Cannonballs coming: Oliva, Cruz still hitting, still waiting

— Indianapolis (39-32) lost to Durham, 6-1. Alex McRae had a rough start, giving up four runs on six hits and five walks in four and two-thirds innings. The Indians managed only six hits. Ryan Lavarnway doubled in the only run.

Kevin Newman: 1-4, 2B
Jordan Luplow: 1-3
Kevin Kramer: 0-3, BB
Max Moroff: 0-4
Brandon Waddell: IP, H, 2 ER, BB, K
Dovydas Neverauskas: 1.1 IP, H, BB, 3 K

— Altoona (35-32) lost to Erie, 9-3. Cam Vieaux had a good start, allowing one run over five innings. He gave up six hits and a walk, and fanned five. Once he was out, Tate Scioneaux and Yeudy Garcia combined to allow eight runs in the sixth. The Curve didn’t score until the eighth. Bryan Reynolds and Stephen Alemais were each 2-4. Ke’Bryan Hayes returned to the lineup and went 0-4.

Cole Tucker: 1-5
Jason Martin: 1-3, 2 BB
Will Craig: 0-2 (1-for-12 in last four games)

— Bradenton (35-32) again got obliterated by one of the league’s weakest-hitting teams in a 14-7 loss to Fort Myers. Starter Adam Oller got torched for nine runs, eight earned, in four and a third innings. Jake Brentz and Ronny Agustin also got roughed up. Blake Cederlind, just promoted from West Virginia, gave up a run in two innings on two hits and two walks. He struck out two. Jared Oliva (pictured) was the bright spot, connecting for a grand slam, as well as a single and double in four times up. The home run was his ninth. He’s now hitting 291/378/495. Adrian Valerio was 1-4 with a double.

— West Virginia (39-29) beat Hickory, 6-4. Oneil “Too Tall” Cruz took time out from wondering why he’s still in Charleston to go 3-5 with a double. He’s batting 315/371/535. He did, however, have two errors. Domingo Robles gave up three runs, two earned, in seven innings. He gave up five hits, walked none and struck out four. You don’t see a lot of seven-inning starts at this level, but Robles has four in his last seven starts. Deon Stafford was 1-4 with a triple. Cal Mitchell left with the trainer after striking out in his first AB. We’re not going to use the “H” word.

Rodolfo Castro: 0-4
Lolo Sanchez: 0-3, BB

— Morgantown (4-4) beat State College, 4-2. Luke Mangieri had a big day, scoring all but one of the runs while going 2-3 with a walk and his first career home run. Daniel Amaral also hit his first homer; he went 2-4. Fabricio Macias went 3-4. Travis Swaggerty didn’t play. Fourth round pick Aaron Shortridge gave up two runs, one earned, over three and a third. He allowed four hits and a walk, and fanned four. Conner Loeprich and Shea Murray managed to get through two and two-thirds scoreless innings of relief despite walking five. Loeprich got out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation when he came on. Murray didn’t throw a single strike in his first outing, but got through a scoreless inning in this one, with two walks and two strikeouts.

Edison Lantigua: 0-4
Brett Kinneman: 0-4

— Bristol (2-2) lost a nail-biter to Elizabethton, 19-5. Five different pitchers — we’ll leave their names out of this — combined to allow 17 hits and nine walks. Bristol finally turned to infielder Johan De Jesus to get the last five outs. He managed to allow only two runs, making him the Pirates’ best pitcher on the day. Mason Martin went 2-4 and Conner Uselton 1-4. Sherten Apostel was 0-3 with a walk.

— The GCL Pirates (1-4) got their first win, 8-4, over the Phillies. In fact, when they scored a run in the second it was the first lead they’ve had. They did it with an almost-new team. The Pirates have signed four undrafted college players in the last couple days and three of them — Kyle Mottice, Patrick Dorrian and Matt Morrow — were in the lineup. The Bucs also had another newbie in outfielder Fernando Villegas. He signed out of Mexico at about the same time as Fabricio Macias and, like Macias, got ensnared in the MLB contract-approval process. (Thunder linked an article yesterday that probably gives us a rough idea of what the holdup was.) Dorrian went 2-4 with three RBIs, Mottice and Morrow each 1-4. Villegas was 0-2 with two walks and a sacrifice fly. Jean Eusebio was 2-5 with a double and Samuel Inoa 2-5 with a triple. Travis MacGregor made a rehab start, allowing a run on four hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out two.

— The DSL Pirates1 (8-10) dropped a 3-1 game to the Indians. The game was scoreless through eight innings. The Pirates’ starter was Bryan Torres, a Nicaraguan native who’s probably one of the more prominent pitchers they signed in the last year and who’s just a little past 17. He threw six shutout innings, allowing two hits and no walks, and striking out four. The Pirates had only five hits, three of them by Yoyner Fajardo. He went 3-3 with a triple and a walk, and is now hitting .370. Juan Pie went 1-4 with a double and three strikeouts.

— The DSL Pirates2 (7-11) edged the Royals2, 3-2. Germin Lopez was 2-3 with a walk and Omar Matos 2-4 with a double. Francisco Hodge had a strong start, fanning seven over five shutout innings. He gave up just two hits and a walk. He’s an 18-year-old Dominican lefty who now has a 2.13 ERA and 1.03 WHIP through three starts. Denny Roman fanned the side in the ninth for the save.