Indians minor league recap: (Almost) Everybody wins!

While the big league club was celebrating another come-from-behind walk-off victory, closed out by top rookie Tyler Naquin, the Tribe minor leaguers had some big nights.

Not only was the pitching great yesterday, but the batters brought out their sticks to swing some heavy lumber, with multiple big innings across all levels.

Top pitching prospects Rob Kaminsky, Aaron Civale and Shawn Morimando were all on display yesterday, as everyone but the lowly DSL Indians picked up a win.

Columbus Clippers 11, Toledo Mud Hens 5

Box Score · Clippers improve to to 73-54

The Columbus Clippers went from being the route to the routers in a span of two innings.

Shawn Morimando didn’t have his best stuff yesterday, but he played great damage control, spreading nine hits over three innings and giving up four runs in what could have been much worse.

With the Clippers down 5-1 in the offense exploded for six runs in the bottom of the sixth, then scored four more in the seventh to pull away in an offensive slobberknocker of a game.

Michael Choice and Jesus Aguilar both went deep for Columbus, and it was Aguilar’s 24th home run of the season, which leads the International League. Yandy Diaz had a big 3-5 day at the plate while Giovanny Urshela and Bradley Zimmer both had multi-hit games as well.

Akron RubberDucks 4, Bowie Baysox 1

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 64-60

Rob Kaminsky’s impressive comeback story continued with another spectacular outing last night. The 21-year old southpaw threw seven strong innings, giving up just one run on six hits while striking out four and walking one to pick up the victory.

The Akron offense hibernated until the sixth inning, but they started scoring and kept at it, eventually putting four runs on the board thanks to home runs from Eric Stamets and Mike Papi (two-run shot). Catcher Daniel Salters had the lone multi-hit game for Akron, which only had six hits overall yesterday in the win.

Lynchburg Hillcats 5, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 2

Box Score · Hillcats move to 77-48

The bottom half of the Hillcats lineup carried them yesterday as four of the 5-9 hitters in the batting order had multi-hit games including Conner Marabell, Yonathan Mendoza, Dorssys Paulino and Tyler Krieger. One of Krieger’s hits was a bases-clearing triple

Anthony Santander also had a great game, going 3-5 with a double (his 33rd) from the three-hole to raise his season batting average to a rock solid .291

Thomas Pannone continues to work back from a blister which put him on the DL, throwing 4.2 innings of two-run baseball while Jared Robinson closed out the game with 4.1 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win.

Lake County Captains 3, West Michigan Whitecaps 1

Box Score · Captains improve to to 64-58

Lake County was carried offensively by their young shortstop Willi Castro yesterday, who had three hits and two stolen bases, knocking in one of the team’s three runs.

On the pitching side of things, Casey Shane had a stellar effort, giving up just one run over 6.2 innings while striking out seven and walking two to pick up his eighth win of the season.

Mahoning Valley Scrappers 9, Batavia Muckdogs 2

Box Score · Scrappers improve to 29-29

The legend of Ben Krauth continues to grow as Mahoning Valley made up for Thursday’s heartbreaking loss by crushing Batavia last night 9-2

Krauth came in relief of starter Aaron Civale, who gave up one run in three innings of work. Krauth, however, threw four innings, striking out five, walking none and gave up just one hit, improving his career scoreless innings streak since getting drafted in the 16th round this year to 28.2. Seriously, this kid is off to an INSANE start to his professional career.

Offensively, both Gabriel Mejia and Emmanuel Tapia had monster games, each going 3-5, although they contributed in different ways. Mejia stole two bases and scored three runs, while Tapia hit two solo home runs and a double overall. Andre Calica and Nathan Winfrey joined them with multi-hit games themselves.

AZL Indians 6, AZL Angels 4

Box Score · Indians improve to 27-21

The AZL Indians got off to an early lead, then held on late to pull out the victory. They did it all without the benefit of an extra base hit. Catcher Simeon Lucas was the hero of the game, racking up two hits and three runs batted in while Jose Vicente joined the two-hit party.

Pitching-wise, Gregori Vasquez had an excellent outing, giving up one run in 5.2 innings of work while striking out three. Domingo Jimenez earned the save with 1.1 scoreless frames.

DSL Indians 7, DSL Rangers 8

Box Score · Indians fall to 24-41

If not for a ninth inning meltdown, it would have been a perfect day for Tribe affiliates, but alas, it was not to be. Ronny Dominguez had a great game for the DSL Indians, going 3-6 with a stolen base and Christopher Cespedis joined him with another three hits as the Indians took advantage of seven errors to hold a two run lead in the ninth.

Unfortunately, the usually reliable Maiker Manzanillo proceeded to give up three runs in the bottom of the ninth to blow the save and the game, only getting one out in the process.