It was a solid day offensively for the Indians farm system with several of their top prospects shining, although only one of the three starting pitchers had a particularly good day.
Columbus Clippers 5, Toledo Mud Hens 7
Box Score · Clippers drop to 18-11
A pair of costly errors in the fifth inning sunk TJ House and the Clippers yesterday. House was cruising along, giving up one run on three hits until the fifth, where he imploded after both a fielding error and throwing error from usually sure-handed shortstop Erik Gonzalez set the table for a two-run bomb to cap off a four-run inning for the Mud Hens.
Tyler Naquin picked up a hit in his first game at Triple-A this year while both Jesus Aguilar and Robbie Grossman went deep. Aguilar is now tied with Bobby Bradley for second in the organization in home runs this season with seven.
Starting pitcher TJ House gave up six runs over 5.1 innings while both striking out and walking three batters, although just two of the runs were earned. After a huge winning streak, Columbus has now lost three of its last four games.
Akron RubberDucks 9, Binghamton Mets 6
Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 20-9
The RubberDucks remained red hot, winning their sixth game out of their last seven, again powered by an offense which is leading the Eastern League in home runs.
Akron had jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings, scoring on Nellie Rodriguez's organization-leading eighth home run and some timely RBI ground outs. All the real fun happened in the ninth inning, however. With the game tied 5-5 and two runners on base, Clint Frazier hit his Eastern League-leading 12th double, plating two runs. Bradley Zimmer would knock him in with a deafening blast pulled to right field to remove all doubt.
While he hasn't managed a multi-hit game in May, Zimmer has four home runs this month out of his six hits in seven games.
Starting pitcher Rob Kaminsky struggled again. He couldn't pitch comfortably despite being given a 4-0 lead, getting yanked midway through the fourth after giving up three runs and allowing six men to reach base in the inning while only managing two outs. Both Robbie Aviles and Perci Garner were decent in relief, allowing just three runs (one earned) on three hits over the final 5.1 frames to give the team a chance to pull out the win in the ninth.
Lynchburg Hillcats 10, Carolina Mud Cats 3
Box Score · Hillcats improve to 21-8
The Lynchburg Hillcats were extremely efficient, plating 10 runs and winning comfortably despite getting outhit by Carolina 9-8. The Hillcats have won four of their last five games overall.
The offense was helped out by seven walks, a hits batsmen and two Carolina errors. Left fielder Dorssys Paulino led the charge by going 3-4 with a double and his first home run of the season to break out of a slump. And while he didn't get much to hit yesterday, top slugger Bobby Bradley landed two more RBIs with a double and reached base three times by patiently waiting out two more walks while not striking out.
Starting pitcher Luis Lugo pitched his best game in a month, going 6.0 innings in the win, striking out four while allowing give hits and just one earned run. Justin Garcia was also excellent with 2.0 innings of scoreless relief while Cameron Hill had some trouble in mop-up duty in the ninth.
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The Lake County Captains had a scheduled off day.