Guardians Farm Report: Curry And Morris Combine to Strikeout 13 in Shutout Win for Columbus

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

Author:
Todd Paquette
Aug 10, 2022 12:02 PM EDT

In this story:

Cleveland Guardians

A full slate of action on the farm with all seven Cleveland Guardians minor league teams playing Tuesday.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Columbus 6 St. Paul 0

Cleveland Guardians 24-year-old right-handed pitching prospect Xzavion Curry was dealing on Tuesday night for Columbus holding St. Paul scoreless in his six innings of work not allowing a hit until one out in the fifth inning. He finished allowing two hits in all striking out six and walking four earning the win.

Curry has not allowed a run over his last two starts with the Clippers over 13.0 innings of work lowering his ERA to 3.09 six starts with the team since his promotion from Akron.

morris

Cody Morris came on in relief of Curry and mowed down Saints batters striking out seven over the final three innings to earn the save. Morris looked dominate not allowing a hit and just allowing one base runner on a walk.

Over his first two appearances with the Clippers he has 13 strikeouts over just five and two thirds' innings of work allowing two runs on two hits and a pair of walks. Most importantly Morris looks to be totally healthy in his return from his "lat" injury he suffered during spring training.

On offense both Oscar Mercado and Will Brennan would drive in four of the Clippers six runs each finishing with two runs batted in.

Guardians top outfield prospect George Valera would make his Triple-A debut for Columbus in the game batting third and in right field. Valera would finish the game going 0-for-3 at the plate drawing a pair of walks and scoring a run.

Columbus has now won eight straight games improving their record to 63-42 on the year.

Top Performers:

Oscar Mercado 2-3 R 2RBI 2SB
Will Brennan 1-5 2B 2RBI
Mitchell Tolman 2-3 R SB
Trenton Brooks 1-4 R 2B RBI
George Valera 0-3 R 2BB
Xzavion Curry 6.0(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 4BB 6SO (W)
Cody Morris 3.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 7SO (SV)

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron 6 Bowie 5

Akron entered the ninth inning trailing 5-to-3 to Bowie. Down to their final out with two runners on shortstop Bryan Rocchio would collect his third hit of the game on an RBI base hit to right field to inch the Ducks closer making it a 5-to-4 game.

The next batter up was the red-hot catching prospect Bryan Lavastida who would come through taking the pitch to right field on an opposite field RBI single tying the game up at five runs apiece. Lavastida finished the game with two more hits and a pair of runs batted in. Over his last six games he is 10-24 at the plate hitting .417 with five runs batted in.

Bowie would make a pitching change to face Ducks first baseman Micah Pries but it would not matter as Pries would come through with a base hit to left field scoring the winning run handing Akron a 6-to-5 win in game one of the series. Pries finished with two hits in the contest extended his on-base streak to 16 straight games.

Akron has now won four straight games and eight of their last 10 improving to 56-45 on the season.

Top Performers:

Brayan Rocchio 3-5 3R RBI 2SB
Bryan Lavastida 2-4 R 2RBI BB
Micah Pries 2-5 RBI
Jhonkensy Noel 1-4 2RBI
Robert Broom 2.1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 3SO
Randy Labaut 2.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO (W)

High-A Lake County Captains

Lake County 3 Fort Wayne 1

Lake County has now won four straight games taking down Fort Wayne in the series opener on Tuesday improving to 56-45 on the season.

The Captains 22-year-old left-handed pitcher Rodney Boone gave the team a terrific outing allowing just one run on three hits while striking out seven over his six innings of work. Boone also did not walk a batter picking up his second win with Lake County.

On offense center fielder Petey Halpin would extend his on-base streak to 29 straight games finishing the night going 1-for-2 with a walk hitting his third home run of the season on a solo shot in the seventh inning.

Halpin got off to a slow start to the season but has been tremendous during his 29 game on-base streak hitting .371 with a .480 OBP.

Lake County right-handed pitcher Mason Hickman who has now transitioned to a reliever picked up his second save of the year throwing a scorless ninth inning striking out a pair of Tincap batters.

