Cannonballs coming: Jonah Davis homers twice, Jack Herman hits his first

--Indianapolis(43-34) lost to Columbus 5-3. J.T. Brubaker(pictured) turned in his best start of the year at the Triple A level as he held the Clippers scoreless through 5.2 innings. Brubaker was missing bats and recorded 8 Ks vs only 2 walks. Columbus has some formidable bats in their lineup including top rated prospect Francisco Mejia as well as Yu-Cheng Chang. Indy took a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning but Damien Magnifico allowed a run in the bottom half of the seventh and then Enny Romero brought a gasoline can to the mound in the eighth. Romero allowed a homer to Mejia to cut the lead to 3-2. While a Jordan Luplow error didn’t help, Romero was all over the place and ended up walking in the tying run before being lifted. Dovydas Neverauskas came in with the bases loaded and promptly gave up a two run single.

J.T. Brubaker: 5.2 IP, 8 Ks, 2 walks, 0 runs

Kevin Newman: 2-4, double

Adam Frazier: 1-4, triple

Jordan Luplow: 0-4, 2 Ks

Kevin Kramer: 0-3, 1 K

--Altoona(40-34) lost to Harrisburg 3-2. Pedro Vasquez had his best start of his career at the Double A level. Vasquez went six innings only allowing one run while recording an uncharacteristic 7 strikeouts. Carter Kieboom, the Nationals 4th rated prospect, gave the Senators an early lead with a RBI double in the third inning. The Curve tied the game in the fourth when Bryan Reynolds scored on a wild pitch. Harrisburg reclaimed the lead in the seventh but the Curve responded with a Bryan Reynolds sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game 2-2. The game went to extra innings and Harrisburg scored a run in the 10th and the Curve were unable to respond in the bottom half losing 3-2. As an aside, I thought it was interesting that the Curve broadcast team noted that Harrisburg had been challenging Will Craig with breaking balls- specifically slow curves consistently during this series. Craig came into the game with an OPS under .400 in his last 10 games.

Pedro Vasquez: 6 IP, 7 Ks, 3 hits, no walks

Cole Tucker: 2-5

Ke’Bryan Hayes: 2-5, double, 2 Ks

Will Craig: 0-5

--Bradenton(37-35) was blown out by Palm Beach 11-2. Adam Oller gave up six runs in 4.1 innings pitched and most of Bradenton’s other pitchers were just as bad.

Jared Oliva: 1-3, walk

Alfredo Reyes: 2-3, walk

--West Virginia Power(42-31) lost to Hickory 4-3. Max Kranick turned in an uneven start throwing four scoreless innings but giving up four walks to along with 7 Ks. Unsurprisingly, he had already thrown 80 pitches after four innings and was removed from the game. This game was tied 1-1 when Brett Pope gave the Power a 3-1 lead in bottom of the sixth when he hit a two run ground-rule double. The Power took a 3-2 lead to the ninth but Samuel Reyes surrendered two runs in the ninth and the Power went on to lose 4-3.

--Morgantown(5-8) lost to Mahoning Valley. It was an ugly night for the Black Bears offensively as they struck out 16 times. Jhoan Herrera hit his third home run. Travis Swaggerty did not play.

--Bristol(6-3) stomped Princeton 12-5.Jonah Davis stayed red hot going 3-6 with two homers and a triple. As WTM noted in the Bristol Preview, Davis is a CF who the Pirates took in the 15th round of 2018 draft. Davis turns 21 next month and hit for power in college. Chase Lambert, the 31st pick in the 2018 draft was 4-5 with his first home run and a double. Mason Martin hit a grand slam and Sherten Apostel also hit his first home run of the season. Victor Ngoepe also continued his strong start to the season going 2-4 with a double and a walk. Roger Santana only had 1 punch out but managed to go five innings only allowing one run

--The GCL Pirates(4-5) beat the GCL Phillies East 10-5. The Pirates exploded for eight runs in the first two innings and coasted to a victory. 30th round pick Jack Herman hit his first home run of the year. Travis MacGregor appears to be rehabbing and made his second appearance at the GCL level. Macgregor threw four scoreless innings and punched out four batters. While MacGregor only threw 29 innings for the West Virginia Power before being injured, he showed a lot of promise with one of the best swinging strike rates(18.4%) in the SAL.

Ji-Hwan Bae 1-3, walk

Jack Herman: 1-3, home run(1), 2 walks

John Lantigua: 3-4

Fernando Villegas: 1-4, walk

Kyle Mottice: 2-4

--The DSL Pirates1(11-12) defeated the DSL Rangers 7-5. Bryan Torres threw six scoreless innings only allowing two hits while recording 3 strikeouts. Torres just turned 17 two months ago and has thrown 25 innings with a WHIP of .92. Rayvi Rodriguez was 4-4. Juan Pie was 1-4 on the day.

--The DSL Pirates2(11-12) beat the DSL Tiger2 9-4.

Pedro Castillo: 3-4, walk

Mattew Mercedes: 2-5, double

Juan Mena: 2-2, triple, 2 walks