Indians minor league recap: Gren Allen, Francisco Mejia have monster days at the plate

If anyone was worried Mike Clevinger was broken after three rough outings during his cup of coffee with the Indians and then a not so great start in his return to the Clippers rotation, they can fear no more.

"The Flow" returned to his dominant ways in game one of yesterday's doubleheader for Columbus.

Major standouts on the day offensively were Francisco Mejia and Greg Allen, who both picked up four hits apiece in their respective games and are definitely on track for midseason promotions following their respective all-star appearances.

Back to business...

Columbus Clippers 11, Indianapolis Indians 0 (Game 1)
Columbus Clippers 1, Indianapolis Indians 6 (Game 2)

Game 1 Box Score · Game 2 Box Score · Clippers move to 35-26

It was a tale of two games for the Clippers as they romped in the first leg of the doubleheader and proceeded to get romped on in the second.

The offense erupted in game one, lead by Jesus Aguilar and Yandy Diaz, who both went 3-for-4 with a double. All in all, Columbus managed a whopping 15 hits in the seven-inning affair and they did it all without the help of a home run. Shortstop Erik Gonzalez also reached base safely three times in the game.

Starting pitcher Mike Clevinger had a terrific outing, going six innings of three-hit shutout baseball while striking out eight and walking none in his best start of 2016.

In game two, the offense couldn't get out of first gear, only managing five hits although Giovanny Urshela picked up two of them.

The starting pitching in the second game didn't fair much better as Will Roberts was touched for five runs in 4.2 innings and it could have been worse considering he gave up seven hits and four walks.

Akron RubberDucks 2, Reading Fightin' Phils 6

Box Score · RubberDucks fall to 38-22

After a red-hot start to the season, Akron is slumping something terrible. The offense has scored two or fewer runs in five of its last six games and the team as a whole has now lost five in a row.

Nothing was working particularly well yesterday for Akron despite the team picking up eight hits. Clint Frazier and Bradley Zimmer were offensive standouts, combining to reach base four times in eight plate appearances, but the team simply couldn't sequence together enough hits.

Mike Papi went 2-for-4 on the day with a double and Luigi Rodriguez returned from his PED suspension to go 2-for-4 with an RBI in his Akron debut, but the team managed just two runs overall.

Starting pitcher Rob Kaminsky, fresh off a Player of the Week nomination, had a rough outing. In just 3.1 innings of work, he surrendered five runs on five hits while walking three, although his strikeout rate has steadily improved as he whiffed four batters.

The bullpen kept the team in the game, giving up zero earned runs the rest of the way, but the offense couldn't dig them out of the whole that had been dug.

Lynchburg Hillcats 9, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 3

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 35-24

Lynchburg had a strong offensive showing yesterday as every starter reached base safely on the day and the team picked up 13 hits. Center fielder Greg Allen led the charge with the best game of his young career, going 4-5 with a double and a home run while scoring three times.

Top slugging prospect Bobby Bradley stayed hot at the plate as well, going 2-for-5 with a double. After a brief slump, Bradley has collected a hit in every game this week, although his strikeout totals have remained high.

Starting pitcher Sean Brady was excellent, providing a solid 6.1 innings of one-run baseball on just two hits, although he did walk four batters. David Speer had a rough outing in relief, but a five-run seventh inning by the Hillcats kept any thoughts of a comeback out of the Pelicans' minds.

Lake County Captains 6, Lansing Lugnuts 5

Box Score · Captains improve to 36-24

No Ka'ai Tom? No problem. Tom has been inactive since suffering an injury on a pickoff play late last week, but the red hot Captains offense has chugged along. Tyler Krieger improved his hitting streak to 19 games while Nathan Lukes and Martin Cervenka both went 2-4, but the real story of the day was catching prospect Francisco Mejia, who was perfect at the plate, going 4-4 on the day with a double and two runs scored.

The Captains were down 5-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth thanks to a rough six innings from Matt Esparza, who was charged with four earned runs while giving up seven hits and striking out five.

The comeback began with three runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to RBI doubles from Mejia and Cervenka and it culminated with a wild three-run eighth inning as Cervenka cleared the bases with a three-run double

Dominic DeMasi held down the fort with three shutout innings of relief, although he wasn't helped on the defensive side of things as the Captains recorded a whopping five errors on the day.

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The DSL Indians' game against the DSL Rangers was suspended after a half inning due to rain.