Top Performers:

Petey Halpin 1-2 R HR RBI BB SB
Milan Tolentino 2-3 2R 2B BB
Alexfri Planez 1-3 SB
Rodney Boone 6.0(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 0BB 7SO (W)
Mason Hickman 1.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO (SV)

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Charleston 2 Lynchburg 0

Lynchburg got a strong start out 19-year-old right-hander Alonzo Richardson making just his second appearance with the team since being promoted from the Arizona Rookie League.

Richardson would allow two runs in the first but go on the shut-out Charleston over the next five innings of play.

He now has a 2.45 ERA over his two outings with the Hillcats over 11.0 innings pitched and an even better 2.05 season ERA over 48.1 combined innings between the two leagues.

Unfortunately for Richardson and the Hillcats Charleston pitchers were even better holding the offense to three hits in the game throwing a shutout.

One of Lynchurg's three hits would come off the bat of third baseman Dayan Frias who would extend his hitting streak to 6 straight games. Frias would also add a walk in the contest. Frias is hitting .320 during the streak with a pair of home runs and four RBI's.

The loss drops the Hillcats record to 50-53 on the season.

Top Performers:

Dayan Frias 1-3 BB
Marlin Made 1-3 BB
Jake Fox 1-4
Isaiah Greene 0-2 2BB
Alonzo Richardson 6.0(IP) 5H 2R 2ER 3BB 2SO
Tomas Reyes 1.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

Arizona Complex League Guardians

ACL Guardians 8 ACL Cubs 6

The ACL Guardians trailed 6-to-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday night before they exploded for five runs. The big hit in the inning came off the bat of right fielder Esteban Gonzalez who came through with a two-run double that gave the team an 8-to-6 lead.

The ACL Guardians would hold the Cubs scoreless in the top of the ninth inning getting the win and improving to 24-19 on the season.

Center fielder Simon Rodriguez continued his hot stretch at the plate of late extending his hitting streak to six straight games with his second triple on the season. Over the six games he is hitting .350 with a pair of home runs and a .435 OBP.

Third baseman Jose Pastrano had a good game collecting three hits scoring twice and driving in a pair of runs. In 14 games Pastrano is now hitting .270 with a .818 OPS.

Top Performers:

Jose Pastrano 3-4 2R 3B 2RBI SB
Esteban Gonzalez 2-4 R 2B 3RBI SB
Simon Rodriguez 1-4 2R 3B RBI SB
Manuel Mejias 2-4 R
Christian Cairo 1-3 2BB
Maick Collado 1-4 R
Steven Perez 2.1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 0SO

Dominican Summer League Guardians (Blue)

DSL Guardians (Blue) 5 DSL Guardians (Red) 2

Another game in the DSL of Tuesday pitting both Guardians teams against each with the Blue squad taking down the Red with a 5-to-2 win in a seven-inning affair.

Guardians (Blue) starter 18-year-old RHP Evelio Hernandez went four innings allowing just one run on five hits walking none and striking out three. Hernandez has been one of the organizations better pitchers on the season in the DSL. He now owns a 2.45 ERA in his first professional season.

On offense 19-year-old first baseman Samuel Parra led the way driving in a pair of runs on two hits including his eighth double of the season. Parra would also score two runs and steal a base. He is hitting .281 on the year through 32 games.

The win improves the Guardians (Blue) team to 26-21 on the season.

Top Performers:

Samuel Parra 2-3 2R 2B 2RBI SB
Jose Gomez 1-3 R RBI
Elvelio Hernandez 4.0(IP) 5H 1R 1ER 0BB 3SO

Dominican Summer League Guardians (Red)

DSL Guardians (Blue) 5 DSL Guardians (Red) 2

The DSL Guardians (Red) squad falls to 15-33 on the season with a loss to the Guardians (Blue) squad.

17-year-old right fielder Luis Aparicio would collect two hits in the game scoring a run and steal two bases.

18-year-old third baseman Richard Polanco who had an eight-game hitting streak just snapped finished the game driving in one of the teams two runs reaching base twice and stealing a base.