Indians minor league recap: Francisco Mejia extends hitting streak to 47 games

There was plenty to be excited about yesterday. Three talented youngsters all extended their hitting streaks and several players had big-time performances despite having recently been promoted.

Tristen McKenzie put on a strikeout clinic in his Lake County Captains debut while Bradley Zimmer notched a monster four-hit game in a Clippers blowout.

Let's get to it:

Columbus Clippers 17, Louisville Bats 4

Box Score · Clippers improve to 63-51

The Columbus Clippers had Louisville wishing there was a mercy rule in professional baseball with this absolute thrashing last night which included 21 hits for the Indians Triple-A affiliate.

Once again, Yandy Diaz and Giovanny Urshela recorded hits,  extending his hitting streaks to 24 and 19 games respectively. Diaz extended his with a home run in the first inning and going 2-5 on the day while Urshela went a measly 4-6 with a double.

Everyone in the Clippers starting lineup had a hit and everyone but two had multi-hit games. Bradley Zimmer and Jesus Aguilar had monster games as well. Zimmer went 4-6 with two doubles to improve his Triple-A batting average to .357 while Aguilar went 3-5 with two doubles, a home run and a walk. Guillermo Quiroz also homered for the Clippers.

Adam Plutko tossed six solid innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and striking out eight to pick up the easiest win of his career.

Akron RubberDucks 8, Portland Sea Dogs 2

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 56-57

Akron dominated every category in an attempt to hopefully turn around their season yesterday against Portland.

Resurgent lefty Rob Kaminsky tossed five scoreless innings, striking out five and giving up just three hits. The RubberDucks took advantage of five Portland errors, scoring four unearned runs in the sixth inning to run away with it.

Jordan Smith, Nellie Rodriguez, Luigi Rodriguez and Eric Haase provided the brunt of the offense, all collecting multi-hit games. Haase also slugged his 10th home run to lead off the sixth.

Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Salem Red Sox 13

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 71-41

After a promising start, this game just got away from Lynchburg.

With Brock Hartson on the mound making his first High-A start, he entered the fourth inning with a 4-1 lead, but that's where the good times ended.

Hartson gave up two runs in the fourth, then was yanked in a three-run fifth and Salem could not be stopped from there, scoring 12 runs in their final five innings of offense.

Red hot Francisco Mejia extended his insane hitting streak to 47 games on the second pitch he saw, socking a double off the right field wall in the first inning. He would reach base safely twice on the day.

Mark Mathias, Anthony Santander and recently activated Dorssys Paulino all had big multi-hit games offensively, but Lynchburg simply couldn't keep up with Salem and their 19 total hits.

Lake County Captains 2, Great Lakes Loons 5

Box Score · Captains fall to 56-52

Triston McKenzie sure knows how to make a good first impression.

The incredibly talented right-hander gave up as many runs in his first start for Lake County as he had all season for Mahoning Valley (3) in his Captains debut, but he was blowing people away with his stuff, notching a ridiculous 11 strikeouts in 5.1 innings without walking a batter and only giving up 4 hits.

McKenzie couldn't get much of anything in regards to run support as the Captains only managed to have four at bats all game with runners in scoring position, going 1-4.

Jodd Carter continued his hot run for Lake County, extending his hitting streak to nine games.

Mahoning Valley Scrappers 6, West Virginia Black Bears 5

Box Score · Scrappers improve to 22-24

Mahoning Valley continues to dig themselves out of their early season hole, sweeping West Virginia yesterday behind some timely offense and some improving pitching.

Gabriel Mejia led the charge for the Scrappers out, going 2-3 with a walk from the leadoff position while also stealing his 13th base of the season.

Andrew Calica brought the lumber, batting in four baserunners on the day with the help of a clutch triple while Mitch Longo also went 2-4 with a double.

Cesar Ventura had a solid start, lasting four innings and giving up two runs on two hits while striking out four. The real story was switch-pitcher Ryan Perez, who tossed three shutout innings of relief to collect the win.

AZL Indians 0, AZL White Sox 5

Box Score · Indians fall to 23-14

This game was an offensive nightmare for the AZL Indians, as they were shutout on just two hits while committing two errors. The lone bright spot from the bats was Nolan Jones, who walked twice in plate appearances.

While it wasn't a dominant performance, Brady Aiken had his best start of the season, throwing 5 innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits and three walks while striking out eight.

Patience, people. Patience.

DSL Indians 0, DSL Mets1 1

Box Score · Indians fall to 22-31

The AZL Indians lost a nailbiter, getting shutout 1-0 after only picking up two hits overall. The bright spot was the pitching, which only gave up four hits on the day and starting pitcher Yefferson Yannuzzi, who gave up one run in five innings of work.