MiLB Recap: Big Christmas Hits Walk-Off 2-Run Bomb, Ralphy and Rosario Red-Hot in Lake County

Cleveland Guardians minor league recap for Thursday, July 24, 2025

Columbus Clippers 6, Buffalo Bisons 4

Box Score · Clippers improve to 45-50

First, we must address the elephant in the room, and the absolutely brutal news that we faced yesterday. And that’s that Chase DeLauter will be missing 6-8 weeks due to a broken hamate bone. It just seems like he can’t stay on the field, and it’s very unfortunate because Chase is an extremely gifted ballplayer that can be a true mainstay in any lineup.

On the bright side, however, Big Christmas delivered a walk-off 2-run bomb off Ryan Jennings in the 9th. It was part of a 3-hit night where he tallied up 6 total bases.

Gabriel Arias also hit a dinger last night in rehab as well. Petey Halpin had himself a 2-hit day and C.J. Kayfus is trying to work out of his little July skid, going 1-5.

Ryan Webb wen 4 and a third Wednesday, striking out 6 batters and allowing a single run. Aaron Davenport also went that long in his outing, but gave up a multitude of hits and allowed 3 ER in the 9th (Aleman blew the save but the 3rd run was charged to Davenport) after a 3-run rally by the Bisons to tie it. Thankfully, Jhonkensy Noel delivered an early Christmas in July present with the aforementioned 2-run blast.

Akron RubberDucks 5, Harrisburg Senators

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 53-38

The RubberDucks accrued 12 hits to score 5 runs last night. Guy Lipscomb, Wuilfredo Antunez and Alex Mooney all had multi-hit games with an RBI, as Travis Bazzana got a base hit and a walk in his second start back from the IL.

Yorman Gomez had the bump for his Double-A debut and was pretty effective. In 5 innings pitched, Gomez allowed 2 hits and 4 walks. He struck out 5 and limited kept Harrisburg to 1 run. The bullpen was also very efficient the rest of the way, as they fanned 6 batters, while only giving up a hit and a walk, and no runs scored.

Lake County Captains 4, Lansing Lugnuts 2

Box Score · Captains improve to 49-43

This may be the best month we’ve seen from Alfonsin Rosario in a Cleveland-affiliated uniform. Last night, Rosario put up his first 3-hit game since May 27, including his 13th double of the season. After that poor June where his production plateaued, Alfonsin is even exceeding the type of production we’ve seen from him when he was on that red-hot start to the season. His slash line in July: .346/.463/.635

Rosario isn’t the only one having a good July, though. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Ralphy Velazquez has been showing some signs of life, and he too now is on a very good stretch of quality hitting.

Including his 2-hit game where he homered last night, Velazquez is now slashing .345/.397/.586 in the month of July. As aforementioned, he hit a 2-run bomb in the 6th — his third of the month which already ties his total in June.

The Caps’ pitching staff did well to keep runs at a minimum Wednesday. Sean Matson was efficient, giving the Captains 4 innings of 2-run ball with 6 punchies. The 2 runs came by way of a homer, but he didn’t allow a baserunner besides that.

Izaak Martinez earned the dub with his 3 innings of 1-hit ball, while Jack Jasiak got the 2-innings save with 2 K’s of his own.

Lynchburg Hillcas 2, Delmarva Shorebirds 8

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 51-40

Welbyn Francisca had a decent night, going 2-4 with a double and a walk. Bennett Thompson and Alberto Mendez provided the only 2 runs, and that was about it for the Lynchburg offense.

Rafe Schlesinger’s outing was pretty solid. 4 hits, 3 walks, 2 earned and 7 K’s are decent enough for 4.1 innings of work. However, Julio Zapata gave up another run and Eudry Alcantara gave up 5 on 2 hits and 4 walks. Not the greatest night for Eudry, but that’s just the normal struggles of a pro baseball player.