedro Vasquez didn’t pitch as well as he usually has lately, but he still got through six innings, giving up three runs on eight hits. He didn’t walk anybody and fanned five. Geoff Hartlieb struck out another four in two innings of relief. Will Craig, perhaps noticing the many promotions in the system lately, had another strong game, going 3-4 with two doubles. Kevin Krause went 2-4 with his seventh HR and three RBIs.
Mitchell Tolman: 2-5, 2B
Ke’Bryan Hayes: 2-5, 2B
Stephen Alemais: 1-2, 2 BB
— West Virginia (45-51) lost a one-run lead and had to score a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie its game with Lexington, then the Power won in the 11th, 8-7. Arden Pabst provided the heroics in the ninth, tying the game with two outs with his third HR. Pabst finished 2-5. Kevin Mahala won the game with a walkoff single, scoring Victor Fernandez, who was pinch running for Ryan Nagle. Nagle had doubled and was 4-6 on the day. Clark Eagan was 4-5 with his sixth HR; he’s 9-for-12 in his last three games. Oddy Nunez, who seems like he might be wearing down lately, allowed five runs on six hits and two walks over five innings, while fanning seven.
Carlos Munoz: 3-5, 2B (now batting leadoff!)
Garrett Brown: 2-5
— Morgantown (21-12) scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to edge Batavia, 3-2. Deon Stafford went 3-4. Connor Joe continued his rehab, going 1-3 with a double and a walk. Scooter Hightower started and allowed two runs over six innings. He gave up seven hits and a walk, and fanned seven.
Dylan Busby: 1-3
Tristan Gray: 1-4
Bligh Madris: 1-3
Joel Cesar: IP, H, K
— If nothing else, Bristol (8-24) is having no trouble coming up with creative ways to lose. This time they scored three in the bottom of the ninth to tie Bluefield, only to lose, 7-4, in ten innings. Travis MacGregor started and allowed four runs on six hits in four innings. He walked none and struck out three. The Pirates had only four hits in the game. Johan De Jesus was 2-3 with his second HR.
— Mason Martin went deep again as the GCL Pirates (10-14) beat the Yankees West, 6-2. The HR was Martin’s only hit in four ABs. He now has six in his first 45 professional plate appearances, not to mention a 1.504 OPS. The biggest performance of the day, though, belonged to Lolo Sanchez (pictured), who went 4-4 with a double and three runs scored. Sanchez is batting .337. Austin Shields threw four hitless innings, although he allowed a run. He managed to walk only one and also hit one batter, while striking out four. (The run came on a walk, two steals and a wild throw by the catcher. I’m not sure why it was earned; the next two batters flied out, but I didn’t think you could assume a runner would score on a fly ball.)
Cal Mitchell: 1-4, 2 K
Jeremias Portorreal: 0-2, 2 BB, 2 K (has struck out in 30.4% of plate appearances)
Rodolfo Castro: 2-4, 3B
Cody Bolton: 3 IP, 3 H, R, 0 ER, BB, 3 K
— The DSL Pirates (24-19) lost to the Cubs1, 5-3. Starter Jose Marcano gave up just an unearned run in five innings. He allowed three hits and a walk, and struck out three. The Pirates had only four hits, although they also drew ten walks.
Francisco Acuna: 0-2, 3 BB
Samuel Inoa: 0-3, BB
Sherten Apostel: 0-2, 2 BB