Bo Naylor’s grand slam leads home run party for Cleveland affiliates

If chicks dig the long ball, then they were loving Cleveland’s minor league affiliates on Saturday.

Akron RubberDucks 11, Erie Seawolves 5

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 47-28

This game was all about the catchers of the future.

Bryan Lavastida, fresh off a promotion to Double-A, made an immediate impact by going 3-5 with a home run and four runs batted in. His home run was a seventh-inning oppo taco.

Not to be outdone, former Cleveland first-round pick Bo Naylor, who began the year at Double-A and represented the club in the futures game, hit not one but two home runs, one of them a grand slam, knocking in six runs overall. The catchers had 10 RBI on the night combined.

Brayan Rocchio also made his Double-A debut and he reached base safely four times, going 2-3 with a triple and two walks. The triple came in the first pitch he ever saw as a member of the RubberDucks.

Will Benson also homered, going 1-4 with a laser blast and also walking and stealing a base. Steven Kwan went 3-5.

On the pitching side of the equation, Juan Hillman was cruising through the first five innings before he was tagged for three runs in the sixth. His pitch count was low and he had a big lead, so he came back out for the seventh and got two more outs before he was pulled. Hillman finished with 6.2 innings pitched, allowing five runs on 11 hits with four strikeouts and one walk.

Dakody Clemmer and Jake Miednik closed the game out with 2.1 scoreless innings of relief.

Lake County Captains 9, Dayton Dragons 0

Box Score · Captains improve to 41-36

The offense was great, but the story of this game was Lake County’s pitching. Hunter Gaddis had his best start of the season, tossing six shutout innings on two hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Nathan Ocker was tremendous in relief, tossing three scoreless innings of one-hit ball.

Aaron Bracho went 1-3, blasting a two-run home run and walking once.

Cody Donovan went 2-3 with a home run, a walk and a stolen base.

Micah Pries went 2-4 with a double and a stolen base and George Valera reached base three times, going 1-3 with a walk and a hit by pitch. Joe Naranjo went 1-4 with a walk and Raynel Delgado and Victor Nova both went 2-5, with Nova stealing a base.

Lynchburg Hillcats 2, Carolina Mudcats 11

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 39-36

This game wasn’t pretty, but Jhonkensy Noel was a big highlight. Noel went 3-4, including a mammoth solo shot in the seventh inning. He’s now hitting .385 with a ridiculous 1.124 OPS this season. Cleveland had better protect him from the Rule 5 draft in November or he’s going to get Santandered.

Petey Halpin went 2-4 with a stolen base as the only other Hillcat to reach base twice.

Starting pitcher Juan Zapata was terrific, allowing two runs (one earned) in six innings with three strikeouts and no walks. Unfortunately, the bullpen was a disaster, allowing nine runs between three pitchers over the last three innings.

ACL Guardians 14, ACL Reds 7

Box Score · ACL Guardians improve to 15-7

• Junior Sanquinton: 2-4, HR, BB, SO
• Jorge Burgos: 2-3, 2 2B, 2 BB, SO
• Milan Tolentino: 2-4, BB, SO
• Luis Durango 2-5, 2B, HBP, SO
• Skeiling Rodriguez 1-5, HR, 2 SO
• Steven Perez: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO
• Yeury Gervacio: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 SO

DSL Guardians Blue 4, DSL Guardians Red 5

Box Score · Red improve to 7-7, Blue falls to 9-5

• Manuel Mejias: 2-3, 2B, HBP
• Richard Palanco: 1-2, 2 BB, SO
• Fran Alduey: 2-4, SO
• Wilmer Hernandez: 3-4, 3B, SO
• Esteban Gonzalez: 2-4, 2B, SB, SO
• Maikol Flores: 2-2, SF, CS
• Diego Navarro: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO
• Elian Quezada: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO

Triple-A Columbus had its game suspended in the third inning while leading 1-0. Richard Palacios had an RBI single in his debut for the Clippers. The game will be completed today.