Guardians Farm Report: Espino And Burns Turn In Dominate Starts In Akron Sweep of Reading

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

Author:
Todd Paquette
Apr 17, 2022 10:06 AM EDT

In this story:

Cleveland Guardians

The Columbus Clippers win their seventh straight game while the Akron RubberDucks sweep a doubleheader in Saturday action down on the farm.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Columbus 10 Syracuse 1

Don't look now but the Columbus Clippers move to 8-3 on the season after winning their seventh straight game Saturday.

Gabriel Arias led the way with four RBI's on two hits including a three run double and his first home run of the season. Second baseman Ike Freeman remained red hot hitting his third home run of the series. Outfielder Alex Call also went yard with a two run home run his second on the year. Mr. Double Richie Palacios drove in two runs as well on his fourth double on the season.

Starter Kirk McCarty making his third start went four and a third scoreless innings striking out four and lowering his ERA to 0.79 on the season.

Top Performers:

Gabriel Arias 2-4 R 2B HR 4RBI BB
Ike Freeman 1-3 2R HR RBI BB
Alex Call 1-4 R HR 2RBI
Richie Palacios 1-4 R 2B 2RBI BB
Mitch Tolman 1-3 R RBI BB
Kirk McCarty 4.1(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 2BB 4SO

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron 11 Reading 0 (Game 1)

The RubberDucks were dominate on both sides of the ball taking game one of the doubleheader vs Reading.

The pitching staff had a no-hitter through six innings before allowing a hit to the first batter in the seventh. Starter Daniel Espino making his second start of the season went four and two thirds scoreless innings allowing no-hits while striking out seven in the game. Espino did touch 100 mph a couple times in the game.

The offense had multiple contributors throughout the lineup. Outfielder Julian Escobedo had two hits including his first home run of the year. Will Brennan continued his hot start with three more hits including his fifth double of the year while driving in three runs. Jose Tena added an RBI on three hits and scored three times.

Top Performers:

Julian Escobedo 2-4 2R HR RBI
Will Brennan 2-3 R 2B 3RBI BB
Jose Tena 3-4 3R RBI
Brayan Rocchio 1-2 R 2RBI
Micah Pries 2-4 R 2B RBI
George Valera 1-2 2R BB
Bo Naylor 1-4 RBI SB
Daniel Espino 4.2(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 3BB 7SO
Andrew Misiaszek 1.1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO (W)

Akron 2 Reading 1 (Game 2)

Akron got another outstanding start in game two from Tanner Burns who went five and a third scoreless innings striking out six in the game. It was nice to see burns fastball clock up to 96 mph after it was sitting low 90's at the end of the 2021 season.

The Ducks trailed 1-to-0 after Reading scored in the first frame of extra innings. A clutch Brayan Rocchio single drove home Seth Caddell to tie the game at 1-to-1 with one out. Will Brennan then walked to load the bases. First baseman Micah Pries on an 0-2 count singled to score the winning run giving Akron a 2-to-1 walk-off win. The RubberDucks with the sweep are now 5-4 on the season.

Top Perfomers:

Brayan Rocchio 2-4 RBI SB
Micah Pries 1-3 RBI
George Valera 0-2 R 2BB
Daniel Schneemann 1-3 SB
Tanner Burns 5.1(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 2BB 6SO
Timmy Herrin 1.2(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO

High-A Lake County

Dayton 4 Lake County 3 (Game 1)

Lake County and Dayton were tied at 3-to-3 heading to the seventh inning when the Dragons took the lead scoring one in the top of the inning. The Captains would fail to score in the bottom of the inning giving Dayton a 4-to-3 win in game one.

Jhonkensy Noel provided a two run double in the first inning for the Captains driving in Christian Cairo and Petey Halpin. In the third inning Gabriel Rodriguez would single to drive in Angel Martinez who had three hits on the day and a stolen base.

Starter Doug Nikhazy only made it through one inning of work being pulled after throwing 36 pitches in the first. Nikhazy did strikeout the side but allowed two runs on three hits and a walk. Jaime Arias-Bautista would relieve Nikhazy and throw four strong innings just allowing a solo home run while striking out four.

Top Performers:

Jhonkensy Noel 1-3 2RBI BB
Angel Martinez 3-3 R SB
Gabriel Rodriguez 1-4 RBI
Johnathan Rodriguez 1-2 2BB
Christian Cairo 1-4 R
Joe Naranjo 1-4 2B
Jaime Arias-Bautista 4.0(IP) 1H 1R 1ER 1BB 4SO

Dayton 2 Lake County 1 (Game 2)

In game two both teams held each other scoreless through the first five innings. Dayton would score two runs in the top of the sixth while Lake County countered with one run in the bottom of the inning on a RBI single by Ray Delgado scoring Connor Kokx. That would be all the scoring in the game.

Lake County starter Tommy Mace was fantastic rebounding from a tough first start of the season. Mace allowed just one hit over four scoreless innings while striking out seven Dragons.

Top Performers:

Tommy Mace 4.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 2BB 7SO
Ray Delgado 1-3 RBI
Connor Kokx 1-4 R
Micael Ramirez 1-2 BB
Aaron Bracho 1-3
Gabriel Rodriguez 1-3
Joe Naranjo 0-1 2BB

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Delmarva 8 Lynchburg 3

Lynchburg's modest two game win streak came to an end Saturday vs Delmarva. The Shorebirds would take an early 6-to-0 lead over the Hillcats getting to starter Trenton Denholm early. Right hander Juan Zapata pitched well coming on in the fourth inning to steady the ship striking out five over four scoreless innings.

The Hillcats offense had some opportunities stranding 22 runners on the evening. Milan Tolentino had a three-hit game which upped his batting average to .381 on the season. Outfielder Isaiah Greene would just miss his first home run on the season settling for an RBI double scoring fellow outfielder Skeiling Rodriguez who had doubled himself earlier in the inning.