Cannonballs coming: Keller struggles while Altoona offense breaks out

Bradenton and West Virginia both were rained out.

— Indianapolis (25-21) beat Charlotte, 6-2. Starter Alex McRae took 96 pitches to get through four and a third innings, giving up the two runs. The bullpen threw four and two-thirds scoreless innings. Johnny Hellweg, who had been serving as closer, came on in the fifth and threw an inning and two-thirds. He walked one and struck out one. Jesus Liranzo threw two shutout innings, but had some control issues. He walked two, struck out one, and threw only 15 of 32 pitches for strikes. Dovydas Neverauskas fanned the side in the 9th. I watched the inning and he threw a lot of sliders. The Indians drew eight walks. Jordan Luplow was 1-4 with a walk and three RBIs. Kevin Kramer was 2-4 with a walk.

Kevin Newman: 1-5
Pablo Reyes: 2-3, 2 BB (batting .319 in AAA)
Chris Bostick: 1-4, 2B, BB

— Mitch Keller got hit hard, but Altoona (22-22) broke out of its hitting slump with five home runs in a 10-6 win over Harrisburg. Keller was facing a lineup that included rehabbing major leaguers Daniel Murphy and Brian Goodwin, but most of the damage against him came on a pair of homers by lesser lights. Keller gave up six runs on nine hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out five. Cole Tucker (pictured) and Ke’Bryan Hayes got at least one day’s respite from their struggles. Tucker went 3-5 with a triple, while Hayes was 3-4 with his third homer and four RBIs. Jason Martin broke out of a brief slump, going 2-5 with his sixth homer, although he also fanned three times. The Curve also got longballs from Christian Kelley (his fifth), Jordan George (first) and Bralin Jackson (first). Kelley went 2-5.

Stephen Alemais: 2-4
Geoff Hartlieb: IP, 2 K