The Indians not only beat up on the Bats but they popped the bubbly and clinched the International League division title and a playoff spot with still almost two weeks left in the season. There were several key contributors to the clinching victory tonight, with hurler Phil Irwin topping the list. Irwin, making just his second start in AAA, gave up a run in the first inning and then kept Louisville off the board for the following five frames. Irwin's final line stands at six innings, five hits, one run, one walk and nine strikeouts. Irwin has a 2.70 ERA in those two starts and he's fanned 17 and walked three in his 10 innings thus far. Justin Wilson finally had his first outing in relief and pitched a scoreless eighth inning with a hit allowed, a walk and a strikeout. Tim Wood didn't get a save but did pitch the ninth without letting a run score. He did give up a hit and two walks. The offense provided enough thunder throughout the lineup to keep the Bats far away from a comeback. Chase d'Arnaud paced the club by hitting his fifth home run, his second in three nights, as part of a 2-for-3, one-walk day. d'Arnaud's main value this year has come from the stolen base with 31 in 35 attempts, so he's likely to see a September callup to the Pirates despite a disappointing offensive campaign as a whole thanks to a .237 average and .681 OPS. Tony Sanchez went 2-for-4 with a double, his 10th, and two RBIs, and Matt Hague also collected two hits. Sanchez threw out a runner stealing as well. Brock Holt, who has been on fire since his promotion from Altoona, did not start but did pinch-hit and went 0-for-1.
AA Altoona| Altoona 2 Richmond 1
Tyler Waldron made his fourth start as a member of the Curve since being promoted from Bradenton. He gave up his one and only earned run early in the first, but settled down the rest of game. He pitched a scoreless four and two-thirds before handing the ball over to Mike Colla in the sixth. Waldron finished his night only allowing one earned run on six hits and two walks while striking out five. Mike Colla then bridged the gap to closer Vic Black by tossing a scoreless sixth, seventh, and eighth. Then Black drove the nail in the coffin like usual with two strikeouts to pick up his ninth save. Black, the power righty, has dominated out of the pen this season with 80 strikeouts in 55.1 innings.
In what was a real nail-biter, both Altoona and Richmond were scattering base runners instead of getting them in bunches. Ramon Cabrera's clutch two-out game tying double in the fifth helped get Tyler Waldron off the hook after his great outing. Then to begin the sixth, Matt Curry came up big with a lead off two-bagger; his 33rd of the season. Oscar Tejada followed Curry with a base hit and the big Aussie Stefan Welch fundamentally put the ball in play to vault the Curve to a 2-1 lead.
Pirates Rule Five pick Gustavo Nunez continued his rehab assignment after being on the 60-day DL due to an ankle injury. He made his first appearance as a member of the Curve in the lead-off spot but finished his night 0-for-4 at the dish. Nunez currently sits at a .269 average (7-for-26) during his rehab assignment with the GCL Pirates, Bradenton Marauders, and now the Curve.
A West Virginia | West Virginia 3 Hickory 4
Eric Avila and Elias Diaz were the only noteworthy stories offensively for the Power as they combined to strikeout ten times as a team. The third baseman Avila, who's currently swinging a hot stick as of late, went 2-for-4 tonight with his tenth blast of the season. In his last five games, Avila is hitting 8-for-20 (.400) with three home runs and nine RBI. Avila's recent production offensively has helped to slightly close the void left without Gregory Polanco in the lineup. Backstop Elias Diaz also added two hits tonight, adding his 14th double of season.
The big righty Zack Von Rosenberg had a solid outing on the hill but the big error and eventual turning point in the game by Dan Gamache in the fourth led to three unearned runs by the Crawdads. Von Rosenberg ended his night only allowing one earned run on seven hits and two walks while striking out only two. Joan Montero threw a scoreless three innings of relief as did Pat Ludwig in the ninth.
A Bradenton |Bradenton 3 Fort Myers 7
Marauders starter Eliecer Navarro was shelled for five runs on eight hits and two walks in four innings as Bradenton dropped the rubber match against the Miracle. Fort Myers got to Navarro right off the bat as they put a crooked three runs on the board in the first. Matt Benedict also continued his struggles out of the pen as he surrendered two earned runs in four innings of long relief and now owns an abysmal 9.29 ERA. Kirk Singer had himself a night as he went 3-for-4 at the plate. Benji Gonzalez hit his 11th two-bagger of the season while Alex Dickerson went 1-for-4 and is now hitting .302.
A State College | State College 3 Auburn 6
The Spikes' freefall rolled on as they could not hold an early 2-0 lead earned on the heels of a two-run first inning. State College was actually up 3-0 after scoring an additional run in the top of the fourth, but starter Adrian Sampson allowed two runs in the bottom of the inning. Sampson held Auburn in check from there, but Thomas Harlan blew up in the seventh inning and allowed three runs on five hits after Kevin Kleis walked a batter with one out and that run came across as well. Sampson had an average start, allowing two runs, four hits, two walks and four strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Kleis pitched two hitless innings but his walk after getting the first batter of the seventh to ground out proved to be his only earned run. Jesus Vasquez hit his fifth home run of the State College season in the top of the fourth. The solo job pushed the Spikes ahead 3-0. Vasquez went 2-for-4 and he's now hitting .241 as a Spike. Samuel Gonzalez and Chris Diaz each had two hits, while Jodaneli Carvajal, Walker Gourley and Jared Lakind all doubled. Every Spikes starter had at least one hit except for the ninth batter, Yhonathan Barrios. State College had been having trouble recording hits of late so this was a surge in the right direction, but nonetheless not enough runners crossed the plate.