Guardians Farm Report: Arias Heating Up At The Plate, Homers In Columbus Win

Here is a recap of what happened with the Guardians minor league teams last night

Author:
Todd Paquette
Aug 5, 2022 11:37 AM EDT

In this story:

Cleveland Guardians

Six of the seven Cleveland Guardians minor league teams were in action Thursday with Double-A Akron having their game at Altoona postponed by rain.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Columbus 6 Rochester 5

Columbus would take an early lead 1-to-0 lead in the first inning thanks to an opposite field solo home run off the bat of shortstop Gabriel Arias. For Arias the home run was his eighth of the season and second over his last four games.

Arias would later get hit by a pitch and double in the game finishing 2-for-3 at the plate extending his hitting streak to five straight games. During his five-game hitting streak he is 7-for-17 hitting .412 with a double, two home runs and five runs driven in.

In the ninth inning Arias would display his tremendous defensive ability making a ridiculous bare-handed play and throw on a slow roller to get the man out out first.

Clipper starter Logan Allen had strong outing throwing 5.2 scoreless innings allowing five hits while striking out four Red Wings on the day earning his first Triple-A win.

With the Clippers up 5-to-0 in the sixth inning Oscar Mercado would provide an important insurance run with a solo home run his second with Columbus to make it a 6-to-0 lead.

Rochester would mount a comeback scoring three times in the eighth and twice in the ninth inning cutting the Columbus lead to 6-to-5. With two outs Clippers reliever Jake Jewell would come in and stop the bleeding getting the final out earning his fourth save.

With the win Columbus improves to 59-42 on the season.

Top Performers:

Gabriel Arias 2-3 2R 2B HR RBI
Oscar Mercado 1-4 R HR RBI
Bo Naylor 1-4 R 2B RBI
Alex Call 1-4 R RBI
Franmil Reyes 0-2 R 2BB
Logan Allen 5.2(IP) 5H 0R 0ER 2BB 4SO (W)

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron @ Altoona (Postponed Rain)

High-A Lake County Captains

Great Lakes 5 Lake County 4 (11 Innings)

Lake County was up 4-to-1 in the ninth inning when Great Lakes would score three runs off reliver Davis Sharpe to tie the game at 4-to-4. Lake County would fail to score in the bottom of the ninth as the game would go into extra innings.

Both teams would fail to score in the 10th inning sending it to the 11th where the Loons would take the lead at 5-to-4 plating one run. The Captains would load the bases with one out in the bottom half of the inning only to have both Zac Fascia and Connor Kokx strike out back-to-back to end the game. The extra inning loss drops Lake County to 52-45 on the season.

On offensive first baseman Joe Naranjo had a huge game reaching base five times on three walks and two hits including a solo home run. For Naranjo the home run was his 14th of the season with Lake County, and he has now homered in back-to-back games.

Captains right fielder Johnathan Rodriguez continued his power surge launching a 2-run home run in the fourth inning his 17th long ball on the year. Rodriguez has now hit an absurd 15 home runs in his last 30 games!

Lake County starter Aaron Davenport had a nice bounce back start coming off his shortest outing of the year. Davenport went five and a third innings allowing just one run on three hits walking three and striking out three.

Center fielder Petey Halpin extended his on-base streak to 26 straight games with a walk in the fourth inning.

Top Performers:

Joe Naranjo 2-3 2R HR RBI 3BB
Johnathan Rodriguez 1-5 R HR 2RBI
Micael Ramirez 1-3 BB
Aaron Davenport 5.1(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 3BB 3SO
Raymond Burgos 2.2(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 4SO

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Myrtle Beach 4 Lynchburg 2

Lynchburg took an early 1-to-0 lead in the top of the first inning when the first three batters would reach. Hillcats shortstop Yordys Valdes led the game off with a base hit to extend his hitting streak to seven straight games. Valdes is 10-for-29 hitting for a .345 average during the streak.

After a base hit by second baseman Dayan Frias center fielder Isaiah Greene would step up and drive in Valdes on an RBI single to left field.

Myrtle Beach would go onto tie the game in the first inning responding with a run of their own. The Pelicans would then outscore the Hillcats 3-to-0 over the next seven innings taking a 4-to-1 lead heading into the ninth.

The Hillcats would plate one run in the ninth to make it a 4-to-2 game but would fall short in their comeback attempt. The loss drops Lynchburg to 47-52 on the season.

Top Performers:

Isaiah Greene 1-3 RBI BB SB
Lexer Saduy 2-4 R
Dayan Frias 2-4 SB
Yordys Valdes 1-4 R
Junior Sanquintin 1-3 BB
Brauny Munoz 4.0(IP) 5H 1R 1ER 3BB 3SO

Arizona Complex League Guardians

ACL Brewers (Gold) 8 ACL Guardians 5

ACL Guardians starter Wardquelin Vasquez allowed just one hit over four and two thirds' innings giving up just two runs while striking out eight Brewers in the game.

The Brewers would take advantage of Vasquez departure scoring six runs off reliever Albert Breton to take an 8-to-1 lead. The Guardians would score four runs in the seventh inning on a walk, hit by pitch, ground out and a wild pitch in a comeback attempt but fall short losing their sixth straight game. The team is now 22-17 on the season with the loss.

Cleveland Guardians 21-year-old infield prospect Christian Cairo did make his second rehab appearance in the game playing six innings at second base finishing 1-for-2 at the plate with a walk. When ready Cairo should rejoin the Lake County Captains where he began the season before getting hurt.

Top Performers:

Esteban Gonzalez 1-3 R 2BB
Jose Baez 1-2 R BB
Fran Alduey 1-3 BB SB
Christian Cairo 1-2 BB (Rehab)
Wardquelin Vasquez 4.2(IP) 1H 2R 2ER 4BB 8SO
Tommy Ventimiglia 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 1SO

Dominican Summer League Guardians (Blue)

DSL Guardians (Blue) 3 DSL Royals (Glass) 0

18-year-old RHP prospect Austin Aldeano continued his strong 2022 season throwing five scoreless innings on Thursday allowing just two hits while striking out four and picking up the win for the DSL Guardians (Blue) squad in the seven inning game. Aldeano lowers his ERA to 2.57 on the year.

On offense 17-year-old shortstop Alberto Mendez reached base three times going 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI. Mendez upped his average to .320 on the season.

The win improved the DSL Guardians (Blue) record to 24-20 on the year.

Top Performers:

Alberto Mendez 2-2 R RBI BB
Jose Cedeno 1-3 R
Jose Gomez 1-3 R
Nomar Velasquez 1-1
Jeffrey Mercedes 1-3
Austin Aldeano 5.0(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 0BB 4SO (W)

Dominican Summer League Guardians (Red)

DSL Red Sox (Blue) 10 DSL Guardians (Red) 1

Tough lopsided loss for the DSL Guardians (Red) team as the Red Sox snapped their modest four game win streak on Thursday. The loss drops teams record to 14-30 on the season.

Left fielder Emerson Purroy and center fielder Christopher Espinola each had two hits and a double in the contest to lead the way on offense.