Cannonballs coming: Kang hits grandslam; stellar outing for Clay Holmes

—Indianapolis(26-27) pounded Scranton Wilkes-Barre 8-0 as Clay Holmes turned in his best performance of the year pitching 7 scoreless innings with 8 Ks. The Indy bats punished Justus Sheffield as they scored 6 runs off him in 5 innings. Sheffield is rated the 3rd best prospect int the Yankees system but the lefthander had no answer for the Indianapolis bats. Kevin Newman lead off the game with a double and came home when Jacob Stallings singled home Newman and Max Moroff(walk) to make it 2-0 and the route had begun. Kevin Kramer followed with a three run homer(6) and Indy was leading 5-0 after the first. Holmes induced 11 groundouts and was followed by Josh Smoker and Johnny Hellweg who both pitched scoreless innings to keep the shutout intact. One has to wonder if Holmes or Hellweg can help this Pittsburgh bullpen at some point down the road

Jacob Stallings: 3-4, batting .298 on the year

Kevin Kramer: 2-3, homerun(6)

--Altoona(26-25) was routed by Hartford 11-1. Logan Sendelbach started for the Curve and only lasted 3 innings allowing 4 runs on 6 hits. Jake Brentz (ERA of 13.50) allowed another 5 runs in 1.2 innings. Bralin Jackson hit a solo homer in the 2nd for Altoona’s only run. Aside from Jackson’s homer the Curve had 3 singles.

Cole Tucker: 0-4, K

Ke’Bryan Hayes: 0-4

Jason Martin: 1-3

Will Craig: 0-3

--Bradenton(28-22) walked off a 7-6 victory over Charlotte. James Marvel started for the Marauders and gave up 6 runs in 5.2 innings. Charlotte jumped out to 1-0 lead in the first but Bradenton tied things up in the 3rd on Casey Hughston’s first homerun of the year. Jung Ho Kang hit a grandslam over the left field wall of Lecom Park in the 5th to put Brandenton up 5-1. Hunter Owen followed with his 6th homerun to push the lead to 6-1. But Charlotte stormed back in the top of the 6 as they scored 5 runs of their own. The final blow was a 3 run homer from Tristan Gray who some may remember as a part of the Corey Dickerson/Daniel Hudson trade. The game moved to the bottom of the 9th tied 6-6 when Kang lead off the inning with a single. Adrian Valerio came in to pinch run and scored the walkoff run on a Hunter Owen double. It also should be noted that Kang started the game at SS this evening. He was involved in a number of plays at short and didn’t commit any errors.

Jared Oliva: 2-4, walk

Jung Ho Kang: 2-4, homerun, walk

Albert Baur: 1-5

Arden Pabst: 1-5

Hunter Owen: 4-5, homerun(6), double

--West Virginia(26-24) defeated Greensboro 4-0. Cody Bolton’s 2nd start was another impressive outing. He pitched 6 scoreless innings with 4 Ks and only one walk. He has yet to allow a run in 11 innings and has a WHIP of .64. While early, one can at least hope the Pirates unearthed a gem when they selected Bolton in the 6th round of the 2017 draft. Lolo Sanchez gave the Power a 1-0 lead in the 5th inning with a RBI groundout. West Virginia would tack on 3 more runs in the 7th and coast to a 4-0 victory. Oneil Cruz was 3-5 on the evening with 2 doubles. He is now batting .282 with an OPS of .841.

Cal Mitchell: 2-5

Deon Stafford: 1-4, double