Cannonballs coming: Musgrove, Newman lead Indianapolis

Altoona was rained out.

— Joe Musgrove made his case for joining the Pirates’ rotation by allowing no hits or walks over five and two-thirds innings as Indianapolis (17-16) edged Columbus, 2-1. Musgrove fanned six, got seven groundball versus no flyball outs, and threw 60 of 79 pitches for strikes. Kevin Newman had his own big game, leading off the bottom of the first with his first home run of the year and going 4-4, missing the cycle by a triple. Newman suddenly has his slash line up to .297/320/407, as he’s 15-for-37 (.405) in his last ten games. The Indians had chances to blow the game open, but went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Chris Bostick: 1-3
Austin Meadows: 2-4
Jordan Luplow: 0-4
Kevin Kramer: 1-4
Jacob Stallings: 1-4, 2B
Johnny Hellweg: IP, H, K, Sv (ERA remains 0.00)

— Bradenton (19-17) lost to Palm Beach, 5-3. Jared Oliva provided most of the Marauders’ offense, going 3-4 with a double, a walk and his third home run. Cam Vieaux gave up four runs on six hits over four and a third innings. Bradenton went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Adrian Valerio: 1-4, BB
Arden Pabst: 0-4
Bligh Madris: 0-3, BB (3-for-30 in last six games)

— West Virginia (21-13) scored three in the first, then hung on for a 4-2 win over Lakewood. The Power have now won six in a row. Chris Sharpe had a big day, going 4-4 with a double. Starter Gavin Wallace got through seven innings on just 69 pitches, partly the result of walking none and striking out just one. He gave up a run on four hits.

Oneil Cruz: 1-4
Cal Mitchell: 1-4
Deon Stafford: 0-4
Dylan Busby: 1-4, 2B
Rodolfo Castro: 1-4
Lolo Sanchez: 0-2