Indians minor league recap: Columbus and Akron winning streaks are snapped

The Columbus Clippers and Akron RubberDucks had been two of the hottest teams in the minor leagues, winning 19 games consecutively combined, but that all came to a screeching halt yesterday due to some poor pitching performances.

But there was still plenty to get excited about, as several other top Indians prospects had huge days at the plate, raising their stocks even higher while having monster seasons already.

Columbus Clippers 1, Toledo Mud Hens 5

Box Score · Clippers fall to 78-55

A day after clinching the IL West title, the Columbus Clippers had a big letdown, ending their nine-game winning streak.

There wasn’t much to say offensively, as Yandy Diaz had the lone extra base hit with a double and Bradley Zimmer walked twice and struck out twice in four plate appearances.

Toru Murata had a ho-hum day on the mound, giving up four runs on nine hits over six innings to take the loss.

Akron RubberDucks 4, Richmond Flying Squirrels 7

Box Score · RubberDucks fall to 68-61

While their neighbor club Columbus was ending a nine-game winning streak, Akron had their impressive 10-game streak snapped yesterday thanks to some ugly pitching performances.

Greg Allen and Eric Haase both had multi-hit games for the RubberDucks, with Haase going 3-4 on the day. Eric Stamets walked three times and stole a base as well.

Nick Pasquale didn’t have a great day toeing the rubber, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits in just 3.1 innings. He failed to strike out a batter. Recently promoted Cameron Hill had a rough day in relief, giving up two more runs in the eighth inning to further prevent a comeback.

Lynchburg Hillcats 5, Wilmington Blue Rocks 3

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 81-49

One of the few certainties in life this year has been Lynchburg picking up a win and they didn’t let us down yesterday, surviving a late rally to defeat Wilmington.

The team was carried almost entirely offensively by two people, Anthony Santander and Dorssys Paulino, who both went 4-4 at the plate. Santander had three doubles while Paulino had a double and a triple.

Bobby Bradley also reached base three times, going 1-2 and was shown some serious respect by being intentionally walked twice.

Starting pitcher Thomas Pannone had one of his best performances since being promoted to High-A, giving up one run in 5.1 innings while striking out seven and walking one.

Lake County Captains 2, Bowling Green Hot Rods 14

Box Score · Captains fall to 66-64

This was a game Lake County will hopefully be able to forget about quickly.

The Captains were absolutely destroyed in all areas, not only losing 14-2, but also having four errors on the day.

Starting pitcher Trevor Foss took most of the lumps, giving up a whopping 13 hits and nine runs in five innings, although at least he didn’t walk anyone. Christian Meister was also lousy in relief, giving up five runs in two innings of work.

Martin Cervenka and David Armendariz had multi-hit games but that didn’t mean much in this beatdown.

Mahoning Valley Scrappers 5, Brooklyn Cyclones 1

Box Score · Scrappers improve to 32-32

Young left-hander Juan Hillman broke out of his recent slump, throwing his best start in over a month, giving up just one run in four innings, although he still did walk four batters and give up four hits while striking out just one.

As he has done all season, Andrew Callica absolutely obliterated opposing pitchers, going 3-3 with a home run, a triple, a walk and a hit by pitch on the day. Emmanuel Tapia also had a nice day, going 4-5 at the plate.

Ryan Colegate earned the win with four shutout innings of relief.

AZL Indians 4, AZL Mariners 10

Box Score · Indians fall to 31-22

Yesterday was not a good day for top Indians 2016 draft picks. Will Benson and Nolan Jones had completely forgettable performances. Benson went 0-5 with four strikeouts while Nolan went 0-4 with three strikeouts and a walk.

Elvis Perez saved face for the offense with three hits and two runs batted in, joined by Trenton Brooks who also had a multi-hit game.

Starting pitcher Felix Tati was knocked around for seven runs and the team really had no chance of bouncing back after having such a big hole dug so early.

The DSL Indians game was postponed due to rain.