Indians minor league recap: Bobby Bradley and Francisco Mejia slug homers

Bobby Bradley is not a fan of sharing.

The slugging first baseman was tied with Mike Napoli for the organization lead in home runs this season with 14, but he broke that tie with a soaring shot to right field in the first inning of yesterday's Advanced A game against Myrtle Beach.

Down in Class-A, 20-year-old catching prospect Francisco Mejia joined Bradley with a blast for Lake County.

Looks like somebody's really working hard to get nominated for Indians minor league Player of the Week.

Columbus Clippers 7, Scranton Railriders 10 

Box Score · Clippers fall to 35-27

Columbus ran Scranton starter Luis Cessa out of the game in the second inning, but couldn't keep Scranton from bouncing back into the game in the later innings.

Every Clipper reached base safely and all but Jesus Aguilar collected a hit as Columbus piled on five runs in the first four innings, but it wasn't enough. Yandy Diaz, Ronny Rodriguez, Yhoxian Medina and Collin Cowgill all collected multi-hit games for Columbus as the team collected a combined 13 hits.

Starting pitcher Ryan Merritt was ineffective over 5.1 innings, surrendering five runs on nine hits. The Clippers were forced to use five relief pitchers over the final 3.2 innings due to the poor showings from both Josh Martin (3 runs allowed in 0.2) and Ben Heller (2 runs in 1.0).

This was definitely a winnable game.

Akron RubberDucks 2, Harrisburg Senators 6

Box Score · RubberDucks fall to 38-23

Akron's losing streak moves to six in a row and the offense was again lifeless for the fifth-straight game as the RubberDucks were four-hit by Harrisburg starter Lucas Giolito, who struck out a whopping 12 in 7.0 innings of work.

Every starter in the lineup struck out except for Clint Frazier. Eric Haase was the only batter to collect a base on balls in a pitiful showing for the Rubberduck bats. Top prospect Bradley Zimmer had a frustrating day, going 0-for-4 with three more strikeouts as his bat appears to be regressing.

Starting pitcher DJ Brown gave up four runs in six innings of work, although he only walked one batter. Reliever Casey Weathers made his 2016 debut but gave up two unearned runs in one inning due to a throwing error on himself.

Hopefully the RubberDucks can right the ship in regards to the offense. They are far too talented to be struggling this badly.

Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 1

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 39-21

Lynchburg's offense really spread it around yesterday as every player in the lineup collected exactly one hit except for David Armendariz, who had two (both of them doubles).

Top first base prospect Bobby Bradley made his one hit count, crushing a two-run home run in the first inning to retake the organization lead with 15 on the season.

Taylor Murphy picked up two RBI on a second-inning single in his return to the Hillcats despite playing well for Akron and Greg Allen continued to terrorize on the basepaths with his 30th swiped bag of the season.

Starting pitcher Nick Pasquale was terrific, throwing five scoreless innings and giving up just two hits. Pasquale has done a solid job since returning to the rotation, only giving up three runs in his six starts thus far in 2016.

Myrtle Beach never threatened after scoring a run in the seventh inning and the Hillcats were able to coast to a victory.

Lake County Captains 4, Great Lakes Loons 7

Box Score · Captains fall to 36-25

Defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory in a heartbreaking game for fans of Lake County. Down 3-1, the Captains managed to score one run in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to finally take the lead, but reliever Kieren Lovegrove imploded in the ninth, giving up four runs on four hits and a walk without being able to get out of the inning.

In the process of making the comeback, second baseman Tyler Krieger improved his hitting streak to 20 games with a solid 2-for-4 day at the plate while shortstop Willi Castro had a monster 3-for-4 day with a double and a triple.

Red hot catching prospect Francisco Mejia crushed his third home run of the week to put Lake County on the board in the second inning, but to no avail.

Starting pitcher Shao-Ching Chiang had a decent outing, striking out eight and walking just one in 6.2 innings while giving up three runs in a quality start.

DSL Indians 7, DSL Rangers1 6

Box Score · Indians improve to 2-3

Top shortstop prospect Jose Fermin slugged an RBI triple and Franklin Mataeo blasted a two-run homer as the DSL Indians collected their second win of the young season.

Starting pitcher Luis Oviedo threw five solid innings without giving up any earned runs and striking out six, dropping his ERA in two starts to 1.00.

The season is still very early and it's a small sample size, but it appears the players to keep an eye on are Fermin, second baseman Wilbis Santiago, infielder Jhan Rodriguez and the aforementioned Oviedo.