Welp, if you are a baseball purist who drools over the pitchers duel, this battle royale would have been right up your alley. Efficiency was the name of the game for the most part tonight. Both starters went the distance at Victory Field in Indianapolis as the Indians offense was bone dry. Daniel Cabrera was efficient all night as he only threw 97 pitches and allowed two earned runs on six hits and two free passes. He kept the Tribe in the game all night getting the Clippers hitters to ground out 13 times on the night. But the big blow came in the top of 4th as Clippers right fielder Vinny Rottino touched up Cabrera for a solo shot and put the Clippers up 2-0. The only hits on the board for the Tribe were singles by Chase d'Arnaud and Tony Sanchez. Jose Tabata does not look to be improving as he struck out twice with his average now sitting at .242 in 33 at-bats.
AA Altoona | Altoona 0 Akron 3
Well what do you know, the Curve decided to follow suit with the Indianapolis Indians and decided not to hit the ball tonight either. Pirate Minor League fans were definitely seeing double vision as the two highest affiliates both went on a power outage. The Curve only gathered three hits on the night and struck out eight times as a team. All-Stars Brock Holt and Ramon Cabrera had a hit apiece as Adalberto Santos collected the third and final hit on the night. Oscar Tejada, Matt Curry, and Jarek Cunningham each struck out twice
In his fifth start since returning from injury, Kyle McPherson had a decent start on the bump to at least keep the Curve within striking distance. He lasted six innings while allowing three runs on eight hits including a tater in the two-run 4th inning for the Zips. His stuff had to have been at least decent as he allowed only one free pass while striking out seven. Nathan Baker bounced back from his first and only awful outing in relief this season with two flawless shutout innings.
A West Virginia | Game 1: West Virginia 6 Rome 1, Game 2: West Virginia 9 Rome 0
Game 1:
The story in Game 1 was the great performance on the hill by Power southpaw Zack Dodson. He was "racing and pacing and plotting his course" (quote from "The Distance by Cake) as he hurled a complete game while the offense took the reigns for the night. Dodson notched his fourth victory of the season finishing the night giving up only one run on four hits. Offensively, the Power banded together to collect ten hits as a team to counter Dodson's terrific night. Taylor Lewis, Gregory Polanco, Chris Lashmet, and Jose Osuna each went 2-for-4 at the dish as Osuna mashed his eighth dinger of the season. While it is not Billy Hamilton-esque by any means, Polanco also swiped his 30 bag of the season. Alen Hanson had a very "Alen Hanson-like" night going 0-for-3 and was 2 for his last 13 plate appearances after Game 1. Willy Garcia laid a big egg at the dish, going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts.
Game 2: As was the case in Game 1 with Zack Dodson's performance, a trio of arms got the job done for the Power for a combined shutout. Mike Jefferson got the ball rolling with five near flawless innings with his only blemishes being two hits. This was without a doubt Jefferson's best start of the season as he notched his third victory. Robert Kilcrease came in and did what has become very common this season as he threw another scoreless inning in relief. Joan Montero then came to mop it up in the 7th for another scoreless frame.
As for the bats, what else was knew in this game. Another "broken record" game, eh? You picked Hanson and Polanco to have good games again? Yeah we did not see that one coming! But Hanson resorted back to his normal ways, going 3-for-4 with his 27th double of the season. Polanco added another two-hit performance in Game 2 coupled with RBI numbers 55, 56, and 57 on the season. In addition, he added two more stolen bases to give him 32 on the season. Francisco Diaz also went 2-for-4 at the plate while Jose Osuna, Junior Sosa, and Ashley Ponce each had a base hit.
A Bradenton | Bradenton vs. Brevard County PPD
The Marauders and Brevard County Manatees tonight game was postponed due to rain. The game will be made up tomorrow (July 14th) in a doublehader starting at 5 PM.
A State College | State College 11 Staten Island 2
The young Mexican wonder kid struck again tonight with the help of the thunderous Spikes offense to complete the three-game sweep of Staten Island. As the prized arm of 17 year old Luis Heredia continued to be efficient as it has all season the bats followed suit with 13 hits. Heredia notched his first professional win of his career to improve his record to 1-1 on the young season. The massive Mexican right-hander now has a 1.13 ERA in 24 innings after surrendering one miniscule earned run in five innings tonight. While he had a solid outing, tonight's was not vintage Heredia. He allowed three free passes, the most in a start this season for him, and struck out none. In his four previous starts he struck out 4, 3, 3, 4, respectively.
With the sticks, every Spikes starter other than lead-off man Tyler Gaffney was able to collect at least one hit. Known primarily for his defensive prowess behind the dish and not his bat, Jacob Stallings led the cavalry charge. He had his best professional game at the plate going 4-for-5 with two "two-baggers" and two RBI. D.J. Crumlich, the Spikes version of the "Hit Collector", continued his outstanding first year of professional ball (.324 average) with a 2-for-4 night. Walker Gourley also added two hits and do-it-all center fielder Barrett Barnes went 1-for-3 with a walk.