Cleveland affiliates go 3-1 in a night of nailbiters

Columbus Clippers 5, Toledo Mud Hens 4

Box Score · Clippers improve to 16-20

If Cleveland’s injury luck doesn’t improve soon, Kirk McCarty could find himself making an MLB start before the season ends. Last night he held the Toledo Mud Hens to three runs over five innings in a 5-4 win for Columbus.

It was almost not enough, though, as Columbus found themselves tied in the bottom of the ninth. Back-to-back doubles from Ryan Lavarnway and Connor Marabell gave them the walk-off win.

Andres Gimenez and Connor Marabell led the offense with two hits apiece, the former also knocking in a team-high three runs. Nolan Jones was held hitless with one strikeout as his OPS settles around .700. Owen Miller, fresh off a demotion from the majors, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

In addition to his walk-off, multi-hit night, Connor Marabell also did this:

Akron RubberDucks 3, Bowie Baysox 2

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 21-14

The Akron RubberDucks were able to squeak out a win last night, but maybe that’s because the Bowie Baysox players were worried about where they would have to sleep at night.

Regardless, Tyler Freeman hit his second triple of the season in the win, and Alex Call grabbed his 10th stolen base of the season.

Will Benson continues a bizarre season in which he has a .383 on-base percentage and a .409 slugging percentage ... but just a .193 batting average. Last night he went 0-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout.

Lake County Captains 3, West Michigan Whitecaps 2

Box Score · Captains improve to 3-2

Lake County’s victory over West Michigan came via death by a thousand papercuts. Seven total hits for Lake County, none with runners in scoring position, all singles. No one batter had more than one hit, and they struck out a combined 13 times.

All three of Lake County’s runs came via errors — Bryan Lavastida scored in the bottom of the sixth, and Jose Tena and Brayan Rocchio scored the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth.

Hunter Gaddis continued his up-and-down season by dominating over five innings. He struck out seven and allowed one earned run without a walk. Lefty reliever Tim Herrin logged six strikeouts in his three innings of work, and Alec Wisely closed out the game with a clean ninth inning for the save.

Lynchburg Hillcats 2, Fredericksburg Nationals 3

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 18-17

The Lynchburg Hillcats battled to the bitter end but were the lone Cleveland affiliate loss in a night of nailbiters. Alexfri Planez tied the game up in the top of the ninth with a sac fly, but a disastrous bottom of the ninth doomed them.

Trey Benton was pulled after getting the first outs of the frame, then Jerson Ramirez was ordered to intentionally walk the first batter he was set to face. He unintentionally walked the next one and then allowed a single to end the game.

Angel Martinez went 3-for-4, which is basically nothing for him at this point. The 19-year-old is slashing .281/.378/.500 on the season and hasn’t had any trouble making the jump from the DSL in 2019.