Cannonballs Coming: Rodolfo Castro hits a pair of dingers

— Indianapolis (13-11) blew a lead in the ninth and lost to Columbus, 7-6. Indy couldn’t do much with sometime-major-leaguer Jefry Rodriguez, but jumped on the Columbus bullpen and took a 6-5 lead into the top of the ninth. Clay Holmes, however, gave up two runs in his second inning of work. He allowed two hits and two walks (one intentional), and struck out one. Holmes now has an ERA of 5.93, with 14 hits and 15 walks allowed in 13.2 IP. Some dubious strategery proved fatal; the potential go-ahead run got to second on defensive indifference with two outs, then scored on a single. Starter Eduardo Vera got hit hard again, allowing nine hits and five runs in six innings, with one walk and six strikeouts. Eric Wood hit his fourth home run. Jose Osuna moved his rehab to Indy, going 1-5 as the DH.

Kevin Newman: 1-4, 2B, BB
Ke’Bryan Hayes: 1-5, 3 K
Kevin Kramer: 0-3, BB

— Altoona (10-11) has faced some tough pitching in its current series with Erie. After getting no-hit by Casey Mize yesterday, though, the Curve finally broke through against Matt Manning, who threw seven one-hit innings at them earlier in the year. They had only one hit through five innings, but scored four in the sixth and went on to a 5-3 win. Altoona had only five hits, but four went for extra bases. Hunter Owen hit his seventh home run; Jared Oliva was 1-3 with a walk and a triple; and Bralin Jackson, who was 2-4, and Logan Hill had doubles. Scooter Hightower gave up two runs, one earned, in six innings. He allowed six hits and two walks, and struck out two. Blake Weiman retired all four batters he faced in relief, striking out three of them.

— Cody Bolton had another strong outing as Bradenton (17-8) trounced Jupiter, 8-1. Bolton gave up one run on four hits and a walk over six innings, fanning six. Hunter Stratton struck out another five in two innings of relief, with the only runner coming on an error. Much of the Marauders’ offense came against 2017 first-rounder Trevor Rogers, although Rogers hasn’t been all that effective as a pro. Cal Mitchell went 3-5 with three RBIs, and Travis Swaggerty was 2-4. He’s 9-for-18 in his last four games. Chris Sharpe, Robbie Glendinning and Daniel Amaral each had two hits.

Dylan Busby: 1-5, 2B
Deon Stafford: 0-5

— Greensboro (15-9) came from four runs down early to beat Rome, 9-7. Brad Case got off to a rough start, allowing four in the first, one of them unearned, but he breezed through five shutout innings after that. He gave up four hits in all, with no walks and three strikeouts, while throwing 61 of 82 pitches for strikes. Rodolfo Castro (pictured) went deep twice, giving him six on the year, all coming in his last seven games. Both blasts came off Trey Riley, who’s one of Atlanta’s better pitching prospects, although he’s more projection than performance at this stage. Castro finished 2-3 with three runs, four RBIs and a walk. He also suspiciously got hit by a pitch his last time up. Castro is now batting 258/324/645. Seldom-used Raul Siri had a home run, his first, and two doubles. Grant Koch was 2-4 with a double, a steal and three RBIs. After a very bad start to the season, Koch has gone 10-for-24 in his last six games.

Lolo Sanchez: 3-5, SB
Connor Kaiser: 0-4, 3 K
Mason Martin: 0-4, BB
Zack Kone: 2-3, 2 BB
Jonah Davis: 0-4, 2 BB
Braeden Ogle: IP, BB, K