Cannonballs coming: West Virginia wins with big rally

One news item: The Pirates have moved Max Kranick (sub. req’d) from the GCL to Bristol. I’m sure he’s a perfectly decent guy, so I don’t know why they’d do that to him.

Altoona was rained out.

— Indianapolis (68-56) lost to Syracuse, 11-5. With scheduled starter Steve Brault called up, Tyler Eppler, who’d been working in relief, got the spot start. Eppler got off to a good start this year, but since the end of May he’d had an ERA of 6.56 and ugly peripherals to match. Things didn’t improve in this game, as he got torched for five runs in the first and gave up nine in all, eight of them earned, on ten hits in four innings. Kevin Newman went 2-4 with a walk and Danny Ortiz hit his 13th HR.

Jordan Luplow: 0-4, BB
Chris Bostick: 1-4, 2B
Gift Ngoepe: 2-3, 2B

— James Marvel had possibly his best career start, but Bradenton (65-56) still lost to Palm Beach, 2-1. Marvel threw seven shutout innings, allowing five hits and two walks, and striking out seven. He left with the game scoreless. The Marauders got a run in the top of the eighth, but their bullpen, which has been bad lately, gave up two in the bottom half. That was all the scoring, as the Marauders finished with just six hits.

Ke’Bryan Hayes: 2-4
Will Craig: 0-4 (since July 13, batting 231/352/291 in 155 PA)
Stephen Alemais: 0-3

— West Virginia (59-61) came back for a 10-8 win over Greenville. The Power fell behind, 7-1, in the second inning. Starter Mike Wallace couldn’t throw strikes, walking three and retiring only one batter in the first. His replacement, Matt Eckelman, had his own problems, serving up three gopher balls. The Power, though, stormed back with eight runs in the third and held on for the win. Adrian Valerio went 2-4 with a double, his ninth HR and three runs. Albert Baur had a single, double and three RBIs. Ronny Agustin and Julio Eusebio combined for five and two-thirds scoreless innings with ten strikeouts.

— Morgantown (33-23) lost a marathon to State College, 5-2 in 15 innings. Starter Beau Sulser threw five shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk, with two strikeouts. The game ended up tied, though, 2-2 after eight. The Black Bears blew all sorts of chances to win the game, going 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position and stranding 18. Robbie Glendinning whiffed five times and stranded seven runners. The team as a whole fanned 19 times. Adam Oller threw shutout ball from the 11th through the 14th before finally coughing up a three-run HR in the 15th. Jared Oliva was 3-8, but whiffed four times. Deon Stafford was 3-7, but whiffed three times.

Bligh Madris: 0-7, BB
Tristan Gray: 2-6, BB

— Bristol (11-42) eschewed any dramatics and simply got stomped, 9-1, by Elizabethton. Starter Jacob Taylor continued to struggle badly, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks in three and two-thirds innings. He struck out four. Edison Lantigua went 2-4, both of the hits being doubles. The Pirates struck out 16 times. They lead the league in strikeouts and are last in HRs.

— The GCL Pirates (18-28) lost to the Tigers West, 7-3. Steven Jennings had one of those starts that happen at the lowest levels, where you probably shouldn’t draw any conclusions at all. Jennings should have had three straight groundouts in the first, but it instead went as one out and two errors, one of them Rodolfo Castro’s 16th. (I often say that I pay little attention to error totals at this level, but I’ve seen a good bit of Castro now and I’m not saying that about him.) By the end of the inning, Jennings had allowed four runs, all unearned. In the second, Jennings fanned the first two hitters and then gave up three more runs, all earned. The good news is that Austin Shields had his best pro outing in relief, throwing five shutout innings. He gave up just a hit and a walk, and struck out three.

Lolo Sanchez: 1-4, 2B, BB
Mason Martin: 1-4, BB
Castro: 0-3
Calvin Mitchell: 1-4

— The DSL Pirates (34-30) lost to the Indians/Brewers, 5-1. The team’s two best players, Samuel Inoa and Sherten Apostel, both appear to be out now, so the lineup isn’t terribly interesting.

Jean Eusebio: 1-2, BB
Santiago Florez: IP, H, R, 2 BB, K