Guardians Farm Report: Hillcats Offense Remains Red Hot Behind Tolentino's Three Doubles

Almost a clean sweep by all four Cleveland Guardians affiliates Wednesday with Akron, Lake County and Lynchburg all taking home wins.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Iowa 8 Columbus 1

Columbus got off to a great start thanks to a Will Benson home run to lead off the game. The home run was Benson's sixth home run of the season and third time he's led off a game this year with a home run.

Unfortunately for the Clippers however that would be the sole bright spot of as they would only manage three more hits the rest of the game and not score another run against Cubs pitching.

#Guardians 23yr old OF prospect Will Benson led off today's game for Columbus with his 6th HR of the season.@_thekidbilly_ @CLBClippers #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/jCz2jfNIOU
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 19, 2022

The game was close as Iowa only led 2-to-1 over Columbus until the bottom of the fifth inning when they would put up a four spot on Clippers starter Tobias Myers knocking him out of the game.

The Cubs would put up to more runs in the contest and would take the game by a final of 8-to-1 snapping the Clippers seven game winning streak. With the loss Columbus fell to 25-13 on the season.

Top Performers:

Will Benson 1-3 R HR RBI BB
David Fry 1-4 2B
Oscar Gonzalez 1-4
Trenton Brooks 1-4
Zach Draper 1.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 0SO

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron 5 Binghamton 3

Akron and Binghamton were tied with two runs apiece until the top of the third inning when the Ducks would plate two runs in the inning on RBI hits by both George Valera and Jose Tena.

Akron now up 4-to-2 would get an insurance run in the sixth inning when left fielder Julian Escobedo would crush his second home run of the season.

#Guardians 23yr old OF prospect Julian Escobedo hits an absolute 💣 for Akron in the 6th inning! The HR was Escobedo's 2nd HR of the season with Double-A Akron. @JulianEsco1_ @AkronRubberDuck #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/ek5tLL71ak
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 19, 2022

Binghamton would put up a single tally in the bottom of the sixth inning making it a 5-to-3 game. Akron relievers Kevin Kelly and Nic Enright would shut the door over the final three frames with Enright closing the game earning his sixth save of the season.

With the win Akron has taken the first two games of the series improving their record to 20-15 on the year.

Top Performers:

George Valera 2-5 R 2B RBI
Bo Naylor 2-4 2R 2(2B) BB
Jose Tena 2-4 2B RBI
Julian Escobedo 1-4 R HR RBI SB
Will Brennan 1-4 RBI
Kevin Coulter 1.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO
Kevin Kelly 2.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 2BB 4SO (W)

High-A Lake County Captains

Lake County 4 Cedar Rapids 2

Lake County would jump out to an early lead on a Joe Naranjo solo home run in the first inning and never look back. For Naranjo it was his seventh home run of the year setting a new career high just 30 games played.

#Guardians 21yr old (1B) prospect Joe Naranjo unloads on a pitch for a solo HR in the 1st inning for Lake County. The HR was his 7th on the season. He has now homered in back-to-back games.

2021: 6 HR's 109 game
2022: 7 HR's 30 games@joenaranjo_ @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/iOAwbsahDv
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 18, 2022

Both teams would score twice in the third inning with the Captains runs coming on an RBI double by Johnathan Rodriguez and a sacrifice fly by Gabriel Rodriguez.

Lake County would add a solo tally in the sixth inning when Aaron Bracho would connect on his second home run of the season putting the Captains up by the eventual final score of 4-to-2 over the Kernels.

Captains got a strong start from Aaron Davenport who earned his first win of the year allowing just two runs on three hits while striking out six batters over five innings of work.

Lake County closer Cade Smith would get the final four outs of the game all on strikeouts earning his fourth save on the season.

The Captains have taken the first two games of the road series against the Kernels pushing their record closer to the .500 mark at 16-18 on the season.

Top Performers:

Joe Naranjo 1-4 2R HR RBI BB
Aaron Bracho 1-4 R HR RBI
Petey Halpin 2-3 R BB
Johnathan Rodriguez 1-4 2B RBI
Connor Kokx 1-3 BB
Aaron Davenport 5.0(IP) 3H 2R 2ER 3BB 6SO (W)
Cade Smith 1.1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 4SO (SV)

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg 10 Salem 2

Hillcats starter Will Dion would earn the win with another strong outing as his outstanding start to the season continued. Dion would only allow one run over five innings of work striking out six Red Sox batters.

#Guardians 22yr old LHP prospect Will Dion with another outstanding start for (Low-A) Lynchburg as he lowers his ERA to 1.91 on the year.

Line - 5.0(IP) 5H 1R 1ER 0BB 6SO (61 Pitches 42 Strikes)@WDion22 @LynHillcats #ForTheLand #BabyKershaw pic.twitter.com/5f8bzTHi4m
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 19, 2022

The offense was the story however as the put-up double digit runs for the second straight game against Salem. Over the last two games combined the Hillcats have hung 22 runs on Salem pitching on 28 hits in their two wins.

Lynchburg would be led by Milan Tolentino Wednesday night who would drive in three runs on the night on three doubles. Tolentino now has 11 doubles on the season and has his average back up to .379 on the year after going through a little mini-slump last week.

#Guardians 20yr old (SS) prospect Milan Tolentino with his 3rd double of the day drives in 2 more runs putting Lynchburg on top 10-2 over Salem. Tolentino has his average back up to .379 on the season.

Line: 3-5 R 3(2B) 3RBI@milantolentino @LynHillcats #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/GXriHpOpcZ
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 19, 2022

The Hillcats would also get multi-hit games from Dayan Frias, Yordys Valdes and Will Bartlett who each had two hits apiece.

With the win Lynchburg improves to 19-15 on the season. Since starting the year 3-8 they Hillcats have won 16 of there last 23 games.