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Columbus Clippers 1, Indianapolis Indians 0
Box Score · Clippers improve to 43-40
For the third straight game, the Columbus Clippers participated in a shutout, this time they were on the good side.
Ryan Merritt tossed seven scoreless innings and somehow failed to strike out a single batter, walking two, giving up four hits and hitting a batter along the way.
The lone offense of the entire game was a sacrifice fly from Ronny Rodriguez, which brought in Abraham Almonte, who had walked earlier in the inning.
Akron RubberDucks 5, Harrisburg Senators 2
Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 42-37
A pair of big games from Bobby Bradley and Eric Haase was all the Akron offense would need. Bradley went 2-4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI while Haase blasted off with two home runs, his 14th and 15th of the season despite being Francisco Mejia’s back-up catcher. With yesterday’s game, Haase now sports an absolutely insane ISO of .339 for 2017.
Tyler Krieger also had a multi-hit game with a double.
It wasn’t all about the offense, however. Starting pitcher Matt Whitehouse took a shutout into the seventh inning before running into trouble. He finished with 6+ innings pitched, one earned run on six hits while striking out six. Whitehouse has been a revelation this year since moving to the starting pitching role.
Also, while Yu-Cheng Chang didn’t have a great game offensively (1-4 with a double and two strikeouts), he contributed an incredible defensive gem late in the game to help preserve the win.
Not bad.
Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Frederick Keys 1 (F/8)
Box Score · Hillcats improve to 49-32
When Triston McKenzie is pitching, you don’t need much offense to win, but Lynchburg broke out for 16 hits yesterday to back up their 19-year old ace.
Yonathan Mendoza, Martin Cervenka and Anthony Miller all had three hit games while Sicnarf Loopstok went 2-4 with a double to pace the offense to seven runs overall.
McKenzie, as per usual, was dominant. The top Indians pitching prospect struck out 11 over seven innings without walking a batter while giving up three hits. The game was called in the eighth inning due to rain and mercy.
Lake County Captains 0, Bowling Green Hot Rods 4
Box Score · Captains fall to 34-48
Just when it looked like Lake County was turning it around, the offense fell off a cliff, scoring two runs in total during the team’s recent three game losing streak.
Juan Hillman wasn’t his sharpest yesterday, giving up four runs on eight hits over five innings, but he also got absolutely zero help from his offense, which was shut out.
Emmanuel Tapia and Luke Wakamatsu had a pair of singles each in the losing effort.
Mahoning Valley Scrappers 3, Auburn Doubledays 0 (F/12)
Box Score · Scrappers fall to 9-6
A late bullpen implosion cost the Scrappers yesterday despite some solid offensive performances. Starting pitcher Gregori Vasquez was superb, giving up just one run over 5.2 innings while striking out three and walking just one, but Randy Valladares gave up two runs in the eighth inning to allow West Virginia to tie the game where the team lost in extras.
Ulysses Cantu continues to impress with a four-hit game while Will Benson blasted off with his first home run of the 2017 season in the loss.
AZL Indians 13, AZL Brewers 12
Box Score · Indians improve to 4-5
This game was clearly not about pitching.
Indians 2017 second round pick Quentin Holmes went 2-5 with two doubles and three runs batted in while fellow second round pick Tyler Freeman went 3-4 with a double and three RBIs himself.
They were joined on the offensive explosion by catcher Felix Fernandez, who went 4-5 with a double and a home run.
The Indians were able to win despite committing five errors.
Also of note, a rehabbing Greg Allen played the first few innings, going 0-2 as he works his way back to Akron.
DSL Indians 8, DSL Indians Brewers 4
Box Score · Indians improve to 10-17, Indians/Brewers fall to 9/17
A ridiculous seven members of the DSL Indians had multi-hit games in the victory. Top prospect Marcos Gonzalez went 2-5 with two runs batted in while Carlos Ventura went 2-3 with a walk and a home run.