Bobby Bradley bashes first home run of 2017

It was a 2-2 day for Tribe affiliates, and rehabbing Indians Jason Kipnis and Lonnie Chisenhall were both held hitless in their respective appearances, but there was plenty to get excited about in regards to upcoming prospects around the organization.

Columbus Clippers 1, Indianapolis Indians 0 (11 innings)

Box Score · Clippers improve to 3-2

At 35 years old, Chris Narveson isn’t much more than an organization filler, but he pitched one hell of a game yesterday for the Clippers out of the number five spot in the rotation. Narveson tossed six shutout innings, giving up four hits and striking out four while walking one to keep Columbus in the game despite their bats being silent.

The game remained scoreless until the 11th inning when Adam Moore reached on a single, moved to third on an error and scored on a base hit by Richie Shaffer. Shaffer was the only Clipper to record a multi-hit game, picking up two hits and a walk on the day. Giovanny Urshela also had a hit and a walk.

Relievers Kyle Crockett, Nick Goody and Tyler Olson combined for five brilliant innings of perfect baseball while striking out nine to give Columbus a chance to take the lead.

Akron RubberDucks 7, Trenton Thunder 3

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 2-3

The Akron bats exploded early and late in this game, jumping out to a 4-1 lead early which was plenty of support for southpaw starting pitcher Luis Lugo. Lugo, who was making his Double-A debut, tossed a solid 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits while striking out four and walking two.

Tyler Krieger and Francisco Mejia continued their hot starts, both picking up two hits apiece, three of them being doubles. Red hot Yu-Cheng Chang also picked up a double and a walk on the day. Greg Allen and Mike Papi also joined the two-hit parade to bump their early season batting averages above .300 and .400 respectively.

Also of note, slugging prospect Bobby Bradley bashed what is expected to be the first of many home runs this season. Bradley is off to a slow start, batting .188 through five games, but again, it’s a very small sample size.

D.J Brown closed things out with 3.1 innings of one-run baseball to preserve the lead and the win.

Lynchburg Hillcats 0, Salem Red Sox 6

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 1-4

The Lynchburg Hillcats have some excellent pitching, but unlike last year’s club, they’ve really had some trouble putting runs on the board thus far in 2016. Yesterday was their first shutout loss of the season, but the club has only scored more than three runs once through five games.

The bottom of the lineup in particular has really been struggling, and they were unable to record any of the team’s five hits yesterday. The wonderfully named Sicnarf Loopstock was the only Hillcat to pick up a multi-hit game, although Sam Haggerty did have a triple on the night.

Pitching-wise, Shao-Ching Chiang tossed 5.1 decent innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out five.

Lake County Captains 2, Great Lakes Loons 6

Box Score · Captains fall to 2-3

The Lake County Captains outhit their opponents 10-9 yesterday, but they were unable to string those hits together, stranding eight baserunners in total.

Conner Capel continues to make the Tribe brass look smart for promoting him straight to Single-A, going 2-4 and slugging his first home run of the year despite being a prep player out of the 2016 draft.

Jose Medina and Jorma Rodriguez joined the hit parade with two apiece, with both of Medina’s being doubles.

Starting pitcher Juan Hillman had a rough outing, surrendering five runs on five hits in 3.2 innings while striking out six. Two of the hits he allowed were long balls. Former Ohio State standout Tanner Tully was excellent in relief, tossing five innings of one-run ball while striking out seven.