In light of Alex Presley and McEffect favorite Kyle McPherson getting promotions to join the Pirates in Milwaukee tomorrow, the Indians still had matters to tend to in what was a tight knit game against Toledo. Despite only having six hits, with all of them coming from three guys, the Indians got the ball rolling early as ultra white hot Brock Holt lead off with his seventh two-bagger of the season and Matt Hague bringing him in two batters later. Toledo then countered with a two-run shot by Jerad Head in the third off of Indians starter Jo-Jo Reyes to tie the game up at two all. Down one, the Indians were able to tie it in the top half of the ninth with a clutch two out base hit by Christian Marrero to tie the game at four apiece. But the Mud Hens had their own answer with a crushing blow off the bat of Audy Ciriaco (YES he is the younger brother of current Red Sox and former Indianapolis/Pirates shortstop Pedro Ciriaco!!); a solo shot to give the Mud Hens the 5-4 victory in walk-off fashion. Now back to Brock Holt, who just continues to make Triple-A pitching look easy and dazzle at the plate, finished his night going 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Tonight was Holt's FOURTH STRAIGHT three-hit performance as he is an godly 12 for his last 18 at-bats. He has put up unfathomable hitting numbers in 23 games as a member of the Tribe: .440 (40-for-91)/.480/.549 with an unheard of 1.029 OPS. Duke Welker threw a scoreless fourth and fifth only allowing two hits and striking out two. Bryan Morris, who could be in line for a promotion come September first, got the ball in the sixth and allowed two unearned runs thanks to a Tony Sanchez throwing error to first on a dropped third strike. Justin Wilson threw a perfect seventh as he was very efficient striking out the side on only 11 pitches. trying to notch a rare six out save, Doug Slaten was pegged with his fourth loss of the season as he was the victim of Ciriaco's walk-off home run.
AA Altoona | Altoona 6 Akron 4
Altoona used a five-run second inning to get an early start on rival Akron and held on for dear life and withstood a late-inning rally to emerge victorious. Matt Curry was the Curve's offensive star in this one. Curry went 2-for-4 with an RBI and his 34th double of the season. Curry has a .832 OPS with 11 home runs and 76 RBIs as he rounds out his solid first full season in AA. Backup catcher Charlie Cutler also went 2-for-4, he's hitting .293 in 140 at-bats. Andrew Lambo hit his first triple of the year, Adalberto Santos singled, walked and stole his 16th base, and Jeremy Farrell added a double and a walk for Altoona. Santos has fallen off slightly in August after his flaming return from the disabled list in July, but "falling off" to Santos means only hitting .300 for the month. On the season, Santos is hitting .347 with an .878 OPS in 219 at-bats. Kris Johnson led the Curve pitching staff in averting trouble despite dealing with three errors by the defense, two on second baseman Kelson Brown. Johnson allowed two unearned runs and seven hits over five innings of work for his third Altoona win. Johnson walked two and struck out four. Hunter Strickland allowed two runs in 2.1 innings thanks to serving up five hits. He did fan two. Jeff Inman got out of a Strickland jam in the eighth and Victor Black struck out two in the ninth to earn his 11th save. Black did walk one, but his strikeout-to-walk ratio is still 85:29 for the year.
A West Virginia | Game 1: West Virginia 2 Charleston 7 | Game 2: West Virginia 7 Charleston 1
Game 1:
The Power split a doubleheader with Charleston in games that were nearly carbon copies of each other but flipped so that each team got a turn at winning. In Game 1, which was a continuation of a suspended game from Wednesday night's doubleheader, Charleston hurler Philip Wetherell combined with Brett Gerritse (who started the game Wednesday night) to no-hit the Power through six innings. But Jose Osuna singled to break up the no-hit bid, and Taylor Lewis later singled to drive in both Osuna and Dan Gamache. That's all West Virginia could muster offensively. Alen Hanson stole his 33rd base of the season. Zach Fuesser had pitched three shutout innings on Wednesday night as the starter and he was strong, striking out three and allowing two hits and one walk. But Pat Ludwig started today's action and allowed his first runs as a member of the Power. Ludwig gave up two runs in two innings, and Joan Montero blew the game open by giving up five runs and six hits in the bottom of the sixth. That rendered Lewis' two-RBI single useless in the seventh. As a funny side note, old McEffect alum Casey McGehee took part in this game, as he was demoted by the Yankees a two days ago for Steve Pearce and New York sent him all the way to Low-A. McGehee went 2-for-2 in the first game.
