Guardians Farm Report: Valera, Rocchio And Noel Combine To Hit Four Home Runs In Akron Win

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

Author:
Todd Paquette
Jul 24, 2022 12:54 PM EDT

In this story:

Cleveland Guardians

All seven of the Cleveland Guardians minor league teams were in action on Saturday.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Columbus 9 Toledo 4

There was no live video stream from Toledo for the second straight game. No video highlights.

Mud Hens pitchers were no match for the Clippers potent offense on Saturday as Columbus would post nine runs on 14 hits including three home runs.

The Columbus offensive attack was led by second baseman Tyler Freeman who reached base four times going 3-for-5 with a walk including his fifth home run of the season. The three hits for Freeman on the night extended his current hitting streak to seven straight games in which he is 12-for-30 hitting .400 during.

Will Benson would drive in three runs in the game on a couple of hits including a 2-run home run his 17th on the season. Benson extended his own hitting streak to six straight games. He currently leads the International League in OBP at .423 and is third in OPS at .937 on the season.

First baseman Bobby Bradley would also homer in the contest for his sixth long ball of the season. The solo home run would be Bradley's only hit but he did score three runs after also reaching base on a walk and hit by pitch.

Cleveland Guardians 24-year-old RHP prospect Hunter Gaddis would make his Triple-A debut having just been promoted from Akron. Gaddis would throw four scoreless innings allowing just one hit while striking out six Mud Hens batters in the start. He would be pulled after just 68 pitches after enduring a lengthy fourth inning that would include three walks.

The victory for Columbus improves the teams record to 53-38 on the season.

Top Performers:

Freeman 3-5 R HR 2RBI BB
Benson 2-6 R HR 3RBI
Bradley 1-3 3R HR RBI BB
Brennan 3-4 2B RBI
Palacios 2-4 RBI BB SB
Naylor 2-5 2R 2(3B)
Gaddis 4.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 3BB 6SO

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron 7 Erie 6

Some of the Guardians top young offensive talents flexed their muscle in Akron on Saturday as the Ducks would narrowly defeat the SeaWolves belting four home runs in the contest.

Erie took and early 3-to-0 lead in the top of the first inning off Akron starter Tanner Burns. RubberDucks George Valera would answer in the bottom half of the inning cutting the Seawolves lead to one at 3-to-2 with a two-run home run his 14th of the season.

Now tied at 3-to-3 in the third inning the Ducks would take their first lead of the game on a titanic 441-foot two-run blast off the bat of Jhonkensy Noel. For Noel it was his seventh home run since joining Akron and 26 overall on the season.

Erie would score three runs in the fourth inning to give themselves a 6-to-5 lead knocking Akron's starter Burns out of the game. Burns would be charged with all six runs the SeaWolves would score in the contest in his roughest outing of the season.

Fortunately for the Ducks and Burns the offensive would pick up the two more runs on two solo home runs in the fifth inning.

First Brayan Rocchio would launch his 11th home run over the right field fence to tie the game at six runs apiece. The home run for Rocchio was his third in his last five games.

The second home run of the inning would come off the bat of Noel who would give Akron the lead on his second long ball of the game. The home run would eventually prove to be the game winning hit making it a 7-to-6 game.

For Noel it was his 27th home run on the season which now leads all minor league baseball. Incredibly he has hit 17 home runs over his last 36 combined games between Lake County and Akron.

Akron improves to 47-30 on the year taking the first two games of the weekend series against Erie.

Top Performers:

Jhonkensy Noel 2-4 2R 2HR 3RBI
Brayan Rocchio 1-2 2R HR RBI 2BB
George Valera 1-4 R HR 2RBI
Daniel Schneemann 2-3 RBI
Micah Pries 1-4 R 2B
Randy Labaut 2.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 3SO

High-A Lake County Captains

Lansing 7 Lake County 1

The Captains six game winning streak would come to an end Saturday as the Lugnuts would shut down the team's red-hot offense holding them to just one run.

Petey Halpin would collect two of Lake County's seven hits in the game and score the teams only run in the second inning after hitting his 12th double of the season.

Halpin has now reached base safely in 17 straight games in which he is hitting .387 while posting an outrageous .493 OBP during the stretch.

The loss drops Lake County to 47-40 on the season.

Top Performers:

Petey Halpin 2-4 R 2B
Gabreil Rodriguez 1-3 RBI BB
Korey Holland 1-4 2B
Milan Tolentino 1-4
Mason Hickman 2.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 3SO

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Salem 3 Lynchburg 2

Salem jumped out to an early 3-to-1 lead in the first two innings of play off Hillcats starter Juan Zapata. Lynchburg would shut down the Red Sox offense over the final seven innings of play.

Unfortunately for Lynchburg and Zapata the offense would only muster one more run coming in the sixth inning when Dayan Frias would cross home plate on a wild pitch after hitting his second triple of the season.

The loss drops the Hillcats record back to a game under .500 at 44-45 on the season.

Top Performers:

Dayan Frias 1-3 R 3B BB
Jordan Brown 1-2 R BB
Yordys Valdes 1-4 RBI
Wuilfredo Antunez 0-1 3BB
Jake Fox 1-5 2B
Juan Zapata 5.2(IP) 7H 3R 3ER 1BB 5SO

Arizona Complex League Guardians

ACL Guardians 10 ACL Reds 6

The ACL Guardians improve to an impressive 22-11 on the season scoring double digits runs for a second straight game.

The offense was led by Maick Collado who would extend his hitting streak to 10 straight games with three hits including a pair of doubles and RBI's. Collado is now hitting .400 on the season with a .500 OBP through 18 games played.

Top Performers:

Maick Collado 3-5 R 2(2B) 2RBI
Lexer Saduy 2-5 2R 3B 2RBI
Wilmer Hernandez 1-3 R 2RBI 2BB
Jose Pastrano 2-4 R RBI BB
Angel Mendoza 1-3 2R 2B 2BB
Angel Genao 2-4 R BB
Luis Almonte 1.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

Dominican Summer League Guardians (Blue)

DSL Guardians (Blue) 6 DSL Astros (Blue) 3

The DSL Guardians (Blue) squad improved to 19-16 on the year getting a dominate performance in relief out of 21-year-old RHP Frederic Garcia. Garcia who came on to pitch in the fifth inning would strike out a career high 11 batters over four and a third scoreless innings allowing just one hit picking up his first win of the season.

17-year-old shortstop prospect Alberto Mendez remained red-hot reaching base three more times on two hits and a walk including a double. Mendez now has four straight multi-hit games.

Top Performers:

Alberto Mendez 2-4 2R 2B BB
Erickson Sarita 1-2 2RBI 2BB
Nomar Velasquez 1-3 2R 2BB
Oscar Cedeno 1-1 2RBI
Luis Aparicio 1-3 R 2BB
Frederic Garcia 4.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 11SO (W)

Dominican Summer League Guardians (Red)

DSL D-Backs (Black) 9 DSL Guardians (Red) 6

The DSL Guardians (Red) team trailed 9-to-0 before putting up six runs in the seventh inning against the D-Backs. The big inning would not be enough as the team dug themselves to deep of a hole early on. They fall to a dismal 10-25 record on the season.

The Guardians did get a strong start out of 19-year-old RHP Pedro Almanzar who lowered his season ERA to 3.09 after throwing four scoreless innings while striking out three Arizona batters.