Guardians Farm Report: Naranjo With Huge Night For Lake County In Blowout Of Dayton

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

Author:
Todd Paquette
Jun 26, 2022 9:48 AM EDT

In this story:

Cleveland Guardians

All seven Cleveland Guardians minor league teams were in action on Saturday. The Arizona Complex League Guardians however would have their game against the Reds suspended in the bottom of the second inning by inclement weather. The game will be made up at a later date.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Columbus 3 Omaha 2

Trailing 2-to-1 to the Storm Chasers in the top of the eighth inning Mitchell Tolman would lead off the inning for the Clippers with a base hit. Alex Call would follow Tolman with a clutch 2-run home run to give Columbus a 3-to-2 lead.

Columbus reliever Anthony Castro who came in to get the final out of the 8th inning against Omaha would earn the save pitching a scoreless ninth. The Clippers improve to 41-30 on the season with the comeback win.

One side note in the game was the return of shortstop Gabriel Arias from the injured list. Arias went 1-for-2 at the plate but would leave after being hit by a pitch on his left elbow in the fifth inning. No injury updates are available yet.

Top Performers:

Alex Call 1-3 R HR 2RBI
David Fry 2-4 2B 3B RBI
Mitchell Tolman 1-1 R
Gabriel Arias 1-2
Will Brennan 1-4 BB
Nic Enright 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 4SO
Alex Young 1.1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Harrisburg 7 Akron 3

Akron was looking to clinch the Eastern League North first half title with a win on Saturday.

RubberDucks starting pitcher Tanner Burns would toe the mound and deliver his best and longest start since returning from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for over a month.

Burns would toss four scoreless innings without allowing a hit while striking out five Harrisburg batters. He lowered his ERA to 2.20 on the season.

RubberDucks Luis Oviedo would follow Burns pitching four scoreless innings of his own allowing just one hit while striking out four. Combined both pitchers would shutout the Senators on just one hit over the first eight innings of the contest.

Guardians 20-year-old prospect Jhonkensy Noel would make his Double-A debut on Saturday just promoted from Lake County. Noel would lead off the second inning a promptly double in his first at bat.

With two runners on now and two outs catcher Eric Rodriguez would drive home both runs on a double to give the Ducks an early 2-to-0 lead.

Akron would add another run in the third inning on a Chris Roller solo home run to extend their lead to 3-to-0 over the Senators. For Roller he extended his current hitting streak to seven straight games with the big fly.

Just three outs away from clinching the first half title relievers Cade Smith and Kyle Marman would allow seven runs including a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning. Stunned by what had happened the RubberDucks would fail to score in the bottom half of the inning losing by the final of 7-to-3 falling to 40-28 on the season.

Top Performers:

Eric Rodriguez 1-3 2B 2RBI BB
Chris Roller 1-4 R HR RBI BB
Jhonkensy Noel 1-2 R 2B BB
George Valera 1-4 2B
Tanner Burns 4.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 2BB 5SO
Luis Oviedo 4.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 4SO

High-A Lake County Captains

Lake County 17 Dayton 2

The Captains offense exploded for 17 runs on 14 hits and 12 walks against the Dragons on Saturday in a blowout win.

Lake County would hit five home runs in the game including two by first baseman Joe Naranjo. Naranjo would have a huge game as one of his home runs would come in the form of a grand slam in the ninth inning. He would reach base five times in the game driving home five runs on three hits and two walks.

Captains Alexfri Planez would hit his ninth home run of the season in the game. The home run was significant for Planez as he has now hit eight now over his last 16 games!

Both Gabriel Rodriguez and Korey Holland would go deep as well for the Captains. For Rodriguez his solo home run would be his fourth on the year and for Holland his two-run shot was his third this season.

Lake County starter Doug Nikhazy would pick up the win allowing two runs on just three hits while striking out six in the game.

With the win Lake County improved to 36-32 on the year.

Top Performers:

Joe Naranjo 3-4 4R 2HR 5RBI 2BB
Alexfri Planez 3-6 R HR 3RBI
Gabriel Rodriguez 2-4 2R HR RBI 2BB
Korey Holland 1-4 2R HR 2RBI BB
Connor Kokx 1-3 3R 2B 2RBI 3BB SB
Milan Tolentino 1-3 3R RBI 3BB
Doug Nikhazy 5.1(IP) 3H 2ER 4BB 6SO (W)

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Delmarva 4 Lynchburg 3

Hillcats catcher Joe Donovan would homer in the game for his third long ball on the season. The solo home run would cut the Shorebirds lead to 4-to-2 at the time.

Lynchburg would score once more in the top of the eighth inning on a throwing error that allowed Will Bartlett to score. But that would be as close as the Hillcats would get falling by the final of 4-to-3 dropping their record to 36-32 on the season.

Hillcats Brauny Munoz would pitch well in relief striking out three in two scoreless innings allowing just one hit.

Top Performers:

Joe Donovan 1-2 2R HR RBI BB
Yordys Valdes 1-4 RBI BB
Jake Fox 1-2 3BB
Jorge Burgos 1-4 BB SB
Brauny Munoz 2.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO

Arizona Complex League Guardians

ACL Reds 1 ACL Guardians 0 (Suspended)

Dominican Summer League Guardians (Blue)

DSL Guardians (Blue) 8 DSL Astros (Orange) 6

The DSL Guardians (Blue) squad ran their record to 10-6 on the year getting the win over the Astros (Orange) team.

Starter Kenny Pinto pitched well earning the victory striking out six over five innings of work. He did allow three runs on just three hits but they were all unearned.

17-year-old right fielder Jose Gomez would triple for the seventh time on the season driving in one run in the game on two hits. Incredibly Gomez with the seven triples leads the Guardians farm system now and he's done it over just 13 games in his first professional season.