The offense was humming on three of its four cylinders yesterday as Columbus, Lynchburg and Lake County all scored at least eight runs.
Akron, on the other hand....
Several top prospects went deep in the Tribe system and the two Shawns (Seans) had absolutely phenomenal performances from the mound.
Columbus Clippers 10, Buffalo Bisons 13
Box Score · Clippers fall to 26-20
It's not often you score 10 runs and still lose, but that's how bad the Clippers' pitching was yesterday.
Fresh off a nomination for Indians' Minor League Player of the Week, veteran starter Jarrett Grube strapped a rocket on his trip back to the middle, surrendering eight runs in just 2.2 innings.
The Clippers offense was paced by Yandy Diaz and, believe it or not, Collin Cowgil, on the day. Diaz had the best day at the plate in his young Triple-A career, going 3-4 with two doubles, a home run and a walk while Cowgil went 3-5 with a double. Diaz raised his batting average above .300 with his performance on the day and LGT darling Tyler Naquin joined him in the home run department by blasting off for his first dinger of the year.
Columbus battled back to being down 11-10 by the end of the seventh inning, but Buffalo scored two insurance runs after a throwing error by Yhoxian Medina on an double play which would have got them out of the inning.
Akron RubberDucks 2, Altoona Curve 3
Box Score · RubberDucks fall to 33-13
The best pitching performance of Shawn Morimando's minor league career was all for naught as the Akron offense was neutered without Clint Frazier and with Nellie Rodriguez taking the day off.
The game was scoreless through five innings as Akron would only manage three hits on the day in total, although they did walk six times. Akron broke the ice with one run in the sixth and seventh innings but the bullpen would blow it as Cole Sulser and Perci Garner combined to give up three runs in the bottom of the ninth for a walkoff Altoona win.
While top prospect Bradley Zimmer was held hitless on the day, he did pick up two more walks to keep that on base percentage high.
Back to Morimando, the 23-year old southapaw who is already 8-0 this season, pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and walking zero while only giving up three hits. He definitely deserved to go to 9-0 but it wasn't meant to be.
Lynchburg Hillcats 8, Wilmington Blue Rocks 0
Box Score · Hillcats fall to 30-16
Lynchburg snapped their three-game skid with a complete performance, destroying Wilmington while being paced from a spectacular pitching performance by Sean Brady.
Offensively, no one had a truly great game, although Bobby Bradley did retake the organization lead in home runs by blasting off a two-run shot to cap a five-run fifth inning by the Hillcats. Yu-Cheng Chang and Claudio Bautista paced the offense on the day with multi-hit games and the basepaths were buzzing as the team combined for four stolen bases without anyone getting caught.
Trying not to be outdone by Shawn Morimando, Sean Brady also pitched the best game of his minor league career, tossing seven shutout innings while also striking out eight and walking two. Recently promoted reliever Matt Whitehouse pitched two scoreless innings in mop-up duty.
Lake County Captains 9, Dayton Dragons 5
Box Score · Captains improve to 27-20
For the second straight day, Lake County had an offensive explosion and just like they have all season long, the Captains were paced by the front half of their batting order.
Hitters one through four Ka'ai Tom, Willi Castro, Tyler Krieger and Nathan Lukes all had multi-hit days, combining to go 9-18 in the game with four extra base hits. Tom left the yard in the fourth inning to pick up the first home run of his minor league career and Lukes slugged a whopping three doubles on the day while also stealing a base.
Starting pitcher Shao-Ching Chiang was rolling until he imploded in the bottom of the fifth inning for four runs, although the offense had already staked him out to a 6-1 lead at the time so he was able to pick up the win. Relievers Christian Meister, Billy Strode and Yoiber Marquina shut down the Dayton offense, holding them scoreless the rest of the way to preserve the win.