Jean Carlos Mejia perfect in his 2019 debut, Clippers, Captains stay undefeated

Columbus Clippers 7, Indianapolis Indians 4

Box Score · Clippers improve to 3-0

Oscar Mercado and Eric Haase played hero in this one. Mercado went 2-3 with a walk, a stolen base, two RBI and a run scored. Haase went 2-4 with this mammoth opposite field home run, which opened up the scoring.

Also of note, a rehabbing Jason Kipnis went 1-3 at the dish with an RBI single.

Starting pitcher Jeffry Rodriguez was one out away from a quality start, tossing 5.2 innings and allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking none. Two of his runs allowed were in his final inning of work.

The Clippers bullpen locked things down the rest of the way, only allowing one more run to preserve the win.

Akron RubberDucks 0, Altoona Curve 2

Box Score · RubberDucks fall to 0-3

The RubberDucks spoiled a perfectly good start from pitcher Sean Brady, who allowed just two runs in 7.0 innings on four hits while striking out five and walking two. Rob Kaminsky also pitched two solid innings of scoreless relief.

The offense just couldn’t get clicking, as Akron was shutout for the second game this season already.

No one had any extra base hits, although Andrew Monasterio went 2-4 from the leadoff position. Daniel Johnson didn’t get a hit but he walked twice and was hit by a pitch on the day. Wilson Garcia went 1-3 with a walk in the loss.

Lynchburg Hillcats 0, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 2

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 2-1

Lynchburg had no business losing this game. The Hillcats outhit Myrtle Beach 11-3, but they couldn’t score a stinking run.

Steven Kwan went 2-5 while Oscar Gonzalez and Nolan Jones both went 2-4, but they couldn’t come around to score as the team went 1-10 with runners in scoring position and that one hit led to Gavin Collins getting tagged out at home.

The real story of this game, however, was Jean Carlos Mejia. Mejia was added to the Tribe’s 40-man roster in the offseason despite only playing at High-A for a few games, but he proved the Indians front office is full of geniuses with his performance on Saturday.

Mejia tossed 5.0 perfect innings, striking out eight batters. He didn’t allow a hit or a walk in his 2019 debut and 41 of his 66 pitches were strikes.

Unfortunately, the first man to relieve Mejia, Yapson Gomez, immediately gave up a single, then an RBI double, eventually allowing two runs to score, which was all Myrtle Beach needed on the evening.

Lake County Captains 5, West Michigan Loons 3

Box Score · Captains improve to 3-0

The Lake County Captains rotation continues to put on solid performances.

Juan Mota struck out five batters in 4.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits while walking two. Lake County starting pitchers have allowed just one run in 14.0 innings to start the season.

The offensive start of the game was 2018 16th round pick Ruben Cardenas, who went 2-4 with a double and his first professional home run. He also had three runs batted in and scored two runs.

Quentin Holmes went 1-3 with a sacrifice fly and a stolen base as well.

Lake County was trailing 3-2, but scored three runs in the eighth inning to win it. Skylar Arias struck out two in the ninth inning to earn the save.