Columbus Clippers 3, Indianapolis Indians 9
Box Score · Clippers improve to 30-32
The Indians won! Wait, wrong Indians. With a .500 record on the line, the Columbus Clippers dropped their series finale to the Indianapolis Indians, 9-3.
Abraham Almonte did his job leading off as he finished 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk in his rehab start. Can’t ask for much more out of a leadoff designated hitter. Richie Shaffer and Nellie Rodriguez homered as well. Both sluggers have two homers in their last three games.
Mike Clevinger, making his first start since being optioned last week, lasted just four innings and allowed five runs. The rough showing nearly doubled his Triple-A earned run average on the season, from 1.50 to 2.65.
Akron RubberDucks 7, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 3
Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 28-30
I think it’s time to finally say it once and for all: Francisco Mejia is untradeable. Maybe it’s a little premature to say of a 21-year-old catcher in Double-A, but it appears as if the Indians have a potentially great hitter at one of their weakest organizational positions.
Proving his hitting streak last season wasn’t a fluke, Mejia is 19-for-41 in his last 10 games, including four hits yesterday. In that same span he has five home runs and he’s walked six times to just five strikeouts. Absolutely incredible.
For some added context, here is where Mejia’s full-season slash ranks among Eastern League batters:
- BA: 1st (.369)
- OBP : 2nd (.412)
- SLG: 1st (.631)
- OPS: 1st (1.043)
Other players participated in this game as well, including Joe Sever who went 3-for-4 and Jordan Smith who went 3-for-5 from the leadoff spot. The infallible Thomas Pannone pitched another gem, striking out seven and walking one in his six-inning win. Pannone’s Double-A career was off to a shaky start, having allowed five earned runs in his second outing and skyrocketing his ERA to 4.09. Since then, he’s been back to being outstanding and slowly dropped his ERA to the 1.75 it is now.
Lynchburg Hillcats 5, Frederick Keys 2
Box Score · Hillcats improve to 36-25
Propelled by a Sicnarf Loopstok home run, the Lynchburg Hillcats pulled out a four-run third inning to give themselves another win yesterday. That was pretty much the only offense the Hillcats got — they had eight hits as a team and struck out just as many times — but it was all they needed with Shane Bieber on the hill. He struck out six in 5.2 innings of work, and he allowed just one run off four hits.
Lake County Captains 4, Bowling Green Hot Rods 8 (Game 1)
Lake County Captains 6, Bowling Green Hot Rods 17 (Game 2)
Game 1 Box Score · Game 2 Box Score · Captains fall to 22-40
It was an all around ugly day for the Lake County Captains. Luckily, game one of the doubleheader was just a completion of a previous game that didn’t take long to lose. The second game, on the other hand, saw the Bowling Green Hot Rods score 17 runs over just seven innings.
Lake County managed seven hits in game two, but they also struck out nine times. They were 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position, but the top of the lineup went a combined 0-for-10 in the game. Tanner Tully took the brunt of the runs in his 2.2 innings of work. He didn’t issue a walk (yay!), though that doesn’t really matter when he allowed 10 hits.