Indians’ no-hit bid ends in ninth

Houston’s Jed Lowrie broke up Cleveland’s no-hit bid Thursday with a one-out home run in the ninth inning for the host Astros’ only hit in the Indians’ 5-1 victory at Minute Maid Park.

Before Lowrie’s blast, Trevor Bauer and the Indians’ bullpen had combined to hold the Astros hitless. Bauer, a former UCLA and Hart High standout, was pulled after throwing 111 pitches through six innings. He struck out a career-high 11 and walked five. Bauer gave way to Cleveland relievers Kyle Crockett and Scott Atchison , who each pitched a scoreless inning before Nick Hagadone struck out Chris Carter to begin the ninth. Lowrie then sent Hagadone’s 94-mph fastball far over the left-center field wall.

Etc.

Chuckie Jones , a minor league outfielder in the San Francisco Giants organization, was suspended for 50 games without pay for a drug violation. The commissioner’s office said that Jones twice tested positive for a drug of abuse, a violation of the minor leagues’ drug prevention and treatment program. Baseball defines drugs of abuse to include cocaine, LSD, opiates and Ecstasy.

On the opening day for the new pace-of-play rules in minor league baseball at Buffalo, N.Y., the clocks broke. The clock in center field that counts down the time between pitches and innings blinked out at the top of the third inning, then came back in the fourth. In the top of the sixth, that same clock and two more behind the plate went dark before lighting up in the bottom half of the inning. In the end it took nearly three hours for the Rochester Red Wings to beat the triple-A Bisons, 6-3, but that had more to do with a combined six pitching changes, 16 hits, 14 walks and a heavy rain.

International League President Randy Mobley said it was too early to determine whether the problem had been resolved.