Luis Lugo leaves Akron start in the first inning after being struck by batted ball

Double-A Akron received quite a scare yesterday as former top pitching prospect Luis Lugo was forced to leave the game after facing just one batter when he was struck by a batted ball in the arm.

I don’t have any further information yet about whether or not Lugo will miss his next start. We’ll just have to play the waiting game for now.

On the bright side, Akron’s bullpen was superb and the Rubberducks continued their recent winning ways.

Akron Rubberducks 6, Bowie Baysox 1

Box Score · Rubberducks improve to 9-11

With their starting pitcher out of the game after facing just one batter, the Akron bullpen and offense rallied around their fallen brother and put on an absolute clinic.

The bullpen was dominant, with four pitchers combining to give up just one run spread over nine innings. Cameron Hill led the charge with four shutout innings while Cole Sulser closed it out with two shutout innings of his own.

On the offensive side of the things, the Akron sluggers blasted four home runs. Francisco Mejia launched his first of the season, going 3-5 on the day while Bobby Bradley hit his fourth, Yu-Cheng Chang hit his fifth and Mike Papi his second.

Papi also had a big day at the plate, going 2-3 with a double and two more walks to move himself into a first place tie in the Eastern League with fellow teammate Bradley.

Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 9

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 9-10

The offense was there this time for Lynchburg, but it was the pitching that let them down.

Fresh off the disabled list, Conner Marabell led the charge, going 2-4 with a double, two RBI, a walk and a stolen base, but the hits were spread out across the entire lineup as no one else was able to record a multi-hit game.

Ka’ai Tom did his best to contribute, reaching base safely four times, going 1-2 with three walks and two stolen bases in the losing effort.

Starter Jared Robinson had a rough night, giving up five runs in three innings on four hits while walking two and even hitting a batter. Brock Hartson provided five innings of long relief, but was knocked around for eight hits and three more runs, although he finished with four scoreless frames.

Lake County Captains 3, West Michigan Whitecaps 7

Box Score · Captains fall to 9-12

It’s not often a team cranks three home runs but struggles offensively, but that’s what happened yesterday for Single-A Lake County.

Emmanuel Tapia, Todd Isaacs and Jorma Rodriguez all blasted solo shots to account for the entirety of the Captains offense. Logan Ice registered the lone other hit as the team only collected four on the day.

Aaron Civale didn’t get much help from his defense, allowing six runs (three earned) over five innings while striking out four.

Long reliever Ben Krauth provided three more scoreless innings as his season ERA remains unblemished thus far through five appearances and 12.1 innings in total.

Triple-A Columbus had their game suspended due to rain while losing 2-0 in the top of the first inning.