Rick VandenHurk continued his outstanding performance on the bump for the Indians as he notched his 8th win of the season to stay unbeaten on the season and complete the four-game sweep of the Louisville Bats. He gave up two runs and struck out six batters in six innings. What was most impressive was the Louisville Bats lineup was chalk full of former big leaguers such as Corky Miller, Joey Gathright, Dioner Navarro, Willie Harris, and Paul Janish. Jordy Mercer and Yamaico Navarro each went Yakity Yak and belted home runs while combining to collect all five RBI for the surging Indians. Navarro finished the night 3-for-4 with three RBI and Mercer 2-for-3 with two RBI. They definitely had that “Boom, Boom, Pow” going tonight (boooo, very punny). Chris Leroux came in relief and threw a scoreless seventh and eighth to continue his rehab for his strained right pectoral muscle. The Indians are now on an impressive seven game winning streak and finish their home-at-home series with the Bats by traveling back home for two games against them. Now let’s not forget the usual Starling Marte alert since apparently his call-up to the show is imminent. Marte finished the night 1-for-4 with a walk and made his second consecutive start in right field, which has given Pirate fans the thought that his arrival is imminent given the temporary vacancy. His average is now at .290 on the season. What was most impressive was his eight game multi-hit streak came to an abrupt end tonight against the Bats. What a streak it was, going 18-for-37 (.486 average) with an incredible eight extra base hits (three HR, three 2B, two 3B) and 14 RBI.
AA Altoona | Binghamton 3 Altoona 2
In what was a rather lackadaisical performance by the Curve offense tonight, guess who was pretty much the only contributor? If you guessed Robbie Grossman, congratulations you get a free ride on the roller coaster beyond the right field fence at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Yeah, right! Anyway, Grossman had a great night at the dish, going 3-for-4 and putting his average at .254 on the season. Brandon Cumpton threw five solid innings of work and only allowed one run on four hits and paved the way for Logan Kensing, who threw a scoreless 8th inning of relief. Jeff Inman came in to try and hold down the fort for the save, but blew the one-run lead by giving up two runs on two hits and two walks.
A West Virginia | Delmarva 7 West Virginia 3
Ryan Hafner continued to get pummeled in low-A and the Power bats were mostly silent despite home runs from Alen Hanson and Jose Osuna. Hafner couldn't get out of the first inning and only recorded one out. Hafner allowed three hits and walked two batters before Mike Jefferson relieved to clean up the mess. Hafner was only charged with two runs, but West Virginia never saw the lead again after Hanson's leadoff homer, his 14th of the season. Hafner's ERA rose to 6.80. Osuna finished 2-for-4 and his fourth-inning blast was his sixth of the season. Francisco Aponte also doubled for the Power.
A Bradenton | Bradenton 3 Charlotte 2
The Marauders employed some Clint Hurdle-like small ball to come out on top against Charlotte. In the bottom of the seventh with the game tied 1-1, Carlos Mesa was hit by a pitch and bunted over to second. Benji Gonzalez singled Mesa to third, and Mesa scored on another single by Gift Ngoepe. Kirk Singer then connected on a sacrifice fly to score Gonzalez. Singer's RBI turned out to be the difference, as Jhonathan Ramos earned the victory despite allowing a solo home run in the eighth to cut the lead to 3-2. Matt Benedict finally pitched well for Bradenton in his third high-A start, going six innings and giving up one unearned run and only allowed two hits and one walk. He struck out two. Alex Dickerson went 1-for-3 and hit his 16th double of the season.
A State College | Batavia 6 State College 2
Not to be confused with seeing Haley's Comet, a State College Spike homered today! The honor went to Samuel Gonzalez, who is actually repeating the level after catching last season and moved to the infield this year to increase his value. Anyway, the sixth-inning shot was not just his first of the season, but the first for anyone on the team in the 16th game of the season. Alas, the Spikes didn't do much else offensively against Batavia. Gonzalez's 2-run blast tied the game at 2-2, but Thomas Harlan and Logan Pevny combined to give up 4 runs in the eighth inning. Harlan suffered the loss. Starter Jason Creasy struck out six in five innings, while giving up two runs on four hits and a walk. Gonzalez and Ryan Hornback finished with two hits apiece and Rodarrick Jones doubled. Hornback's 2-for-4 day upped his average to .318 and his OPS to .780 on the season.