Cannonballs coming: Stephen Alemais stays hot at Bradenton

Indianapolis was off and the GCL Pirates were rained out.

— Brandon Waddell returned to Altoona (55-51) as the Curve beat Erie, 5-3. Waddell threw five-plus innings, giving up three runs, two of them earned. He allowed four hits and two walks, with three strikeouts. Waddell failed to retire any of the first three batters in the sixth, but Tanner Anderson, just moved to the bullpen, stranded two of the three. Anderson retired nine straight hitters, striking out three. Jerrick Suiter hit his eighth HR.

Cole Tucker: 0-4
Jin-De Jhang: 1-4
Connor Joe: 1-4
Jordan George: 2-4
Brandon Cumpton: IP, H, 2 K, Sv

— Mitch Keller had a good start as Bradenton (60-44) beat Palm Beach in the first game of a doubleheader, 2-1, in ten innings. Keller gave up a run on six hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out four. I was at the game but had to leave in the middle of the fourth. Keller’s fastball was sitting at 96-98. He threw strikes with it consistently, but had a little more trouble locating his curve. Except for one stretch of three hitters who hit the ball hard (which resulted in the one run), he gave up little hard contact but had some trouble putting hitters away. His pitch count got high as a result, up to 101. Sam Street threw scoreless, four-hit baseball for the last four innings. Stephen Alemais (pictured) went 3-4 with a walk and is batting .500 in 26 ABs since his promotion. Alemais drove in the winner with a two-out, walkoff single. Mitchell Tolman left after one inning, although nothing happened that I saw to explain it.

Ke’Bryan Hayes: 1-5, 2B
Will Craig: 1-4, BB

The Marauders lost game two, 3-1. Logan Sendelbach gave up two runs in five innings. Bradenton managed only four hits.

Hayes: 2-1, 3B, BB
Craig: 0-3

— West Virginia (47-56) lost the first game of its doubleheader with Lexington, 5-2. Eduardo Vera threw a six-inning complete game, giving up nine hits, while two of the runs were unearned. He walked one and fanned five. Arden Pabst and Clark Eagan each went 2-3 with a double.

The Power also lost the second game, 2-1. Matt Eckelman made a spot start with four shutout innings. He allowed just a hit and a walk, and fanned four. West Virginia had only four hits.

— Morgantown (24-15) edged Williamsport, 6-5. Scooter Hightower gave up three runs in six innings on six hits. He walked none and fanned eight. Bligh Madris went 3-5 with a double and Deon Stafford 2-5 with a double.

Dylan Busby: 0-4
Tristan Gray: 1-4, 3B
Joel Cesar: IP, H, 2 K, Sv

— Bristol (9-30) did what Bristol does, losing to Danville, 8-3. Braeden Ogle allowed one run on one hit in two innings. He walked none and struck out two. I’m not sure why he came out after two innings, but he threw 43 pitches and had both innings prolonged by errors. Jason Delay was 2-5 with a double and Ryan Peurifoy drove in all three runs.

— The DSL Pirates (26-23) lost to the Rangers1, 5-4. Williams Calderon hit two triples and Samuel Inoa went 2-5

Jean Eusebio: 1-5, 3 K
Francisco Acuna: 1-3, 2 BB