Yu-Cheng Chang belts 14th home run in Akron win

Columbus Clippers 9, Gwinnett Braves 3

Box Score · Clippers improve to 35-33

With last night’s 9-3 win over the Gwinnett Braves, the Columbus Clippers are riding a three-game winning streak and do not appear to be slowing down. Despite striking out 10 times and committing two defensive errors, Columbus was still able to blowout the Braves 9-3.

Richie Shaffer continued his hot month, going 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk. Shaffer is 21-for-60 in June, with a .350/.420/.767 slash and a whopping seven home runs. On the season, he is tied for the International League lead with 16 home runs.

Chris Narveson pitched 5.2 innings with two strikeouts and one earned run off six hits. The journeyman lefty has not allowed more than two earned runs in any June game.

Akron RubberDucks 3, Portland Sea Dogs 2

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 33-31

What’s that? You’re tired of hearing about Francisco Mejia? Too bad.

The top Indians prospect didn’t even start yesterday, but he doubled in a ninth-inning pinch-hit appearance to walk-off against the Portland Sea Dogs. And just look at the swagger after he did it.

Mejia was one of only four ‘Ducks batters to record a hit — one of those Yu-Cheng Chang’s 14th home run of the season.

On the mound for Akron, Matt Esparza continued to impress in Double-A. He pitched six innings of two-run ball, striking out six and walking one. The 22-year-old Esparza has a 2.00 ERA in four starts with the ducks and opponents are hitting just .168 against him.

Lynchburg Hillcats 5, Frederick Keys 11

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 40-29

Triston McKenzie was bound to have a bad game eventually. He did so yesterday, allowing seven earned runs over 1.2 innings. In that short time, Frederick Keys batters hit three home runs. It should tell you how great McKenzie has been than seven runs over 1.2 innings only pushed his earned run average to 3.28 on the season.

The Lynchburg Hillcats offense faced an uphill battle all game, but they battled. Sam Haggerty, Ka’ai Tom, Anthony Miller, and Claudio Bautista all homered on the day. The latter’s was a pinch-hit dinger in the ninth.

Lake County Captains 3, South Bend Cubs 9

Box Score · Captains fall to 27-42

The Lake County Captains outhit the South Bend Cubs 10-9, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a flurry of runs hit off starting pitcher Luis Jimenez and reliever Ryan Colegate. The pair combined to throw six innings and they allowed nine runs off nine hits.

Junior Soto, Gavin Collins, and Jose Medina all had multi-hit games.

The DSL Indians had a scheduled day off.