Come on ride the train.....and ride it! No matter how hard you try, you can't stop us now! The Indians won their season-high eighth straight game in a row and improved their record to 55-31 on the season. Their fifth straight victory against the Bats was made possible on the shoulders of the usual suspects. With the barrage of home runs coupled with a near flawless pitching performance, the Indians cruised to a victory.
On the pitching side, Jeff Locke had a phenomenal start on the bump going seven innings and only allowing one measly hit. He took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning until surrendering a "Trip, Trip, Triple" to Bats right fielder Kristopher Negron. Locke continues his recent success on the hill only allowing four runs in his last 18 innings. Like his teammate and fellow southpaw Rudy Owens, Locke is knocking on the door for a promotion to the big club. Both have performed at a level worthy of a oncoming promotion.
From an offensive standpoint, many guys brought it to a sold-out Victory Field tonight. The King of Iowa Jeff Clement continued his fantastic offensive season by slugging his team leading 11th and 12th home runs of the season. He finished the night 3-for-4 at the plate putting his average at .296 and his on-base percentage at .366. Still struggling offensively, Tony Sanchez hit his second Triple-A home run and has hit home runs in back-to-back games now. Chase d'Arnaud even joined the party and launched his third home run of the season. Let's not forget Starling Marte either, who went 1-for-4 at the plate with his 11th triple of the season.
The recently demoted and lightning-rod for scrutiny for his work ethic, Jose Tabata, made his first appearance with the Indians since being sent down. He went 1-for-4 at the plate with a double to lead off the game
AA Altoona | Altoona 0 Reading 1
(Poor holiday pun coming...poor holiday pun coming...) There were no fireworks for the Altoona offense on this Independence day (Whoop, there it is!) as the bombastic Curve bats of late were shut out by the Phillies' AA affiliate. Starter Phil Irwin pitched perhaps his best game of 2012 yet was saddled with the loss anyway. Irwin went seven innings and gave up seven hits, but didn't walk anyone and struck out seven batters. He did give up the lone run in the second inning and the Curve couldn't even the score. Mike Colla continued his excellent work in relief, pitching two shutout innings and striking out three. Colla had a 5.15 ERA in seven starts to open the season, but in his 15 relief appearances since his shift to the bullpen his ERA is only 0.70 in 25.2 innings. Oscar Tejeda was the only Curve player to record two hits. Brock Holt when 1-for-5 with a double and a steal. His average lowered to a still-impressive .320. Stefan Welch finally cooled off a tad, going 0-for-4. He's still hitting .393 since his promotion from Bradenton.
A West Virginia | West Virginia 13 Lakewood 2
Despite freakazoid Alen Hanson going 0-for-5 at the dish (which is extremely unlike him), the Power still steam-rolled Lakewood by connecting with 13 hits on the night. While being in the shadows of the Hanson, Polanco, and Willy Garcia trio, Taylor Lewis has sustained his offensive success. He went 2-3 with a triple and two RBI tonight and has not gotten enough notice for his hitting. Speaking of Willy Garcia, he went 1-for-4 with three RBI. Gregory Polanco went 2-for-4 with two RBI while Eric Avila hit his second home run of the season. But the star of the night was Francisco Diaz, who went 2-for-2 with a double and his first home run of the season.
Zack Von Rosenberg turned in another solid outing after probably throwing his best game of his young professional career last Friday. He notched his second win of the season giving up two runs on five hits and one walk. In his last two starts, Von Rosenberg has allowed only one run in 12 innings while posting a 10:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
A Bradenton | Bradenton 7 Palm Beach 4
Converted reliever Casey Sadler was the story in this one, as he pitched seven shutout innings while giving up six hits and one walk while striking out three to pick up his first win of the season. The 21-year-old's ERA lowered to 3.06 on the season, and is 2.79 in his six starts. His strikeout rate was higher as a reliever (35 in 38.2 innings as opposed to 17 in 29 innings as a starter) but he's excelled in the role change to this point. Zach Foster provided a scare in the ninth, allowing all the Palm Beach runs, but the offense plated enough runs early in the game that it didn't matter. Carlos Paulino's 3-run homer in the seventh inning padded the Marauders' lead to 7-0 at the time, but proved to be the difference after Foster's awful ninth. The blast was Paulino's third of the year. Paulino's OPS is only .663 this year after it was .790 last year as Ramon Cabrera's backup at the same level. 24-year-old Justin Howard went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, and Benji Gonzalez smacked two hits with an RBI to lead Bradenton's attack. Every Marauder starter recorded at least one hit.
A State College | State College 7 Tri-City 2
Maybe the Spikes felt particularly patriotic on Independence Day, because after hitting only one home run in their first 15 games (which was last night) they slammed three on America's birthday. Granted, one was an inside-the-park job for Barrett Barnes' first professional homer, but I'll bet he'll take it anyway. Barnes' 4-for-4 day led a 15-hit attack for State College and raised his average to .278. D.J. Crumlich also hit his first home run since being drafted in the ninth round this year, and Walker Gourley connected for his first blast of the season. Gourley looks like he might finally have learned how to handle the bat in the minors, The 21-year-old has a .711 OPS and .250 average after spending the prior two years in State College and only hitting .172 during that time. Gourley finished the day 2-for-5, and Crumlich went 3-for-5 to "spike" his average to .333 in his young season. Ryan Hornback had two hits and his average jumped to .327, while Chris Diaz smacked two doubles. Adrian Sampson started his first game as a Pirate farmhand and went three innings, giving up one run and one hit with two walks and three strikeouts. Sampson was the Pirates' fifth-round selection in last month's draft. Pat Ludwig, Josh Smith and Kyle Haynes combined to only give up one run the rest of the game to seal the victory.