Columbus, Lake County get into slugfests as Tyler Freeman and Jhonkensy Noel homer

Columbus Clippers 15, Toledo Mud Hens 11

Box Score · Clippers improve to 30-21

Columbus participated in one of the wildest slugfests of 2022 on Thursday. the game had 19 runs scored before the fourth inning was even complete.

Every member of the Clippers reached base safely at least twice, except for Bobby Bradley, although his one hit was big one, a 3-run bomb that broke an 8-8 tie, his first home run of the year.

Tyler Freeman also had himself a game, going 1-3 with a three-run home run and a pair of walks.

David Fry, who was acquired in the offseason for JC Mejia, also homered twice, going 2-5, on the day with a two-run and a three-run bomb.

The final home run from the Clippers came from Mitchell Tolman, who went 3-4 with a walk.

Other offensive standouts included Will Benson, who went 1-3 with a pair of walks and a stolen base, Will Brennan, who doubled and walked, and Trenton Brooks, who doubled and walked.

It wasn’t a good day for pitchers, as starting pitcher Kirk McCarty gave up eight runs (four earned). Ian Gibault earned the win by pitching 2.0 scoreless innings to close out the game.

Akron RubberDucks 4, Richmond Flying Squirrels 8

Box Score · RubberDucks fall to 27-20

It wasn’t a pretty game for Akron, with only no one having a multi-hit game, although Bo Naylor walked three times and stole a base. Julian Escobedo also went 1-3 with a walk.

Starting pitcher Joey Cantillo had his 22 scoreless inning streak ended but he didn’t pitch poorly, allowing two runs on four hits in 4.0 innings with five strikeouts and a pair of walks.

The bullpen was tattooed in this one, with back to back pitchers serving up three runs each to put the game out of reach.

Lake County Captains 8, West Michigan Whitecaps 16

Box Score · Captains fall to 24-23

Lake County had plenty of offense on Thursday, but the game turned into a home run derby in a bad way as the Captains pitching staff served up a whopping six home runs.

Offensively, Jhonkensy Noel had an impressive showing, going 2-4 with a home run and a sacrifice fly, racking up four RBIs.

Joe Naranjo also had a multi-hit game, going 2-5 with a triple while Petey Halpin went 2-5 and was caught stealing. Other players who reached base twice included Angel Martinez, who went 1-3 with a hit by pitch, Christian Cairo, who walked twice, and Raynel Delgado, who went 1-4 with a walk.

Lake County utilized five pitchers in the game and all of them allowed multiple runs. Brutal.

Lynchburg’s game was suspended in the bottom of the eighth inning while trailing 5-2.