Game 2:
The second game however was a complete 180, as Power starter Mike Jefferson only allowed one hit through five innings against Charleston. However, Charleston's only run came on a leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth that ruined Jefferson's shutout. Jefferson still finished with his best start of the season, as he went six innings and gave up just two hits, one run and two walks with four strikeouts. The southpaw picked up his seventh win and lowered his ERA to 4.67 in the process. The powerful West Virginia tandem showed up in the nightcap, as Hanson and Gregory Polanco each produced a huge performance. Hanson went 2-for-2 with two walks, his 34th steal, 33rd double and 13th triple on the year. Polanco finished 2-for-4 and homered for the first time since missing two weeks with an ankle injury. The blast was Polanco's 16th for the Power. Hanson's OPS now stands at .922 while Polanco is just behind at .905. Lewis mirrored Hanson's output with a double and triple of his own in four at-bats. Eric Avila and Francisco Diaz also doubled for West Virginia, as seven of the team's eight hits in Game 2 went for extra bases. McGehee didn't have as much luck in the second game, he finished 0-for-2 with a walk for Charleston.
A Bradenton | Bradenton 1 St. Lucie 5
The Marauders played sloppy in the field and looked sloppy at the plate in a listless loss to St. Lucie. Bradenton committed four errors that led to four unearned runs that the pitching staff couldn't overcome. Kenn Kasparek allowed the only earned run over six innings and gave up three total. He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out one. Aaron Pribanic followed with his first rehab outing in Bradenton after missing most of Altoona's season. Pribanic was wild with the GCL Pirates during the first part of his rehab and that continued tonight over his 1.2 innings. Pribanic walked four and gave up two hits, but both of the two runs he allowed were unearned. Andy Vasquez, who started in right field and collected two of the Marauders' six hits, pitched and recorded the final out on the mound. Carlos Paulino's fourth home run of 2012 accounted for Bradenton's only run and extra-base hit. Vasquez stole his seventh base of the year, but two other Marauders were thrown out trying to steal. Alex Dickerson went 0-for-4.
A State College | Game 1: State College 4 Jamestown 2 | Game 2: State College 1 Jamestown 2
Game 1:
In what was a shaky start for the young Mexican phenom Luis Heredia, the Spikes hitters were able to establish an early lead and later tack on enough insurance. It all started with Jesus Vazquez's big two-out, two-run single that plated Walker Gourley and Jacob Stallings. The Jammers were able to get a run off the big young righty Heredia in the first on a two-out double by Sharif Outman. Then the Spikes raised the Jammers with a two-bagger of their own off the bat of Jared Lakind that scored the Pride of Peters Township Jimmy Rider and made it a 3-2 game. That ended being all the Spikes needed as Josh Smith notched his second win and Kyle Haynes his seventh save. Heredia finished his night not being able to get through five full innings and earn the win as he exited the game with two outs and runners on the corners. His final line in four and two-thirds was two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out only two.
Game 2:
Now Game 2 was not as magical and jolly for the boys from Happy Valley. Just like their parent club the Pirates had done A LOT in April, May and most of August, they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position in Game 2. Despite a fantastic start by Dalton Friend, only allowing one hit in the third, the lineup could not come up in big situations. The Spikes had key opportunities early on such as Eric Wood striking out looking with runners on first and second in the first inning. Then in the second, Walker Gourley struck out swining with Jesus Vazquez on third and Jared Lakind on first. Their only run was weak and came via a wild pitch by Jamestown reliever Beau Wright. That is when you know you did not do enough offensively when your only run came on a wild pitch and you still could not win even with a great pitching performance. Friend's only blimp on the radar was the two unearned runs he allowed in the fifth after shortstop Chris Diaz committed his 16th error of the season. The top of the order in Walker Gourley, Chris Diaz, D.J. Crumlich and Samuel Gonzalez each had one hit. Eric Wood and Dilson Herrera made their Spikes debuts tonight after being called up from the recently crowned Gulf Coast League Champion Pirates. Both went 0-for-3 in their debuts.