Guardians Farm Report: Rocchio Homers Twice And Drives In Five Runs For Akron Thursday

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

Author:
Todd Paquette
Jul 1, 2022 10:55 AM EDT

In this story:

Cleveland Guardians

All seven Cleveland Guardians minor league teams were in action on Thursday. The Dominican Summer League Guardians (Red) team's game however was suspended by rain and will be finished at a later date.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Columbus 12 Iowa 6

One of the Guardians top young pitching prospects 23-year-old left-handed pitching prospects Logan Allen made his Triple-A debut for Columbus Thursday night. It would not go as anticipated as Allen would allow the first 5 batters to reach allowing two runs before getting an out.

Allen looked like he had settled down striking out the next two batters, but he would be removed from the game after two more Cubs batters would single off him following the strikeouts. He would be charged with allowing five runs over just two thirds of an inning on six hits and a walk.

Fortunately for Allen and the Clippers the offense is a juggernaut right now scoring 42 runs over their last four games.

The Clippers trailed 6-to-2 until the sixth inning when they would drop a six-run inning on the Cubs including a grand slam off the bat of Nolan Jones for his third home run of the season.

Columbus would add three more runs in the seventh inning extending their lead to 11-to-6. Will Brennan would cap off the night with a solo home run in the eighth inning. Brennan would finish with three hits in the game and two more RBI's giving him 68 RBI's in just 66 games on the season between Akron & Columbus.

The comeback win improves the Clippers record to 43-32 on the year.

Top Performers:

Nolan Jones 1-4 2R HR 5RBI BB SB
Will Brennan 3-5 2R 2B HR 2RBI
Will Benson 2-4 R 2B 2RBI BB
Mitchell Tolman 2-4 R RBI BB
Tyler Freeman 2-5 2R
James Karinchak 1.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO
Nick Mikolajchak 2.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Erie 13 Akron 9

Akron would trail in the game 12-to-4 after four innings of play as starter Luis Oviedo and reliever Manuel Alvarez would get touched up allowing all 12 runs on 11 hits 4 walks and two home runs. Erie would hold off the Ducks offense just enough to win the game dropping Akron to 41-31 on the season.

The news was not all bad as the offense would hit five home runs in the game off SeaWolves pitchers.

21-year-old top shortstop Brayan Rocchio who has had a bit of a down year to this point would break out collecting four hits in the game including a double and two home runs. Rocchio would drive in five of the teams nine runs and fall just a triple short of a cycle.

Rocchio wasn't just the only Ducks batter to go deep twice in the game as the recently promoted Jhonkensy Noel would hit two bombs of his own. Noel would drive in three runs in the game and now has three home runs in his first five games with the team. He leads the Guardians farm system with 22 home runs over just 67 games played.

Akron's first baseman Micah Pries would homer for the fourth straight game hitting his 14th long ball of the season. Pries takes over the team lead in home runs over teammate George Valera who has 13 on the year.

Top Performers:

Brayan Rocchio 4-5 2R 2B 2HR 5RBI
Jhonkensy Noel 2-5 2R 2HR 3RBI
Micah Pries 1-2 R HR RBI 3BB 2SB
Eric Rodriguez 2-5 R 2B
Daniel Schneemann 2-3 R BB
Thomas Ponticelli 1.1(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 1BB 2SO

High-A Lake County Captains

Lansing 10 Lake County 3

The storyline of the game was that of Lansing's designated hitter Jared McDonald who would drive in seven runs on three home runs off Lake County pitchers. For McDonald the home runs were number five, six and seven on the season.

The Captains were never in the game from the outset trailing 8-to-1 after five innings. The one run would come on the fourth inning off the bat of Johnathan Rodriguez who would connect on a solo home run his sixth on the year.

Lake County would plate their final two runs in the eighth inning when Joe Naranjo would deliver a two-run blast for his 12th home run on the season.

Captains right fielder Alexfri Planez would extend his hitting streak to 14 straight games in the loss finishing 1-for-4.

Lake County falls to 38-34 on the season.

Top Performers:

Johnathan Rodriguez 2-4 R HR RBI
Joe Naranjo 1-3 R HR 2RBI BB
Angel Martinez 1-3 R BB
Alexfri Planez 1-4
Milan Tolentino 1-4
Matt Turner 2.0(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 1BB 2SO

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Salem 8 Lynchburg 2

Lynchburg starter Trenton Denholm would hold the Red Sox to just two runs over his six innings of work striking out five on the night.

Denholm would leave the game with the score tied at two runs apiece thanks to an RBI double by Joe Donovan in the second inning and a Jordan Brown solo home run in the fifth. The home run for Brown was his first of the season for the Hillcats.

Salem would blow the game wide open in the seventh inning scoring six runs off the Hillcats reliever Reny Artiles who would only get two out before being removed from the game.

Lynchburg would fail to score over their final two at bats and fall to 38-34 on the year with the 8-to-2 loss.

Top Performers:

Jordan Brown 1-3 R HR RBI
Joe Donovan 1-3 2B RBI
Carson Tucker 1-3 R 2B
Jake Fox 1-3 BB
Trenton Denholm 6.0(IP) 4H 2R 2ER 4BB 5SO
Yeury Gervacio 2.1(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO

Arizona Complex League Guardians

ACL D-Backs 4 ACL Guardians 1

The Arizona Complex League Guardians offense would be held in check by D-Backs pitching on Thursday night. The Guardians were limited to just one run on six hits in the contest.

The lone RBI would come off the bat of left fielder Sterling Romero who finished the contest 1-for-4 playing in his first game of the 2022 season.

Miguel Vinicio would pitch two scoreless innings for the ACL Guardians in a rehab appearance returning from TJ surgery.

The Loss drops the ACL Guardians to 10-7 on the year.

Top Performers:

Sterling Romero 1-4 RBI
Lexer Saduy 2-4
Simon Rodriguez 1-4 BB
Angel Contreras 1-3
Angel Genoa 0-3 2BB
Warquelin Vasquez 3.2(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 2BB 4SO
Miguel Vinicio 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 1SO

Dominican Summer League Guardians (Blue)

DSL Guardians (Blue) 7 DSL Royals (Stewart) 3

The DSL Guardians (Blue) squad would improve to 10-9 on the year behind starter Austin Aldeano and right fielder Carlos Gutierrez.

The Guardians (Blue) team has won all five games in which Aldeano has started this season. Aldeano entered the game with a 0.50 ERA would allow three runs over five innings.

Gutierrez who has had a nice week at the plate would drive in three of the teams seven runs including a two-run double in the eighth inning