Guardians Farm Report: Akron Moves Into First Place Behind A 11 Run Seventh Inning

Only three of the seven Cleveland Guardians minor league clubs were in action on Wednesday with Lynchburg postponed by rain and both the Arizona Complex League and Dominican Summer League having the day off.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Omaha 12 Columbus 7

It only took one pitch for Columbus to take an early lead on Omaha Wednesday night when Will Benson would hit his 12th home run of the season leading off the game. For Benson it was the second straight game he has led off the game with a big fly.

#Guardians 24yr old OF prospect Will Benson leads of the game for Columbus with a HR for the 2nd straight game! Benson now has 12 HR's on the season and a terrific .857 OPS through his first 61 games.@_thekidbilly_ @CLBClippers #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/GRR6ifxWZd
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 23, 2022

The Clippers would end up platting five runs in the first inning overall that included a Bobby Bradley three run blast. Bradley would later add a solo home run in the fourth inning.

Clippers (1B) Bobby Bradley with not 1 but 2 HR's through the first 5 innings of tonight's game for Columbus. Bradley has driven in 4 of the teams 6 runs so far on the night.@b_bradley_44 @CLBClippers #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/yNnYw4ZuMe
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 23, 2022

Columbus was up 6-to-2 after four innings of play before the wheels would completely fall off. Omaha would get to starter Konnor Pilkington knocking him out of the game with nobody out in the fifth. Pilkington would give up three runs in the inning and was charged with five runs overall in just four innings of work in the game.

Now trailing by just one run at 6-to-5 entering the sixth inning Omaha would bust the game wide open putting up six runs and takin a commanding 11-to-6 lead. Each team would score once more in the game with the Clippers losing by a final score of 12-to-7.

The loss drops Columbus to 39-29 on the season.

Top Performers:

Bobby Bradley 2-4 2R 2HR 4RBI
Will Benson 1-4 R HR RBI BB
Nolan Jones 2-4 R 2B RBI BB
Will Brennan 1-4 R RBI BB
Tyler Freeman 1-4 R BB
Nic Enright 2.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron 17 Harrisburg 2

The RubberDucks jumped on the Senators early scoring a run in the first on a Micah Pries sacrifice fly. Pries would step up in his second at bat of the game and then deliver a three-run home run his 10th big fly of the season. Incredibly the four runs driven in by Pries gives him now five games on the season in which he has had exactly four RBI's.

#Guardians 24yr old (1B) prospect Micah Pries launches a 3-run HR his 10th of the season! Pries has 4 RBI's in the game through three innings of play. Incredible, Pries now has five 4 RBI games on the season!!! 🤯@micahpries @AkronRubberDuck #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/8oBHz3rnKT
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 22, 2022

Akron starter Joey Cantillo only allowed one hit over five scoreless innings striking out three Harrisburg batters and lowered his ERA to a miniscule 2.04 on the year. He would leave the game up 6-to-0 at the time.

#Guardians 22yr old LHP Joey Cantillo with five more scoreless innings tonight for Akron only allowing one hit while striking out three on the night.

Line - 5.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 4BB 3SO

Cantillo lowers his ERA to 2.04 on the season.@joeyycantillo @AkronRubberDuck #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/1EGYMDvq0E
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 23, 2022

The game took a turn for the wild side in the seventh inning as Akron would put up 11 runs in the inning including a big two-run double by top prospect George Valera. The Ducks would record seven hits and five walks in the inning leading to the 11-run outburst.

#Guardians 21yr old OF prospect George Valera with a 2-run double in the 7th inning tonight for Akron. It double was part of a 11 run inning. The Ducks are currently up 17-1 over Harrisburg in the 9th.@GV13__ @AkronRubberDuck #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/20QTKiB42w
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 23, 2022

Harrisburg would score two runs in the 9th inning ending the shutout, but Akron would take home the win by the final of 17-to-2. The win put Akron back in first place of the Eastern League Southwest division by a half game over Richmond improving their record to 38-27 on the season.

Top Performers:

Micah Pries 2-3 4R 2B HR 4RBI 2BB
George Valera 3-5 4R 2B 2RBI BB
Ray Delgado 3-5 R 3RBI SB
Jose Tena 3-5 R RBI
Chris Roller 2-5 2R 2B 2RBI
Brayan Rocchio 1-4 2R 2BB
Joey Cantillo 5.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 4BB 3SO (W)

High-A Lake County Captains

Dayton 4 Lake County 3 (Game 1)

Captains Alexfri Planez would continue his power surge hitting two more home runs in game one of Wednesday's night double header against the Dragons.

#Guardians 20yr old OF prospect Alexfri Planez with an absolute monster HR in the 2nd inning tonight for Lake County! The HR was Planez's 7th on the season and 6th over his last 13 games!@ajplanez33 @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/5bgkrlJW0d
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 22, 2022

Planez would plate Lake County's first tun in the game on a mammoth 440 foot solo home run in the fourth inning. The Captains would add a second run in the fourth inning on a RBI groundout by catcher Micael Ramirez that would tie the game at two runs apiece.

He did it again! #Guardians 20yr old OF prospect Alexfri Planez with his 2nd HR of the game for Lake County tonight! The HR was number 8 on the season and 7th in his last 13 games.

Last 13: 14-51 9R 3(2B) 7HR 18RBI 1SB .275 AVG@ajplanez33 @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/mlmmcygVPd
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 22, 2022

Planez would make it up to bat again in the fifth inning and deliver his second solos home run of the game giving the Captains a 3-to-2 lead at the time. For Alexfri the two home runs now give him eight on the season and seven over his last 14 games.

Dayton would tie the game up in the sixth inning on a wild pitch by Captains reliever Randy Labaut that would be charged to starter Aaron Davenport. Davenport gave up three runs over five and two thirds innings striking out seven on the night.

The game would head into extra innings as Dayton would hold Lake County scoreless in the top of the 8th inning. The Dragons would end the game in the bottom half of the inning on a walk-off base hit.

The game one loss dropped the Captains to 33-31 on the season.

Top Performers:

Alexfri Planez 2-4 2R 2HR 2RBI
Angel Martinez 2-4 2B 3B
Petey Halpin 1-4 R 2B
Johnathan Rodriguez 1-3
Aaron Davenport 5.2(IP) 6H 3R 3ER 3BB 7SO

Lake County 3 Dayton 0 (Game 2)

Just close your eyes & enjoy the sound of the #Guardians 20yr old INF/OF prospect Jhonkensy Noel hit his Midwest League & organizational leading 19th HR on the year. That's now 9 HR's over his last 18 games for Noel!@jhonkensy15 @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/Tezw6Fbh95
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 23, 2022

Captains Jhonkensy Noel wasted no time giving the team an early 1-to-0 lead on his Midwest League leading 19th home run of the season. Noel now has 38 home runs over his last 124 games dating back to last year between Lynchburg and Lake County.

Jaime Arias started game two for the Captains allowing just one hit over three and a third scoreless innings walking three and striking out five.

Lake County would add single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to take a 3-to-0 lead over Dayton.

#Guardians 25yr old RHP prospect Jack DeGroat gets his 1st career save tonight pitching a scoreless 7th inning in the second game of a double header. It was DeGroat's 1st appearance with Lake County.

Line - 1.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 1SO#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/Yl1Ql6jUHn
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) June 23, 2022

Jack DeGroat would enter the game in the bottom of the seventh inning making his first appearance of the season for Lake County and slam the door shut picking up his first career save.

The win improved the Captains record to 34-31 on the year.