Cannonballs coming: Indianapolis loses ground in playoff chase

— Indianapolis (70-64) dropped out of a first place tie by losing to Toledo, 4-2. The Indians lead Toledo by half a game in the wild card chase, with two other teams within a game and a half. J.T. Brubaker gave up two runs, both unearned, in six innings. He allowed six hits and two walks, and struck out four. Damien Magnifico and A.J. Schugel combined to give up the two losing runs in the eighth. Clay Holmes pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out one. Jacob Stallings went 3-4 with a double and Kevin Kramer 2-4. Max Moroff was 1-3 with a walk, while Jordan Luplow, Jose Osuna and Jason Martin all went 1-4.

— Altoona (74-58) lost to Trenton, 8-1. Cam Vieaux had an OK start, fanning eight in five innings, but also giving up eight hits and three runs. Cole Tucker, who went 1-3 with a walk, led off the bottom of the first with his fifth home run, but that was all the Altoona scoring. Ke’Bryan Hayes was 2-4 and Will Craig 1-4.

— Bradenton (55-70) came back to tie its game, 1-1, on a two-out single by Bligh Madris in the top of the ninth, but the Marauders lost to Fort Myers, 2-1, in ten innings. Pedro Vasquez, who’s been struggling since his demotion from Altoona, gave up one run in six innings. He allowed five hits and a walk, and struck out four. Bret Pope went 3-3 with a double and a walk, and Madris finished 2-5. Jared Oliva was 1-5.

— West Virginia (68-59) beat Hagerstown, 5-2. Oddy Nunez allowed two runs on two hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out four. Twenty-fourth round draft pick Cam Alldred made his full season debut with two scoreless innings. Cam Mitchell went 2-4 and Robbie Glendinning 2-3. Deon Stafford hit his 11th home run. Travis Swaggerty continued to be overmatched against South Atlantic League pitching. He went 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts, and is now batting .111. He’s whiffed 15 times in 45 at-bats, while drawing two walks.

— Morgantown (28-42) lost to Auburn, 8-4. Zach Spears continued to struggle, giving up five runs, four earned, on eight hits and three walks in four and two-thirds innings. Zack Kone went 2-3 with a double and a walk.

— Bristol (31-36) got three runs without a hit in the sixth inning and went on to beat Danville, 4-2. The Pirates did better not swinging the bat; they had ten hits, but went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Their big inning resulted from three walks, a hit batsman, a wild pitch and a passed ball. Starter Colin Selby went six, giving up a run on two hits and two walks. He struck out five. Chase Lambert and Dean Lockery each went 2-3 with a walk. Victor Ngoepe was 2-5.