Cannonballs Coming: Solid outing for Cody Bolton

One news item: Oneil Cruz is out with “lower body discomfort.” He’s expected back soon. That probably means very soon. The team could have put him on the minor league seven-day injured list, effective April 14, but instead reassigned him to extended spring training to create roster space for Nick Franklin. That should mean they expect him back, or at least hope to see him back, before he would have returned from the IL.

One other note: I’m going to start trying more to point out when the opposing starters in these games are real prospects.

Indianapolis was rained out, which I hate because they’ve been a lot of fun to report on lately.

— Altoona (6-8) lost to Richmond, 8-4. Scooter Hightower gave up five runs, four earned, in four innings. The Curve, who evidently have hired Andy LaRoche to be their baserunning coach, engaged in some fascinating basepath antics. They managed to get one runner picked off and another thrown out stealing on the same play. Not satisfied with that, they ended the game by getting a runner thrown out at the plate, trying to score from second on a single while down by four runs. Arden Pabst went 2-4 with a double and a triple, Stephen Alemais 2-5, and Logan Hill 2-3.

Jared Oliva: 1-4, 2B, 3 K
Angel German: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, BB, 3 K, 2 HR

— Bradenton (10-5) beat Jupiter, 3-2, on a walkoff single by Lucas Tancas in the bottom of the tenth. Cody Bolton is fast becoming the pitcher to watch in the system below AAA. He had a shaky first inning today, although a two-out error by Nick Franklin prolonged it. (Franklin also went 0-5 with four strikeouts.) Bolton recovered after that, eventually coming out after five innings, as he got up to 84 pitches. He allowed an unearned run on four hits and two walks, and struck out three. Luis Escobar followed with two scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out two; he has yet to allow a run this year. The Marauders managed six hits in five innings off Will Stewart, a pretty good prospect obtained by the Marlins for J.T. Realmuto, but got only one run out of it. That came on Chris Sharpe’s second home run. Bradenton took a 2-1 lead into the top of the ninth, but Joel Cesar gave up a leadoff home run to blow the save.* That turned out to be the only baserunner Cesar allowed in three innings. He fanned four. Travis Swaggerty continued to struggle, going 0-5 with two strikeouts to drop his average to .180.

Cal Mitchell: 2-5, 2B, BB
Tancas: 2-5
Sharpe: 2-4
Daniel Amaral: 2-3, BB, batting .412

*The bottom of the ninth was aggravating to watch. Amaral led off with a walk on pitches mostly way out of the strike zone. Swaggerty naturally went up to bunt, because The Book. The pitcher being very wild, he got to a 3-1 count, then fouled off a bunt attempt on ball four. He then took a third strike, with Amaral stealing second. Then Amaral got thrown out trying to steal third and Franklin struck out.

— Greensboro (7-8) lost to Delmarva, 6-1. Delmarva is now 12-1. Starter Brad Case gave up three runs on eight hits and a walk in five innings. He walked one and struck out two. Braeden Ogle, who threw only three innings in his last start, pitched an inning in relief and gave up three runs on a double and two longballs. The Grasshoppers couldn’t do much with Grayson Rodriguez, who’s one of Baltimore’s top prospects. The first five hitters in their order went 0-for-15. Rodolfo Castro went 3-3 and provided the only run with his first home run.

Connor Kaiser: 0-4, BB, 3 K
Jonah Davis: 0-4, batting .083
Mason Martin: 0-4
Lolo Sanchez: 1-4
Nick Mears: 2 IP, H, BB, 3 K