Nick Sandlin earns win in Double-A debut, Nolan Jones carries Lynchburg to victory with 19th home run

Columbus Clippers 2, Indianapolis Indians 1

Box Score · Clippers improve to 69-59

Starting pitcher Adam Wilk was excellent and the bullpen was lights out as Columbus squeaked out a victory over Indianapolis on Wednesday.

Wilk tossed 6.0 innings, allowing just one run on six hits while striking out five and walking four.

Henry Martinez had his best outing since being promoted to Triple-A, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings while striking out four and walking one. Tyler Olsen and Evan Marshall completed the scoreless bullpen session with 1.1 perfect innings.

Bobby Bradley continues to show signs of life, going 3-4 at the plate with a triple, raising his Columbus batting average to .268. Granted, he’s also experiencing an unsustainable BABIP of .386 right now.

Adam Rosales and Brandon Barnes also had multi-hit games while Mike Papi and Joe Sever both went 1-3 with a walk. Recently acquired Oscar Mercado continued his struggles, going 0-5 at the plate to drop his batting average to .155.

Akron RubberDucks 2, Erie SeaWolves 0

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 72-56

Aaron Civale was sensational, throwing 7.0 shutout frames on five hits while striking out six and walking one. It was the third time this season he’s thrown seven scoreless innings in a start.

Unfortunately, Civale earned a no decision because the Akron offense failed to get on the board until Daniel Salters blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Andrew Calica would add an insurance run by doubling in Ernie Clement later in the frame.

Indians 2018 second round pick Nick Sandlin made his Double-A debut and it was just like all his other outings he’s had this season, dominant. Sandlin earned the victory by pitching a scoreless 1-2-3 eighth inning with a strikeout. The southern side-armer has 30 strikeouts compared to just two walks in 20.2 innings this season spread across the Arizona Rookie League, Single-A Lake County, High-A Lynchburg and now Akron. If he keeps up his pace, he could be a September call-up, becoming the first player in the 2018 draft class to make it to the majors.

Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Potomac Nationals 6 (F/10)

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 65-59

Lynchburg’s offense, dormant since the third inning, finally awoke in the bottom of the 10th frame to help the Hillcats walk off Potomac.

The Hillcats can almost exclusively thank Nolan Jones for its offense on Wednesday. The top Indians position player prospect went 3-5 with a home run, a double and four runs batted in.

Jones had an RBI single in the first inning, a two-run home run in the third inning, then a game-tying RBI double in the bottom of the 10th. After Gavin Collins sacrificed Jones to third base, Trenton Brooks played hero with a walk-off sacrifice fly to win it.

Starting pitcher Tanner Tully had a rough outing, allowing four runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings, but the bullpen really stepped up, failing to allow an earned run to score over the next 6.1 frames, including a sensational 3.0 innings of scoreless ball from Ben Krauth, who struck out six.

Lake County Captains 4, South Bend Cubs

Box Score · Captains improve to 54-74

Lake County put four runs on the board in the first inning and that was all the offense the Captains needed.

Juan Hillman pitched well, allowing two runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings while striking out eight and walking one.

Recently acquired Dane Hutcheon from the independent leagues played offensive hero, going 3-4 with two runs batted in. Miguel Eladio went 2-4 and Jesse Berardi went 1-2 with a pair of walks.

Mahoning Valley Scrappers 9, Auburn Doubledays 6 (F/10)

Box Score · Scrappers improve to 35-28

Mahoning Valley’s offense came alive late, scoring seven runs combined in innings eight, nine and 10 to win on Wednesday.

Leadoff hitter Clark Scolamiero had a strong game, going 3-6 with a home run and three runs batted in. Simeon Lucas also played hero, going 2-5 with a go-ahead two-run bomb in the 10th inning to help the Scrappers put the game out of reach in extras.

Jose Fermin and Michael Tinsley also had multi-hit efforts for M.V. while Tyler Freeman extended his record with his 29th double of the season. He’s now tied for third most doubles this year by any Indians minor league player, and that includes all full-season teams.

Juan Mota had a rough outing, allowing five runs on six hits in just two innings, but the bullpen saved the day by allowing just one run over the next eight frames.

DSL Indians 3, DSL Cubs1 4 (F/10)

Box Score · Indians fall to 31-38

The DSL Indians lost 4-3 in 10 innings despite only allowing three hits in the game.

The Indians went 0-6 with runners in scoring position, although Alexfri Planez did hit his 9th home run of the season. Cesar Idrogo went 1-3 with a pair of walks and Daniel Aguilar went 2-4.

Erick Heredia was particularly impressive, tossing 3.0 perfect innings of relief with three strikeouts.

AZL Indians2 2, AZL Indians1 1

Box Score · Indians2 improve to 29-23 · Indians1 fall to 34-16

In a game of intersquad violence, the AZL Indians2 kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating the AZL Indians1 2-1.

Korey Holland had the lone multi-hit game of any player, going 2-2 with a stolen base for the Indians2 after subbing in for Quentin Holmes, who had gone 1-2 with a caught stealing.

Both Holland and Holmes had the lone RBI for the Indians2 in the victory.

Miguel Jerez had an RBI double for the Indians1 to account for their only run.

Starting pitcher Wilmer Mejia had a tremendous outing for the Indians2, allowing one run on just three hits in 5.0 innings while striking out six and walking one.

Reliever Thomas Ponticelli was terrific for the Indians1, striking out five in 2.2 scoreless innings.