Cannonballs coming: Bombs and Brubaker give Indianapolis a win

One news item: Pirates Prospects is reporting that the Pirates are sending shortstop Ji-Hwan Bae to Greensboro. I don’t think they’d send him there if he wasn’t going to play regularly. The current starter at short is last year’s third round pick, Connor Kaiser, who’s batting .100 with no extra base hits.

— Indianapolis (3-3) rode three longballs and a good start by J.T. Brubaker (pictured) to a 4-3 win over Toledo in an empty ballpark. Brubaker gave up a run in six innings on five hits and a walk, while fanning seven. Cole Tucker, Bryan Reynolds and Will Craig all went deep, the second for Tucker and Reynolds, and fourth for Craig. Tucker finished 3-5, Craig 1-2 with two walks, and Reynolds 2-4. Elias Diaz caught seven innings and went 1-3 with an RBI double. The Indians could have scored more, but pulled off the two-men-on-third trick to botch a rally in the ninth. A very wild Jesus Liranzo struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth, but gave up two runs on two hits, a walk and three wild pitches.

Ke’Bryan Hayes: 1-4, BB
Kevin Kramer: 1-4, 2B

— Altoona (5-2) lost to Erie, 5-1. The Curve ran into the Tigers’ #2 prospect, Matt Manning, and he blew them away. Over seven innings he allowed one hit and no walks, and fanned ten. The only Altoona run came on an Arden Pabst sacrifice fly in the eighth. Singles by Hunter Owen and Mitchell Tolman were the only Altoona hits on the day. Dario Agrazal got hit hard again, allowing four runs on 11 hits in six innings.

Angel German: IP, R, BB
Jacob Brentz: IP, K

— Bradenton (5-2) eked out a 2-1 win over Charlotte in ten innings. Jesse Medrano got the fake runner in from third with a bunt single for a walkoff win. Aaron Shortridge allowed a run on seven hits over six innings. He walked none and struck out three. The Marauders had only four hits, with Lucas Tancas going 2-4 with a pair of doubles. Gregory Polanco played nine innings in right and went 0-3 with a walk. Dovydas Neverauskas had a quick inning with one strikeout. Joel Cesar kept the fake runner from scoring in his one inning to get the win. Travis Swaggerty appeared only on defense in the tenth after replacing Polanco.

Cal Mitchell: 1-4
Oneil Cruz: 0-2, BB, SB

— Greensboro (3-4) got only three hits in a 5-0 loss to Hickory. Steven Jennings breezed through the first four innings, but gave up three in the fifth. He finished with five hits and a walk allowed through five innings, with four strikeouts. The Grasshoppers whiffed 16 times. Mason Martin was 1-4 with a double, and was the only hitter not to strike out.

Brett Kinneman: 0-3, BB, 3 K
Rodolfo Castro, Lolo Sanchez: both 0-3
Conner Loeprich: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Nick Mears: 2 IP, 4 K