Oscar Mercado tees off for Columbus, Eli Morgan tosses fourth straight terrific start in Lynchburg win

Columbus Clippers 11, Norfolk Tides 6

Box Score · Clippers improve to 12-6

Oscar Mercado was on fire Tuesday, collecting all three of the Clippers’ extra base hits by going 4-5 at the plate with a home run, two doubles, three runs scored and three runs batted in. Mercado raised his OPS over 1.000 for the 2019 season and is making a strong case to become a right-handed hitting option in the Cleveland outfield.

Cameron Maybin went 3-5 while Jordan Luplow went 2-4 with a walk. Mark Mathias went 2-5, Eric Stamets went 1-2 with two walks, a stolen base and three runs scored and Eric Haase walked twice.

Shao-Ching Chiang had a rough outing for Columbus, allowing four runs in 4.2 innings while walking four and striking out four. Josh Smith picked up the win with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief and Jon Edwards also pitched a perfect inning.

Akron RubberDucks 6, Binghamton Rumble Ponies 11

Box Score · RubberDucks fall to 7-11

Sean Brady was tattooed for nine runs (eight earned) in 3.0+ innings of work in his return to the Akron rotation after a surprisingly effective stint in Columbus and Akron never recovered.

Offensively, three RubberDucks had three-hit games. Ka’ai Tom went 3-5 with a double and both Wilson Garcia and Connor Marabell went 3-5 with a run scored. Tyler Krieger went 2-5 and Li-Jen Chu went 1-4 with a home run.

Nick Sandlin gave up a pair of hits but tossed a scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts and Argenis Angulo tossed three scoreless innings of relief in the loss.

Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Down East Wood Ducks 1

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 11-8

Jodd Carter went 1-3 with a home run and a walk while Luke Wakamatsu went 1-4 with a bases-clearing triple for three runs batted in to pace the Lynchburg offense on Tuesday.

Dillon Persinger and Nolan Jones also had multi-hit games, going 2-4.

Starting pitcher Eli Morgan once again was sensational. Morgan allowed one run on four hits in 6.0 innings while striking out six and walking none. He has yet to allow more than one run in any of his 2019 starts and sports a 0.78 ERA for the season.

Kyle Nelson closed things out with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief and three strikeouts. He’s quietly put up similar numbers to James Karinchak this season, whiffing 14 batters in his 7.0 innings of work without giving up a run.

Lake County Captains 4, Dayton Dragons 7

Box Score · Captains fall to 11-7

No Captains had multi-hit games as Lake County collected just five hits, but Will Benson went 1-2 with a double, a stolen base and a pair of walks.

Hosea Nelson went 1-3 with a home run and a walk and Tyler Freeman went 1-3 with a double, a hit by pitch, a stolen base and two runs scored.

Starting pitcher Juan Mota struck out six in his 4.0 innings of work, but struggled with command, walking four and giving up four hits as he surrendered four runs.

Thomas Ponticelli gave up another three runs in his 4.0 innings of work to put the game out of reach.