THIS IS A RECAP

Columbus Clippers 9, Indianapolis Indians 1

Box Score · Clippers skadonk to 56-34

You want to score runs on Michael Peoples? Hilarious. Just hilarious.

The 6’5” RHP controlled the game for the first six innings, allowing only five hits and two walks. He struck out seven and coughed up a single run. Henry Martinez, Cam Hill, and James Hoyt all pitched scoreless frames.

Clippers hitters tallied fifteen hits and five walks, which makes their fifteen strikeouts a lot more palatable. Yu Chang hit a double and a triple while starting at second base. Meanwhile, Ka’ai Tom and Mark Mathias picked up three hits apiece.

Akron RubberDucks 5, Bowie Baysox 6

Box Score · RubberDucks melted, now 41-50

The RubberDucks took a lead into the ninth, lost it, rallied to force extra innings, and then lost in the tenth. I have opened the Unofficial Baseball Lexicon of Terminology and Other Definitive Definitions, and this one appears to be classifiable as a tough loss.

Kyle Nelson continues to prove that he is actually mortal, as he allowed the go-ahead 2-run home run in the top of the ninth. Akron bounced back right away, though. Tyler Krieger singled and then advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Andruw Monasterio. Ernie Clement singled him in from scoring position, stole second, and then advanced to third on a throwing error. Nolan Jones struck out, and then Li-Jen Chu did the same.

Nelson returned for the tenth, and immediately uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the free extra innings runner to scoot to third. He allowed a single to score the run, and then made the next three outs. The damage was done. The RubberDucks fell in order in the bottom of the tenth.

While his overall season line is still quite good, Nelson’s last few weeks have brought his numbers back down to earth.

Lynchburg Hillcats 5, Down East Wood Ducks 7

Box Score · Hillcats declawed to 43-47

They sure did try. Down five in the top of the ninth, the Hillcats mounted a comeback that came up short when Tyler Friis struck out on three pitches to end the game. Patience was the key to the almost-tally; four Hillcats—including Oscar Gonzalez—drew walks. Interestingly, every at-bat in the inning was either a four-pitch walk, a three-pitch strikeout, or a first-pitch ball-in-play that resulted in RBIs.

Justin Garza earned the loss for his performance, but it wasn’t that bad. He only gave up four hits and two walks in six innings and struck out eight. The problem is that three of those four hits were dingers.

Lake County Captains 4, Clinton LumberKings 3

Box Score · Captains Captain to 52-38

Juan Mota pitched eight innings of two run baseball, striking out seven in the process. Kellen Rholl worked the seventh and eighth without trouble and protected the two-run lead.

Things looked dicey in the bottom of the ninth when Manuel Alvarez allowed a run-scoring, two-out double. He avoided any further disaster by inducing a groundout to shortstop Daniel Schneemann, earning the save.

There wasn’t a ton of offense to speak of, but the Captains made the most of it. Jose Fermin and Schneemann reached twice with hits. Meanwhile, Billy Wilson impressed in his first game since promotion by going 1-1 with three delicious walks.

Game 1: Mahoning Valley Scrappers 4, Brooklyn Cyclones 5 (7 innings)

Game 2: Mahoning Valley Scrappers 4, Brooklyn Cyclones 0 (7 innings)

Box Score
Other Box Score
Scrappers bloink to 14-14

Thursday’s game got postponed, and so tonight featured a shortened double-header for the Scrappers. The split the ticket with the Cyclones. One bad inning from Carlos Vargas—in which he surrendered all five runs—was all that it took for the Cyclones to prevail in the first game, shortened to 7-innings in order to get both games in.

The Scrappers bullpenned their way to success in the second game, relying on four different pitches throwing between one and three innings each. They delivered a shortened shutout thanks to their efforts. Brayan Rocchio had two hits and an RBI, while Raynel Delgado, George Valera, and Henry Pujols also pitched in with hits.

AZL Indians Red vs. Blue: Red 2, Blue 9

Box Score · Blue improves to 14-6, Red falls to 10-10

Blue carried the day in this intra-organizational big team battle. With thirteen hits and four walks, they hammered Jhon Vergara and added a few more against Allan Hernandez in the ninth. A bright spot for Red: 3.1 scoreless innings with a clean KDR from Serafino Brito, and Daniel Espino pitched a scoreless inning in his debut.

Aaron Bracho led the charge for Blue, with a triple, a home run, and a single, leading to three RBI (all with two outs). Will Brennan collected three hits—one a double—and Pablo Jimenez tripled, too.

Luis Garcia dominated on the mound for six innings, in which he allowed a single hit and no walks while striking out seven.

For the Reds, Gaspar Palacios earned two hits, while Yainer Diaz nailed two basrunners with plasma grenades.

DSL Indians 8, DSL Rays 8 - Game Suspended in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded.

Gameday Link, no Box Score Available · Indians in a tight spot, may very well fall to 15-21 but we can’t say that for sure until July 30th when the game is scheduled to be completed.

Things looked great for the Indians early as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead through four innings of play. Maybe, they thought, they would finally turn around their 5-game losing streak.

Then, the Rays scored one in the fifth, another in the sixth, and three each in the seventh and eighth to tie the game up.

More on this story as it develops.