Columbus Clippers 5, Toledo Mud Hens 7
Clippers fall to 51-64
Strong games from Travis Bazzana, Petey Halpin and Johnathan Rodriguez were not enough as Columbus couldn’t get enough pitching on Sunday.
Bazzana went 1-for-3 with two walks, Halpin went 3-for-5 with a double and Rodriguez went 2-for-5 with a home run, but four runs in the last two innings couldn’t quite overcome the team’s early deficit.
Will Wilson and Cooper Ingle both singled and walked to reach base safely twice.
In a bullpen game, opener
Jake Miller was tattooed for three runs in his lone inning of work. Ross Carver gave up two more in two innings while Triston McKenzie gave up an unearned run with a pair of walks in his Triple-A return.
The lone bright spot on the pitching side was Will Dion, who gave up one run on two hits with five strikeouts and a walk in 4.0 innings. Dion has quietly had a nice bounceback season after struggling in his first taste of Triple-A last year. He currently sports a 3.59 ERA through 25 games with 78 strikeouts and 25 walks in 80 innings.
Akron RubberDucks 19, Reading Fightin Phils 10
Everyone on the Akron offense got involved in this one as the RubberDucks had a whopping 24 hits.
Leading the way was Ralphy Velazquez, who went 3-for-5 with a home run and a double. He’s already blasted four homers this week since being promoted and was named the Eastern League player of the week for Double-A. Not bad considering he’s one of youngest players at his level.
Jacob Cozart went 4-for-6 with a double while Wuilfredo Antunez went 4-for-6 with a home run, a triple and a stolen base, just missing the cycle by a double. Alfonsin Rosario also reached base safely four times, going 3-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base.
Jake Fox didn’t even play the first half of the game, but he went 3-for-3 while Alex Mooney went 2-for-4 with a hit by pitch. Christian Knapczyk went 2-for-6 with a walk, as did Angel Genao, who also doubled.
Starting pitcher Trenton Denholm gave up seven runs (four earned) in 5.0 innings, but he still easily earned the win because he left the game with a seven-run lead.
Lake County 5, Peoria Chiefs 7
Captains fall to 66-49
Lake County had plenty of hits, but a late bullpen blow-up cost them a win.
Garrett Howe led the way offensively, going 3-for-4 while Juan Benjamin went 2-for-5 with a double and Bennett Thompson also went 2-for-5.
Starting pitcher Rafe Schlesinger did his best Houdini impression, dancing around seven hits allowed to only let one run score in 4.0 innings while striking out three and walking one.
The Captains held the lead until Isaac Martinez gave up four runs (three earned) in the game’s final 2.2 innings to blow a two-run lead in the ninth and then let Peoria take a two-run lead in the 10th.
Lynchburg Hillcats 5, Delmarva Shorebirds 4
Hillcats improve to 61-50
Welbyn Francisca was perfect at the plate, going 1-for-1 with three walks while Yerlin Luis and Alberto Mendez both went 1-for-3 with a walk as Lynchburg did just enough offensively to eek out a victory.
Starting pitcher Melkis Hernandez struggled, allowing four runs on six hits with five strikeouts and five walks in just 3.2 innings, but the bullpen was absolutely lights out in this game.
It was late round magic as Cleveland’s 2025 18th round pick Zane Petty pitched 1.1 scoreless innings and 2025 16th round pick Luke Fernandez added 2.0 scoreless frames before 2024 17th round pick Logan McGuire locked down the victory with 2.0 more scoreless innings of relief.
