This game was as great as it could pitting two teams that are having polar opposite seasons. The International League's best Indians and the struggling Louisville Bats went back and forth with a rediculous six different lead changes tonight. The Tribe found ways to capitalize on Louisville's four errors in the field and never rolled over when being behind. The "Hit Collector" Matt Hague's game tying seventh inning solo shot was the key turning point in the game. His fourth home run of the season made it 5-5 and the Indians would then tack on two more runs in the eighth to secure the win. The offensive star for the Indians was Chase d'Arnaud with a 4-for-5 night and his 23rd two-bagger of the season. This is coming at a time where d'Arnaud was hitting below the infamous Mendoza Line at .167. Recently acquired Dallas McPherson continued to get on base since joining the Indians, going 2-for-3 with two RBI. He's now 9-for-31 (.290) as a member of the Indians and will be a pivotal key to the Indians playoff push. The white hot Brock Holt actually showed his first signs of being human tonight as he went a depressing 0-for-4 with a walk. After tearing up the Eastern League with Altoona most of the season with a .322 average, Holt is now hitting .383 as a member of the Tribe.
As Pirates fans continue to clamor for his services, Chris Leroux, like Holt, showed that he is in fact human after being unhittable in early August. Tonight Leroux went only five and third innings and allowed five earned runs and struck out nine. This was by far his worst outing in the past two months. But the trio of Duke Welker, Jo-Jo Reyes, and Doug Slaten combined to have Leroux's back and throw five scoreless innings of relief. Reyes earned his sixth win of the season in two innings of relief and Slaten notched his 10th save on the season.
AA Altoona| Altoona 14 Trenton 2
The story tonight for Altoona was the performance of top prospect Gerrit Cole after the magnificent Double-A debut of Jameson Taillon last night. Cole struggled right from the get-go as he allowed two runs on three hits and a walk in the first inning. He labored the entire inning as the Trenton hitters were either getting on or working the counts, leading to Cole throwing 34 pitches. He did not allow another run for the rest of his three and a third innings of work, but his control was spotty with four free passes. He finished his night allowing those only two earned runs on five hits and four walks while striking out four. But luckily for Cole, Jason Townsend came in an locked down the Thunder lineup in four and a third flawless innings of long relief.
As Townsend grinded it out to help Cole, the Curve offense did the same and went on an absolute POWER SURGE with 14 runs on 14 hits. Every hitter in the Curve lineup but Drew Maggi managed to collect a hit. Surprisingly, the only home run hit for the Curve was Quincy Latimore's two-run shot in the fifth; his 15th on the year. Latimore finished his night 3-for-4 with a walk and four RBI. The other big offensive nights came on the shoulders of Ramon Cabrera, Stefan Welch, and Charles Cutler. The backstop Cabrera went 2-for-6 with two RBI and collected his 19th two-bagger of the season. Cutler also had himself a night going 2-for-6 with a two-bagger and his first "trip, trip, triple" on the season. The big Aussie Welch followed suit with two hits and joined the club with his 10th two-bagger on the season.
A West Virginia | West Virginia 5 Charleston 4
Jose Osuna helped walk it off in the ninth with a clutch one out base hit to score Alen Hanson to give the Power the 5-4 victory tonight. Power starter Zachary Fuesser struggled mightily in the sixth inning after breezing through his first five innings. But with the help of a big Taylor Lewis triple in the bottom half of the inning followed immediately by a Willy Garcia sac fly, Fuesser was let off the hook. Just like their fellow Pirates affiliates in the Curve and Indians, Rinku Singh and Orlando Castro saved the night with scoreless innings of relief. Jose Osuna collected his 35th double of the season and two RBI to go with his 3-for-4 night at the dish. Alen Hanson and Eric Avila each added two hits apeice as Hanson added his 32nd double of the season.
A Bradenton |Bradenton 2 Fort Myers 1
Kyle Kaminska, acquired from the Miami Marlins at the deadline with Gaby Sanchez, followed up his phenominal six inning no-hit shutout in his debut on August 17th with a brilliant follow-up outing. Tonight, he pitched seven innings and allowed just one run on six hits. As a member of the Marauders, the big righty has thrown 13 innings while allowing only six hits and one run with an 11:1 strikeout to walk ratio. Like a broken record, the Bradenton bullpen did their job as Jhonathan Ramos pitched a scoreless eighth and Doug Salinas picked up his ninth save of the season. The big moment for the Marauders came in the top half of the sixth, when Alex Dickerson added a big two-out base hit followed by a Justin Howard double. Then, Carlos Paulino's slow dribbler back to Fort Myers pitcher Tom Stuifbergen was a powder keg for a subsequent chain of events. Stuifbergen's throw pulled his first baseman off the bag and then the first baseman's throw to catch Justin Howard at third sailed by the third baseman. After being given a HUGE gift of two big errors by Fort Myers, the rest was history as Bradenton notched the nail-biting win.
A State College | State College 5 Auburn 4 (12 innings)
The Spikes completed the Minor League sweep for all of the Pirates affiliates and it did not come easy or was gift wrapped like Bradenton's victory. Starter Clario Perez put the boys of Happy Valley in an early rut, giving up four runs in the first three innings. On the other side of the ball, the Spikes bats could not figure out Auburn starter Nicholas Lee as they were held scoreless through seven. But the magical four-run crooked inning for the Spikes came in the eighth when Lee was gone. The always reliable top of the order trio of Jodaneli Carvajal, Walker Gourley, and D.J. Crumlich added consecutive base hits and Jacob Stallings drew a bases loaded walk to score Carvajal. Then, Samuel Gonzalez clubbed a clutch one out bases-clearing double to tie the game up at four. Logan Pevny, Josh Smith, Kyle Haynes, and Dalton Friend teamed up of the bullpen to hold down the fort during the extra innings to continue to system's trend of solid relief efforts.