Indians minor league recap: Mike Clevinger throws third-straight shutout

The city of Cleveland was really happy yesterday, and it was probably because Mike Clevinger pitched another shutout for the Columbus Clippers. I cannot imagine anything else exciting happened unless you count the Cleveland Indians' walk-off win over the Chicago White Sox.

Anyway.

Down in Low-A, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers showed they are not screwing around with this offense, blowing up for 14 runs, including one from 2016 second-round pick Logan Ice.

Columbus Clippers 1, Syracuse Chiefs 2

Box Score · Clippers fall to 37-33

Winning was fun while it lasted, but it's back to the loss column for the Columbus Clippers. After climbing out of their dramatic losing streak with their first in over a week-and-a-half on Friday. They won again on Saturday, clinching the series win, but with yesterday's 1-2 loss they are in danger of kicking off another streak of bad games.

This was not a good one to watch if you are a fan of any kind of offense. Combined, the two teams recorded eight hits and were both scoreless in nine innings. It was not until the 10th that the offenses got rolling. For the Clippers, that came courtesy of a Guillermo Quiroz single and an eventual double from Erik Gonzalez that scored Quiroz's pinch runner, Yhoxian Medina,

Unfortunately, that was all the offense Columbus could muster in their half-inning of free baseball, and Syracuse was able to add two in the bottom of the frame to win on a walk-off sacrifice fly.

Extra-innings hero Erik Gonzalez also had two other hits on the day, going 3-for-5 when all was said and done. The only other Clippers batter with a multi-hit game, Yandy Diaz, was 2-for-5. Diaz has now hit in seven straight games, and in the last 10, he has gone 15-for-37 with six walks compared to three strikeouts. If there is anything still missing from Diaz's game, it is power. The 24-year-old has just two home runs in 35 games with the Clippers.

Mike Clevinger made another excellent Triple-A start, holding the Syracuse Chiefs to two hits over 5.2 innings. This is Clevinger's third-straight shutout since returning to Triple-A, and his second game with at least eight strikeouts.

Akron RubberDucks 2, New Hampshire Fisher Casts 1

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 41-29

Similar to their big brothers in Columbus, the Akron RubberDucks recently ended a losing streak and they took part in a walk-off game yesterday. Luckily, the 'Ducks actually won.

The two teams were locked in a 1-1 battle from the middle of the third inning to the bottom of the 10th. Jordan Smith played hero in Akron, tripling to right field and scoring Jeremy Lucas from first base.

Lucas's earlier single to become the game-winning run was just one of the three on the day. Clint Frazier added two hits himself, and only struck out once. Fellow top prospect Bradley Zimmer had the RubberDucks' only other extra-base hit on the day, a leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Something appears to be clicking for Zimmer -- he has only struck out seven times in his last 10 games (7 walks), and he has gone 12-for-35 in that span.

Starting pitcher Rob Kaminsky had a much-needed quality start yesterday, throwing six innings and allowing one earned run off of five hits. He only struck out one batter, but he did not allow a single walk. The win on the day was given to JP Feyereisen, who struck out two New Hampshire batters in the bottom of the 10th.

Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Frederick Keys 12

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 45-25

Despite having two fewer hits than the Frederick Keys, the Lynchburg Hillcats were blown out by six runs yesterday.

Three of their 13 hits came from Sicnarf Loopstok, while Anthony Santander, Yu-Cheng Chang, and Mark Mathias all added two hits of their own on the day. One of Mathias' went yard -- a three-run shot in the 4th inning and the only Lynchburg home run.

The most disappointing aspect of the game was Bobby Bradley, who was 1-for-5 with four strikeouts. While Bradley has maintained a high average in his last 10 games (.289), he has also struck out 15 times compared to just two walks. His power has also been absent recently, with his last one run coming on June 10.

Starting pitcher Mitch Brown lasted only 3.2 innings, allowing five earned runs off of four hits in the process.

Lake County Captains 1, South Bend Cubs 3

Box Score · Captains fall to 40-30

While I did not get to watch this game, this series against the South Bend Cubs has been great to watch on stream -- Four Winds Field has one of the best minor league broadcast setups I have seen. It has been nice to finally see the Captains play in high definition and with really solid announcers.

Anyway, it probably is not a bad thing that I missed this game because it looks ugly. The only Lake County run came from an Ordomar Valdez double in the third that scored Anthony Miller from first. South Bend scored three runs in the sixth and that was all they needed to top the Captains.

Lake County mustered only four hits on the day as a team.

Starting pitcher Brock Hartson was tagged with the loss, but pitched a solid six innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out six South Bend batters. Matt Esparza, who has started his first 13 games this season, came out of the bullpen to hold the Cubs scoreless in the final two innings.

Mahoning Valley Scrappers 14, Auburn Doubledays 3

Box Score · Scrappers improve to 1-2

For the first time in 2016, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers are in the win column, thanks to some insane levels of offense. Everyone but Nathan Winfrey contributed a hit on the day, with several Scrapper batters having multi-hit days.

All told, the Scrappers recorded 15 hits and scored 14 runs. They were 7-for-22 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners on base.

Leading the way for the offensive outburst was Luke Wakamatsu and Emmanual Tapia, who each added three hits and a combined five runs batted in. Leadoff batter Todd Isaacs struck out three times in his six at-bats, but he also added two hits which resulted in two runs scored.

Indians 2016 second-round pick Logan Ice is already in the mix, going 1-for-2 with two walks in his Low-A debut.

Juan Hillman was strong in his debut as well, throwing six innings and striking out five with zero runs allowed.