Cannonballs coming: Bryan Reynolds hits grand slam

The Pirates have signed the following draft picks from the 2018 draft:

Jonah Davis: 15th round, OF

Colbin Selby: 16th round RHP

Will Kobos: 19th round, RHP

Connor Loeprich: 20th round, RHP

Will Gardner: 21st round, RHP

Chase Lambert: 31st round, IF

Dean Lockery: 32nd round, IF

Joe Jacques: 33rd round, LHP

Brendt Citta: 38th round, OF

--Indianapolis(34-29, 2nd place in West Division) beat Toledo 3-2 as Clay Holmes turned in another solid start. Holmes went five innings allowing one run with 5 Ks. Toledo took a 1-0 lead in the third but Indy scored three of their own in the fifth inning and would hold on for a 3-2 victory. Holmes has been pitching well recently. One has to wonder if he could be an asset out of the Pirates bullpen for one or two inning stints. Jung Ho Kang started at shortstop and collected his first hit for Indy, an infield single.

Clay Holmes: 5 IP, 5 hits, 5 Ks

Kevin Newman: 2-3, walk

Jung Ho Kang: 1-4

Chris Bostick: 2-3

Kevin Kramer: 2-3, triple; 1.142 OPS over last 10 games

--Altoona(31-28, 3rd place in Western Division) jumped out to a 4-0 lead over Binghamton on a first inning grand slam by Bryan Reynolds and went on to win 7-2. Mitch Keller went six innings allowing two runs on four hits. Keller’s line was not particularly impressive as he recorded only 3 Ks and walked four batters. I saw a few hard hit balls and he threw only 55% strikes. He did seem to be throwing a lot of curveballs early but his command didn’t look very good for much of the game. Cole Tucker hit his first home run of the year in the second inning. Will Craig also hit a two run homer, his eighth of the year. Ke’Bryan Hayes had the night off.

Mitch Keller: 6 IP, 2 runs, 4 walks, 3 Ks

Cole Tucker: 2-5, homerun(1)

Bryan Reynolds: 2-5, homerun(1)

Will Craig: 1-3, homerun(8), walk

--Bradenton(33-28, 3rd place in South Division) defeated Florida 4-1. Oddy Nunez threw five innings allowing seven hits but only one run. Jared Oliva was 2-4 with a home run and a double. Oliva is putting together quite a season as he now has an .852 OPS and is one of the leading hitters in the FSL. He seems to have a chance to stick in CF so he is someone to watch. Blake Weiman earned his first save.

Jared Oliva: 2-4, homerun(7), double

Mitchell Tolman: 1-2, 2 walks

Alfredo Reyes: 2-4

--West Virginia(34-28, 3rd place in Northern Division) beat Augusta 3-2 as they scored a run in the eighth and ninth inning to climb back from a 2-1 deficit. Cody Bolton kept his season long scoreless streak intact through 4 innings but allowed his first earned runs of the year on a two run homer in the fifth inning. Cal Mitchell drove in Oneil Cruz(I hope to be hearing that a lot in 2021-22) with a sacrifice fly to tie the game 2-2 in the eighth. Kyle Watson came home on a throwing error in the ninth to give the Power their third and decisive run.

Cody Bolton: 5 IP, 2 runs, 1 K

Oneil Cruz: 1-4

Cal Mitchell: 1-2, double

-- The DSL Pirates1(4-6) lost to the DSL Rangers1 4-2. Shendrik Apostel hit his first home run of the year.

Juan Pie: 0-4

Carlos Arroyo: 2-3

Yandy Vega: 5 IP, 3 hits, 1 run

--The DSL Pirates2(2-8) defeated the DSL Giants 10-9. Matthew Mercedes was 3-3 and hit his fourth home run of the season.

Matthew Mercedes: 3-3, homerun(4), double

Angel Basabe: 3-5

Ivan Rosario: 2-3