George Valera hits first Double-A home run in Akron win

Akron RubberDucks 11, Altoona Curve 2

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 63-39

The runs came early and often for the Akron RubberDucks, who pummeled the Altoona Curve 11-2 to improve to a Double-A best 63-39 record.

George Valera has not slowed down at all since his promotion to Double-A. His two hits yesterday, including his first Double-A home run, put him at a .333/.419/.444 slash in seven games with the Ducks.

We didn’t get to see one of his patented bat flips yet, but it was still a smooth bat drop as he started to round the bases.

Roberto Pérez racked up three hits in his rehab start and Brayan Rocchio went 2-for-4 with a double.

Logan T. Allen continued his impressive run of Double-A starts with six scoreless innings and six strikeouts. Coming into the game he had allowed exactly two earned runs in each of his last four starts. A weird streak that he finally snapped and kept his ERA under 3.00.

Joey Cantillo, a key piece in last year’s Mike Clevinger deal, made his first appearance of the season. It was rough, with two earned runs off three hits in just 1.1 innings, but it’s an important first step after missing so much of the season with an abdominal injury. He also added his first Double-A strikeout.

Lake County Captains 4, South Bend Cubs 3

Box Score · Captains improve to 55-48

Take the wins any way you can get them, as they say. The Captains must have been thinking that last night as they won after Jonathan Rodriguez singled, stole second, made it to third on an errant throw, and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Wins are wins, folks.

Rodriguez’s hustle came after his team-leading second hit of the night while the rest of the offense struggled against South Bend pitching. José Tena hit a double and Joe Donovan homered as the team’s only extra-base hits.

Jhonkensy Noel, who had not even been in High-A for two weeks, extended his hit streak to five games with a single last night. In fact, since his Aug. 18 debut with Lake County, he has a hit in all but two of the games he has played in.

Captains starter Kevin Coulter recovered nicely from a disastrous outing last week, pitching a scoreless 4.1 innings with five strikeouts.

Lynchburg Hillcats 3, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 5

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 50-53

The Hillcats were unfortunately tagged with the only loss in the minors yesterday, but it wasn’t because of Alexfri Planez. The left fielder put up three hits in the losing effort. Yordys Valdes added a double as his only hit of the game.

Lynchburg maintained a 1-1 tie through much of the game before taking a 3-1 lead off of hits from Yordys Valdes and Petey Halpin as well as an RBI groundout from Angel Martinez in the top of the fifth.

That lead was short-lived, however, as Daritzon Felix coughed up three runs in the bottom of the six. He walked two, allowed two hits and didn’t register a single out before being pulled. That effectively wasted a brilliant start from Brauny Munoz: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO.

The Columbus Clippers did not play due to rain.