Indians minor league recap: The losing streaks are over!

Ding Dong the streaks are dead!

After a week of being stuck in the doldrums, Tribe affiliates reversed course everywhere as Indians minor league teams went an impressive 6-1 on the day including a double-header sweep for Lynchburg. Akron, Columbus and Lake County all ended their losing skids while the only team to drop a game on the day was the debuting short season Mahoning Valley club.

Hopefully everyone can get back into a winning groove once again.

Columbus Clippers 9, Syracuse Chiefs 3

Box Score · Clippers improve to 36-32

It took the starting pitching of Ross Detwiler and an offensive eruption, but Columbus won for the first time in a week yesterday, exploding for 16 hits against Syracuse pitching.

Offensively, five players had multi-hit games including two three-hit games from veteran catchers Adam Moore and Guillermo Quiroz, who slugged three doubles in their combined six hits. Joey Butler, Yandy Diaz and Erik Gonzalez also picked up two hits on the day.

Diaz was moved to second in the batting order and fared well, getting on base three times including picking up the only walk of the day. Joey Butler set the tone for the game with a fourth inning go-ahead two-run blast and the Clippers never looked back.

Five pitchers in the bullpen contributed five innings without giving up any earned runs, although they didn't get much help from the defense, which coughed up four errors on the day.

Akron RubberDucks 7, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 4

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 39-29

After what felt like a two-week slump, Akron snapped out of it with a five run second inning yesterday, knocking the New Hampshire starter out of the game after getting just four outs in total.

Four Rubberducks would have multi-hit games including the surging Joe Sever, recently promoted Mike Papi, back-up catcher Alex Monsalve and most importantly, top prospect Bradley Zimmer, who went 2-2 on the day with three walks and three stolen bases.

Starting pitcher Michael Peoples didn't have his best stuff, giving up four runs in five innings but the bullpen picked him up, only giving up two hits the rest of the way in four innings of scoreless relief.

Lynchburg Hillcats 2, Frederick Keys 1

Lynchburg Hillcats 3, Frederick Keys 2

Game 1 Box Score · Game 2 Box Score · Hillcats improve to 45-23

There wasn't much offense to speak of in either game, but the Hillcats put just enough runs on the board to sweep the double header thanks to a pair of spectacular pitching performances by starters Julian Merryweather  and Luis Lugo. Merryweather tossed six innings of one-run ball while striking out seven in game one while Lugo lasted six innings in game two, giving up two runs and striking out two.

Taylor Murphy led the way offensively in game one with two hits including the go-ahead RBI single. Anthony Santander and Greg Allen paced the Hillcats in game two, both going 2-3, but it was a two-run blast from Santander in the second inning which put the game just out of reach.

Top slugging prospect Bobby Bradley picked up a hit in both games, but overall was pretty quiet on the day.

Lake County Captains 4, South Bend Cubs 3

Box Score · Captains improve to 39-29

Lake County put on their rally caps, notching three runs in the eighth inning to take the lead for good.

As always, the offense was led by catching prospect Francisco Mejia, who went 2-4 with a double and two RBI to improve his hitting streak to a ridiculous 19 games.

Jose Medina put the Captains on the board with a solo shot in the fifth inning while Conor Marabell picked up a double of his own.

Thomas Pannone shook off a rough first inning to provide five solid frames of starting pitching, striking out five and giving up two runs on the day and the bullpen held South Bend to just one more run the rest of the way to keep Lake County in the game long enough to win it late.

Mahoning Valley Scrappers 4, West Virginia Black Bears 5 (F/11)

Box Score · Scrappers fall to 0-1

Mahoning Valley kicked off its season with a loss, but at least it was entertaining..

Starting pitcher Micah Minierd was on cruise control until a disastrous fifth inning which saw four runs score and him leave the game. Overall, Minierd struck out five, walked one and gave up three earned runs on the day.

The Scrappers offense literally scratched and clawed some runs onto the board, picking up one run in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh to tie the game and send it to extra innings.

Luke Wakamatsu, Jodd Carter and Gian Gonzalez all had multi-hit games while speedster Gabriel Mejia stole his first base and first baseman Emanuel Tapia launched his first home run of the season.

The bullpen provided five scoreless innings until Devon Stewart gave up the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th and Mahoning Valley failed to respond.

DSL Indians 12, DSL Yankees1 0

Box Score · Indians improve to 5-6

What a slaughter.

Perhaps inspired by that time the Indians scored 14 runs in one inning against the New York Yankees, the DSL Indians blasted off with a tremendous offensive outpouring against the DSL Yankees1 yesterday.

Every starter reached base safely and four players had multi-hit games, including three hit showings from Jean Montero and Ronny Dominguez. Montero scored four runs overall.

Henry Pujols got the party started in the first inning by launching a two-run shot out of the park to put the Indians on the board and they never looked back.

Starting pitcher Juan Moto provided five shutout innings and four relievers combined for four more scoreless innings to shut out the Yankees