Just like their major league squad, the Indians brought their bats with them to Louisville this weekend (no small feat since Louisville's name is the Bats, well that's two terrible puns in two days so I'll just move on) and destroyed their International League opponents on Saturday by a touchdown. The Indians pounded out 13 hits, all by the top five players in the batting order. Jeff Clement and Starling Marte continued their respective pushes for promotions to the big leagues with huge days. Clement hit his 10th home run of the season and tripled to raise his average to .297 and OPS to .898. Marte finished his torrid June with three more hits, all singles. Marte's June numbers look National League-ready: .325 average, 4 home runs, 28 RBI, 10 walks (!!!!!!) and a .944 OPS. We might as well just get the #MarteWatch trend started. Also, Matt Hague, who has played mostly third base since getting sent down earlier this week, homered for the second time this season and also had three hits. Gorkys Hernandez recorded a double among his three hits to raise his season average to .278. And Chase d'Arnaud, who has mostly struggled all season long, connected with two hits and stole his 20th base in 20 attempts. No other Indian player recorded a hit. The notable omission remains Tony Sanchez, whose 0-for-4 performance dropped his AAA average to .180 in 61 at-bats. Regardless, veteran Daniel Cabrera silenced the Louisville bats (Bats?) by giving up only one run over six innings of work. He struck out five. Evan Meek did give up two runs in an inning of relief, raising his ERA on the season to 2.45.
AA Altoona | Altoona 8 Binghamton 2
The Curve roughed up top New York Mets prospect Zack Wheeler for six earned runs in 6.2 innings to achieve the victory. Matt Curry again was the star, whacking two doubles as part of his three hits and two RBIs on the day to raise his season average to .302. Brock Holt, Stefan Welch and recent waiver addition from Boston Oscar Tejeda all had two hits apiece. Holt is knocking down the door of Indianapolis, hitting nearly .400 in June. Welch's average is up to .391 and his OPS to 1100 after his two singles and two walks. Tim Alderson earned the victory with a solid six innings of two-run ball. He gave up five hits, walked two and struck out two. Mike Colla pitched the final three innings for the save.
A West Virginia | Delmarva 9 West Virginia 3
Alen Hanson and Gregory Polanco couldn't save the Power against Delmarva today, although each recorded a hit. The problem was that the rest of the team combined for only two more hits in the 9-3 drubbing. All four Power hits were singles, with Willy Garcia and Dan Gamache providing the help. Despite Hanson's 1-for-5 night, he's still hitting .444 and an OPS of 1340 in his last ten games, and bounced back nicely in June overall after an average May. Polanco did steal three bases, giving him 25 on the year to go with his 11 home runs thus far. Nick Kingham had another disappointing start, giving up five runs with four walks and four strikeouts in five innings.
A Bradenton | Palm Beach 6 Bradenton 2
While the Pirates' two affiliates followed in the footsteps of their big brother, Bradenton looked more like a Pittsburgh Sunday lineup from 2008 with Luis Rivas and Chris Gomez in it. The Marauders only scored two runs on four hits and fell to Palm Beach. Colton Cain showed mixed results through 5.1 innings, giving up three runs and a home run but walking two and striking out seven hitters. After a rough April, Cain is slowly turning things around. He's now allowed 4 runs in his last 17 innings, spanning three starts. Cain exited this game down 3-0 in the sixth innings, but Bradenton added two runs in the bottom of the seventh on catcher Kawika Emsley-Pai's (I know, great name right? Too bad he's a backup high-A catcher) first home run of the season. But Kenn Kasparek continued to get bombed out of the bullpen and gave up 3 runs in the top of the ninth to seal the game for Palm Beach. Kasparek's ERA is up to 8.59 since he was signed as a minor league free agent last month. Dan Grovatt, Gift Ngoepe, and Elevys Gonzalez, who is heating up finally since his demotion from Altoona, had the only other hits for the Marauders.
A State College | Mahoning Valley 3 State College 1
This was a hard knock life for the boys of Centre County. They combined for only four hits on the night with D.J. Crumlich, Jacob Stallings, Ryan Hornback and Walker Gourley being the cogs of the lackluster offense. The Spikes combined for seven whiffs as a team and also were not able to capitalize with runners in scoring position, going 0 for 4. 2011 seventh-round pick Jake Burnette rolled after a shaky first inning by allowing a tater with two outs. He was pegged his second loss in only his third start of the season, surrendering five hits and two earned runs in five innings of work. So there was no joy in State College, the mighty Spikes have bowed out. The show goes on.