Will Benson bashes four home runs in Lake County win, Lindor almost hits for cycle in rehab assignment

Columbus Clippers 8, Louisville Bats 5

Box Score · Clippers improve to 9-5

Multiple players had huge offensive games in the Clippers’ victory on Thursday, but we’ll start with Francisco Lindor.

The rehabbing Tribe superstar missed hitting for the cycle by a triple, going 3-4 at the plate with a home run, a double and a walk.

Ryan Flaherty also had a huge game, going 2-4 with a pair of two-run home runs. Catcher Eric Haase homered for his fourth consecutive game, joining Lindor by also just missing the cycle by a triple and going 3-4 at the plate.

Bobby Bradley also had a great game, going 2-3 with a double and a walk while leadoff hitter Oscar Mercado went 2-5 with a triple.

Starting pitcher Michael Peoples danced around 10 hits to allow two earned runs in 6.0 innings while striking out six and walking one. Tyler Clippard made his 2019 debut, tossing a scoreless seventh inning with a strikeout. RC Orlan stunk up the joint in the eighth inning, allowing three runs while getting just two outs but thankfully the rains came and ended the game early to give the Clippers the win.

Akron RubberDucks 7, Bowie Baysox 4

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 5-9

Anduw Monasterio continued his hot-hitting ways, going 3-5 to set the table nicely for Akron. Connor Marabell and Alexis Pantoja both had multi-hit games, both going 2-4 at the dish with Pantoja hitting a double.

Everyone in the Akron lineup collected a hit, including Daniel Johnson, who blasted his third home run of the season.

Veteran pitcher Matt Solter had a tremendous outing, allowing one run on four hits in 5.0 innings while striking out 10 batters and walking none.

Reliever Ben Krauth made things interesting by allowing Bowie to tie the game with three runs in his 1.2 innings of work thanks to four walks, but James Karinchak slammed the door shut with yet another sensational appearance, striking out the side in the ninth inning to earn the save.

Karinchak has struck out a ridiculous 17 batters in his 6.0 innings of relief this season while walking two and has yet to allow a hit.

Lynchburg Hillcats 0, Potomac Nationals 9

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 9-6

Juan Hillman continues to be plagued by poor defense as he allowed seven runs (four of them unearned) in his 5.0 innings on nine hits while striking out two and walking three.

Lynchburg was shut out despite collecting 10 hits. Steven Kwan went 3-5, Nolan Jones went 2-3 with a walk and Sicnarf Loopstok went 2-4. The team had just one extra base hit and went just 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position.

Lake County Captains 12, South Bend Cubs 6

Box Score · Captains improve to 9-5

This is the reason you clicked on the article. Will Benson had himself a game. In his first four plate appearances on Thursday, Benson went 4-4 with four home runs. He launched a two-run shot in the first inning, a solo blast in the third, a grand slam in the fourth and another solo bomb in the sixth inning.

Benson’s grand slam was described as the best at bat of his young career. It was a 10-pitch at bat that saw him work a full count and foul off six consecutive pitches before going deep.

In his fifth plate appearance, Benson worked a full count yet again, but swung and missed, finishing the game 4-5 with four home runs and eight runs batted in.

It was the first time a player has hit four home runs in a game since 2015, when Yankees prospect Mike Ford did it.

Hosea Nelson also had a strong game, going 2-4 with a home run while Jesse Beradi had two hits. Bo Naylor went 1-3 with a triple and a walk while Mitch Reeves went 1-3 with a walk and two stolen bases.

Starting pitcher Shane McCarthy was terrific, allowing just one run on four hits in 6.0 innings while striking out four and walking one to earn the win.