Indians minor league recap: Francisco Mejia extends hitting streak to 49 games

A day after going 1-6, Tribe affiliates dominated yesterday with a 5-2 night which saw several top prospects have massive games.

Francisco Mejia was back in action, going 2-5 with a double to extend his hitting streak to 49 games and move him into fifth place all time for minor league hitting streaks.

Top slugging first base prospects Bobby Bradley and Nellie Rodriguez both homered for their respective clubs and Ryan Merritt pitched a gem for the Columbus Clippers.

Let's get to business:

Columbus Clippers 1, Syracuse Chiefs 0

Box Score · Clippers improve to 68-53

There wasn't much offense yesterday in a game that saw seven hits and one walk combined between the Clippers and Chiefs, but Columbus got the one hit that mattered, an opposite field blast from Erik Gonzalez which reached the second deck in right.

Yandy Diaz also collected a hit for the Clippers.

That one solo blast by Gonzalez would be all the Clippers would need thanks to some incredible pitching from southpaw starter Ryan Merritt, who went seven innings, striking out six and walking none on four hits. A rehabbing Tommy Hunter and dominant back end reliever Perci Garner combined to throw two perfect innings to secure the win.

Akron RubberDucks 18, Portland Sea Dogs 2

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 59-60

This game was a complete laugher as Akron scored 18 runs on 20 hits in just eight innings. The RubberDucks took out some serious frustrations on poor Portland and a significant amount of their offense came from unlikely sources.

In a game like this, several names in the box score stand out, but Todd Hankins was the best of all, going 4-5 with two home runs and six RBI on the night.

Joe Sever, Jordan Smith and Eric Stamets all collected three hits on the night, while Luigi Rodriguez went 2-5 with three stolen bases. First baseman Nellie Rodriguez also went 2-5, slugging his 21st home run of the season and collecting five runs batted in.

With the offense scoring left and right, starting pitcher Rob Kaminsky was again rock solid. He had a shutout going through five innings before running into trouble in the sixth. On the night, he went six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and striking out five to earn the easiest win of his career.

Lynchburg Hillcats 2, Winston-Salem Dash 10

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 73-45

After sitting out a couple games with an illness, Francisco Mejia returned to the Lynchburg lineup and promptly continued his incredible hitting streak with a sixth inning single. He would also slug a double on the night, going 2-5 in total with one of the team's two runs batted in.

Top slugging prospect Bobby Bradley went 2-4 on the night with a double and a home run, his 23rd, to return him to a tie for the organization lead with Jesus Aguilar.

Unfortunately, the game was completely out of hand by the sixth inning thanks in part to a poor starting pitching performance from Sean Brady, who gave up six runs (five earned) on 12 hits in five innings. The team also had some awful defense, giving up four unearned runs in the sixth inning thanks in part to five errors on the night.

Lake County Captains 5, Great Lakes Loons 3

Box Score · Captains improve to 60-56

After blowing the game Thursday, giving up six runs in the bottom of the ninth, it was fitting that the Lake County Captains would pick up a come-from-behind win last night.

Down 3-1 in the top of the eighth, the Captains roared back with four runs, punctuated by a two-run double from Jose Medina which put them in the lead 5-3.

Juan De La Cruz was the lone Captain to collect two hits on the night, going 2-4 with a walk.

Micah Miniard didn't have his best stuff, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks in four innings without recording a strikeout, but the bullpen held this time around, providing five shutout innings to give Lake County an opportunity to come back.

Mahoning Valley Scrappers 4, Williamsport Crosscutters 2

Box Score · Scrappers improve to 25-27

Mahoning Valley scored two runs on a homer from Nathan Winfrey and they wouldn't need much else thanks to some spectacular pitching.

Aaron Civale gave up zero earned runs in three innings, but it was Ben Krauth who really stood out, extending his career scoreless streak to 24.2 with four more innings of shutout relief. Krauth gave up zero hits and struck out six, walking just one batter. Not bad for a 16th round pick.

Silento Sayles was the lone Scrapper with a multi-hit game, also collecting an RBI single while Gabriel Mejia stole two more bases after going 1-3 with a walk from the leadoff position.

DSL Indians 0, DSL Pirates 7

Box Score · Indians fall to 23-36

The DSL Indians tailspin continued with a putrid offensive performance, which saw the team get shutout on just five hits. Ronny Dominguez collected one of those hits and managed to steal a base, but that was pretty much the lone offensive highlight.

Jhoneyvar Gutierrez was awful, giving up all seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in five innings.

* * *

The AZL Indians had the night off