Guardians Farm Report: Valera Continues Offensive Onslaught in Akron Win

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

Author:
Todd Paquette
May 27, 2022 9:48 AM EDT

In this story:

Only three of the four Cleveland Guardians affiliates were in action Thursday night as the Columbus Clippers were postponed due to rain.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Buffalo at Columbus (Postponed Rain)

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron 4 New Hampshire 2

Tied at 2-to-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning with one out Akron would get a walk from Brayan Rocchio putting the go-ahead run-on base. The next man up was George Valera who would promptly hit a two-run 472-foot prodigious blast that came off his bat at 110 mph to put the RubberDucks up 4-to-2 over the Fisher Cats.

For Valera it was his fifth home run over his last seven games. He also has a nine-game hitting streak in which he's hitting .395 during with 18 RBI's.

Akron now up 4-to-2 reliever Kyle Marman would come on in the ninth inning to get the final three outs of the game and earn his second save of the season. With the win the RubberDucks improve their record to 10 games above .500 at 26-16 on the season.

Another storyline in the game was that of Akron starter Joey Cantillo who continued his incredible stretch of pitching. Cantillo would throw five more scoreless innings allowing just one hit while striking out seven batters in the game. Over his last five outings Cantillo hasn't allowed a run over 22.0 straight innings lowering his ERA to 1.91 on the season.

Top Performers:

George Valera 2-4 R HR 3RBI
Chris Roller 2-4 R HR RBI
Brayan Rocchio 1-3 2R 2B BB
Ike Freeman 1-1 2B 2BB
Micah Pries 1-3 BB
Joey Cantillo 5.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 7SO
Kyle Marman 1.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 1SO (SV)

High-A Lake County Captains

Lake County 3 Peoria 2

Lake County now winners of three straight games would score all three of their runs in the fifth inning last night vs Peoria.

Petey Halpin who was celebrating his 20th birthday would get the Captains on the board with an RBI single with two outs in the inning. The hit for Halpin would extend his current hitting streak to seven straight games.

Halpin would be followed by first baseman Joe Naranjo who drive home two runs on his second triple of the season putting the Captains up 3-to-1 at the time. Naranjo after the triple now has a team leading 26 RBI's on the season.

Captains starter Mason Hickman bounced back nicely from a rough outing on the mound last time out. Hickman would give earn his first win of the season allowing just one run on three hits over five innings while striking out five Chief batters.

Peoria would cut to the lead to 3-to-2 in the eighth inning before Lake County closer Cade Smith would come on to get the final four outs of the game earning his 5th save of the season.

With the win Lake County improved to 21-20 on the year. It marks the first time all season all four Cleveland Guardians minor league affiliates all are above .500 on the 2022 season.

Top Performers:

Joe Naranjo 1-4 3B 2RBI
Petey Halpin 1-4 R RBI
Alexfri Planez 1-4 2B
Mason Hickman 5.0(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 1BB 5SO (W)
Cade Smith 1.1(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 1BB 3SO (SV)

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg 6 Columbia 0

Lynchburg and Columbia were locked in a pitchers duel with the game remaining scoreless until the Hillcats bottom half of the eighth inning.

Lynchburg would bust the game wide open in the eighth scoring six runs on just three hits with the big blow coming on a bases loaded double by Dayan Frias.

The Hillcats would end up pitching a shutout holding the Fireflies to just two hits. Right-hander Trenton Denholm who started the game would throw five scoreless innings on just 52 pitches allowing just one hit while striking out four in a no-decision.

Three Hillcats relievers would finish the final four innings allowing just one hit while striking out seven. With the win Lynchburg improves to 23-18 on the year.