Minor League Recap – Clippers and RubberDucks with Impressive Outings

Columbus and Akron with strong wins. Lake County and Lynchburg with disappointing losses.

Columbus Clippers (42-46) – AAA

Box Score

LOU 0 – COL 6

The Columbus Clippers blanked the Louisville Bats behind a spectacular performance from the starting pitcher Ryan Webb. Webb earned a quality start with his six innings of scoreless work. Webb only gave up three hits and three walks, striking out an impressive eight. Jack Leftwich stretched out the bullpen with two innings of scoreless work. In his two innings, Jack only gave up one hit and two walks, striking out two. Parker Mushinski closed it out with a scoreless, one hit ninth inning. Mushinski struck out two of the four batters he faced.

Clippers offense knocked in six runs, kicking things off in the first inning. Milan Tolentino hit a lead off homer in the bottom of the first. Chase DeLauter continued his on base streak (34 games) with a double to center that scored Dayan Frias who drew a walk.

Before the Bats could record an out in the bottom of the first, Petey Halpin singled to right, but ended with runners on second and third. Kody Huff singled to score DeLauter and Joe Lampe grounded out to second, scoring Halpin for the fourth run of the inning.

In the bottom of the third Kody Huff hit a two-out solo shot to left to add on another run.

Another two-out solo shot, this time from Petey Halpin, notched in the Clippers’ final run of the night in the bottom of the fifth.

The 1-7 batters all contributed to the offense with the team recording 9 hits and a walk.

Akron RubberDucks (51-33) – AA

Box Score

RIC 3 – AKR 9

Trenton Denholm earned his 9th win of the season with a stellar outing against Richmond. Denholm threw 6.0IP, 3R/ER, 8H, 0BB, 4K. Tyler Thornton pitched the seventh inning, only giving up two hits in his inning of work. Zach Jacobs threw the last two innings of the game. Jacobs only had two baserunners via walks and struck out one to secure the RubberDucks victory.

Akron started their game with three baserunners and a run before the first out was recorded. Cooper Ingle drew a lead off walk, Angel Genao singled, and Kahlil Watson hit a single to right that scored the speedy catcher Ingle from second.

Guy Lipscomb then drew a walk to load the bases. With two outs, Alex Mooney singled to center to score Genao and Watson.

In the bottom of the second Michael Turconi drew his own lead off walk. Cooper Ingle added another walk to his tally and a fielding error allowed Angel Genao to reach first and load the bases. Kahlil Watson knocked in a two run double.

With runners on second and third and no outs in the inning, Jorge Burgos hit a three-run home run to right field.

And the RubberDucks weren’t done with the second inning yet. Guy Lipscomb hit a sharp single to center then stole second. With one out, Alex Mooney and Jake Fox drew walks to load them. A force out scored Lipscomb, Akron’s final run of the game.

Lake County Captains (43-42) – High A

Box Score

LC 2 – WM 12

The Lake County Captains we’re as successful as the other Cleveland affiliates. In the bottom of the first, starting pitcher Caden Favors gave up six runs with only one out before the Captains had to make a pitching change. Dwayne Matos allowed an inherited runner to score bringing Favors’ stat line to 0.1IP, 7R/ER, 4H, 3BB, 1K. Favors allowed a solo HR and a grand slam. Matos pitched 4.2 innings with 4R/ER, 9H, 2BB, and 2K. Jesus Luna pitched the remaining 3 innings. Luna gave up 1R/ER, 3H, 1BB, and 1K.

The offense was not able to overcome the deficit. The Captains had only five hits and no one drew a walk. Both Lake County runs came in the top of the seventh. Wuilfredo Antunez singled to left by was out at second when Jose Devers grounded into a force out to short. Jacob Cozart hit a two-run homer to right, scoring Devers.

Lynchburg Hillcats (49-36) – Single-A

Game 1 – Box Score

HIC 4 – LYN 2

The Hillcats got swept in their double header. Starter Jacob Zibin recorded his fourth loss with the Hillcats this season. Zibin pitched 3.0 innings, 3H, 3R/1ER, 2BB, 1K. Errors plagued Zibin’s start. A fielding error by the first baseman in a pickoff attempt and a throwing error by Zibin during a fielders choice play resulted in two unearned runs. Julio Zapata pitched the fourth and fifth innings only allowing one run on four hits, striking out one. Luis Flores finished the remaining two innings, only walking two and striking out one.

Both of the Hillcats’ runs in Game 1 came in the bottom of the second. Bennett Thompson singled to left to kick off the inning. Yaikel Mijares grounded into a one-out force out to short, leaving Mijares on first with two outs. Christopher Espinola came up to bat next, hitting a homer to right to score two.

Game 2 – Box Score

HIC 4 – LYN 3

The Hillcats came one run closer to the Crawdads, but fell short and getting swept in the double header. Rafe Schlesinger got the start and the loss, falling to 3-5 on the season. Schlesinger went 5.0IP, 6H, 4R/ER, 0BB, 2K. Sean Heppner pitched the sixth inning, allowing two base runners via a hit and a walk, striking out one. Eudry Alcantara finished out the game, not allowing a baserunner and striking out one.

In bottom of the fourth Robert Lopez drew a lead off walk. Garrett Howe hit a double to put runners on second and third. Logun Clark hit a pop up single to second to score Lopez and put runners on the corners with no outs. The Hillcats couldn’t capitalize on the on the runners in scoring position. The next three batters struck out to retire the side.

The Hillcats tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Jose Pirela doubled to right. Alberto Mendez hit a two-out RBI double to center. A single from Ryan Cesarini to left scored Mendez for the Hillcats’ final run of the evening.