Before we get to the breakdown of tonight's tough Indians loss to the Charlotte Knights, lets congratulate Indianapolis righty Rick VandenHurk. Like A.J. Burnett and Jameson Taillon, VandenHurk was named the International League's Pitcher of the Week for the week of July 30th to August 5th. In both of his starts he notched a win to bring his record to 11-3 on the season. The big Dutch righty had seven strikeouts in both outings and just three walks over 13 innings pitched.
As for tonight's game, the Indians were not able to muster up any offense to back up the magnificent outing by Chris Leroux. Both teams were able to claw together three hits with Chase d'Arnaud, Matt Hague, and Christian Marrero collecting the only hits for the Indians. The only run of the game for the Knights came via an RBI base hit off the bat of designated hitter Greg Golson. Back to Leroux, who had an A.J. Burnett July 31st-esque start (his near no-hitter against the Cubs). The only hit allowed came against his third batter of the game in the first inning, Conor Jackson. From then on out, he was completely flawless for six more innings while striking out five. In what may have been a head scratcher to pull the dealing Leroux, he still is on his rehab start. He threw 75 pitches in seven innings of work, so not stretching him past his limit was probably expected. But big poppa Jose Diaz came in for relief in the 8th and was unfortunately the victim of allowing the only run and getting the loss.
AA Altoona | Altoona 7 Bowie 8
Red-hot Phil Irwin had the unfamiliar task of entering tonight's game as a reliever even though he did pitch a bulk of Altoona's loss to Bowie. However, the team probably wished he pitched more in the game because he was the only pitcher to keep the Bowie offense in check. Irwin entered the game in the second inning because Juan Cruz started the affair for his first rehab appearance. Unfortuately, Cruz was awful, getting only one batter out and allowing two runs on four hits. He didn't even make it out of the inning and Nate Baker had to clean up the mess. But Irwin entered and settled things down, going five strong innings while giving up two hits, two walks, one run and striking out three. Irwin was in line for the win thanks to a 6-run Altoona bottom of the first, but recent Miami acquisition Kyle Kaminska gave up three runs in 1.1 innings, and Victor Black had his second straight poor outing by giving up two runs for the blown save and the loss. Black allowed only two hitters to reach base on a walk and a hit, but that hit was a home run and he also threw two wild pitches to lead to the other run. Black's two bad games in a row ballooned his ERA to a still-low 2.05. Matt Curry, Stefan Welch and Ramon Cabrera paced the Curve's offensive effort with two hits apiece. Curry doubled and tripled, Welch doubled and singled and Cabrera singled twice and walked. Cabrera's average is up to .259 on the year thanks to a slash line of .367/.513/.433 in his last ten games with a 9:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Adalberto Santos went 1-for-4 with his 13th steal and is now hitting .385.
A West Virginia | West Virginia 5 Lakewood 8
Despite an early 5-0 lead after four innings, Ryan Hafner continued to be shaky out of the bullpen tonight and cost the Power another loss. Starter Mike Jefferson left the night with a 5-2 lead only allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits in five innings. But as previously mentioned, Ryan Hafner had himself another rough night on the bump. He came in for the sixth and was only able to get one out while getting tossed around like a rag doll by the Blue Claws lineup. His night ended with five earned runs to his name and getting tagged with his ninth loss of the season, putting him at 0-9 on the season.
Dan Gamache continued to be white hot in the month of August as he went 2-for-4 and clubbed his fourth long ball of the season. Gamache is now 10-for-22 (.455) with four doubles, one home run, six RBI, and an .864 slugging percentage in August. It was two-bagger city for the Power tonight as they collectively hit five off Lakewood pitching. Chris Lashmet hit numbers six and seven, Alen Hanson number 29, Willy Garcia number 16, and Francisco Diaz number seven. Francisco Diaz, Chris Lashmet, and Ashley Ponce all had two hits tonight and Diaz is now 9 for his last 12 at-bats (.750). With your daily Alen Hanson update, he was 1-for-5 with two RBI and his average now sits at .315 on the season. Gregory Polanco had a very rare day off.
A Bradenton
The Marauders had an off day today as they begin a six game road trip against the Charlotte Stone Crabs and the Palm Beach Cardinals. They are currently riding a two game winning streak after 2-0 and 10-7 wins against the Palm Beach Cardinals. Marauders starter and top Pirates prospect Jameson Taillon was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season. The young righty threw 12 scoreless innings during the week while only allowing four hits. The Marauders will have southpaw Eliecer Navarro take the bump tomorrow bringing his 4-5 record and a 3.22 ERA.
A State College | State College 1 Aberdeen 4
The Spikes' bats fell completely quiet against 2012 fourth overall pick Kevin Gausman and company. This happened to be Gausman's professional debut, too. State College collected only two hits and scored its only run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Samuel Gonzalez. Jesus Vasquez scored after leading off the eighth with a double and stealing third later in the inning. Like Vasquez, Jimmy Rider also doubled for the only other Spikes hit. Vasquez and Rider were both called up from the GCL Pirates last week, and the doubles were their first for State College. Spikes starter Clario Perez got off to a rough start by allowing three runs in the top of the first, but calmed down after that and didn't give up any more runs over his next four innings. Perez's final line in five innings was eight hits, three runs, no walks and four strikeouts. Josh Smith did give up a run in 1.1 innings, but Pat Ludwig held Aberdeen scoreless over the final 2.2 frames with three strikeouts and only one hit allowed. Ludwig, the Pirates' 10th-round pick in this year's draft, lowered his ERA to a solid 1.31.