Indians minor league recap: Bobby Bradley hits his 26th home run

While the big league club was celebrating an incredible come-from-behind walk-off victory, closed out by top rookie Tyler Naquin, the stars of tomorrow had some seriously impressive performances themselves.

The pitching was as good as every across the board (except in Lynchburg) while three of the organization’s top four sluggers all blasted home runs on the day.

Akron RubberDucks 5, Trenton Thunder 0

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to to 63-60

The Akron RubberDucks scored one run in the first inning and that would honestly be all they would need thanks to some incredible pitching as Michael Peoples, Robbie Aviles and Casey Weathers combined to throw a three-hit shutout.

Nellie Rodriguez led the way offensively for the ‘Ducks, going 2-for-4 with his 22nd home run of the season and knocking in three of the team’s five runs.

Michael Peoples was superb, throwing six scoreless innings for Akron, giving up three hits and walking two while striking out five. Robbie Aviles followed with a perfect two innings of relief and Casey Weathers struck out two in the ninth to seal the win.

Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Frederick Keys 4 (Game 1)

Lynchburg Hillcats 5, Frederick Keys 6 (Game 2)

Game 1 Box Score · Game 2 Box Score · Hillcats move to 76-48

Brock Hartson didn’t have his best stuff in game one, giving up four runs in 4.2 innings, but he didn’t need it as the offense was clicking on all cylinders.

Tyler Krieger led the way for the Hillcats, going 3-4 with a double and two RBI while Bobby Bradley crushed a two-run home run. Francisco Mejia also had a double and threw out a batter.

David Speer picked up the win in relief thanks to two scoreless innings of relief.

The Hillcats started out great in Game 2 with three runs in the first inning, thanks in part to a two-run homer from Anthony Santander, his 20th of the season, but they fell apart down the stretch.

Sean Brady allowed Frederick to tie the game up, surrendering three runs in four innings of work, and Billy Strode had a rare bad outing, giving up two more runs while failing to get out of the fifth inning.

Lynchburg tried to battle back with two runs in the top of the seventh thanks in part to an RBI single from Taylor Murphy, but their rally fell just short.

Lake County Captains 3, West Michigan Whitecaps 1

Box Score · Captains improve to to 64-58

Lake County didn’t have much offense yesterday, but they didn’t need it thanks to some spectacular pitching from Shiao-Ching Chiang, who paced the Captains with seven innings of three hit ball, giving up one run while striking out zero and walking none.

Jose Medina led the way for the Captains, going 2-4 on the day with a home run, the lone extra base hit for the team. Catcher Martin Cervenka also had a multi-hit day, going 2-4 with a strikeout.

Mahoning Valley Scrappers 1, Batavia Muckdogs 2 (F/12)

Box Score · Scrappers fall to 28-29

You really have to feel for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers after yesterday’s heartbreaking loss.

Their game against Batavia was literally scoreless through the first 11 innings before pinch runner Silento Sayles scored on an RBI single from Alex Pantoja in the top of the 12th.

Then, inexplicably, the pitching imploded as Henry Martinez gave up a two-out, two-run double to give the Muckdogs a walk-off victory.

Pitching-wise, Shane Bieber tossed another three scoreless innings, dropping his 2016 ERA to 0.60 overall while former starter Luis Jimenez had his best outing of the season, throwing 6.1 scoreless innings in relief, giving up three hits, walking one and striking out six.

Mitch Longo paced the Scrappers offense with a 3-5 day at the plate while leadoff hitter Gabriel Mejia reached base safely three times with two walks and a single, also stealing a base.

AZL Indians 1, AZL Athletics 6

Box Score · Indians fall to 26-21

Justin Garza started for the AZL Indians and put the game out of reach in a hurry, giving up four runs in his two innings of work. Francisco Perez followed him with five solid innings, giving up two runs and striking out seven to try to keep the game close, but the offense couldn’t string anything together.

Offensively, no one had a multi-hit game for the Indians, but Will Benson and Junior Soto both had doubles and Kevin Bradley picked up his first career hit, a triple.

DSL Indians 0, DSL Mets1 2

Box Score · Indians fall to 24-40

The DSL Indians continued their freefall with another loss yesterday. Once having a winning record, they’ve now lost 14 of their last 16 games.

Henry Pujols paced the offense with a 2-4 day at the play including a double. Jhonneyver Gutierrez took the loss by giving up four runs in five innings of work.

The Columbus Clippers had a scheduled day off.