Guardians Farm Report: Curry Dominate In Akron Loss

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

Author:
Todd Paquette
May 5, 2022 10:19 AM EDT

In this story:

Cleveland Guardians

All four Cleveland Guardians minor league affiliates were in action Thursday night including Lake County who played a double header at Dayton.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Columbus 5 Omaha 4

The Clippers scored five runs in the second inning yesterday off Omaha starter Daniel Mengden with the big blow coming on a grand slam off the bat of third baseman Jose Fermin. It was the second game in a row Columbus would hit a grand slam as Oscar Gonzalez had one of his own in Wednesday's contest.

Starter Tanner Tully went six strong innings allowing just one run on six hits while striking out three Storm Chasers. Tully has been impressive over his last two starts for Columbus only giving up one run on 10 hits striking out five batters over 12.0 innings of work.

Omaha would try to mount a comeback scoring three runs in the seventh cutting the Clippers lead down to one run at 5-to-4. Columbus reliever Nick Mikolajchak would close the door over the final two innings earning his third save of on the year. With the win the Clippers improve to 18-8 on the season.

Top Performers:

Jose Fermin 1-4 R HR 4RBI
Oscar Gonzalez 1-4 RBI
Trenton Brooks 1-4 R
Gavin Collins 1-4 R
Anthony Alford 0-2 R 2BB
Tanner Tully 6.0(IP) 6H 1R 1ER 1BB 3SO (W)
Nick Mikolajchak 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO (SV)

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Richmond 7 Akron 3

For the second straight game the RubberDucks would flounder an outstanding outing by a starting pitcher only to have the bullpen collapse in defeat.

Akron right-handed starter Xzavion Curry like Logan T. Allen the night before would shut down the Flying Squirrels offense early. Curry struck out eight batters allowing just one run on two hits over his five innings of work.

The RubberDucks would lead 2-to-1 after six innings thanks to an RBI double in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the sixth inning by outfielder Will Brennan. Brennan would finish with three hits in the game and is now leading the Eastern League with a .352 average.

Richmond would get to the Ducks bullpen in an ugly seventh inning scoring six runs off relievers Manuel Alvarez and Jerson Ramirez who combined to walk four in the inning.

Akron would score once more in the ninth inning on a Micah Pries RBI single, but it wouldn't be enough losing by a final of 7-to-3 dropping their record under .500 at 11-12 on the season.

Top Performers:

Will Brennan 3-4 R 2B 2RBI SB
George Valera 1-3 2R 2B BB
Micah Pries 1-4 RBI
Julian Escobedo 2-4
Jose Tena 1-4
Xzavion Curry 5.0(IP) 2H 1R 1ER 1BB 8SO
Luis Oviedo 1.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

High-A Lake County Captains

Dayton 8 Lake County 7 (Game 1)

Lake County starter Tanner Bibee was outstanding in game one of the double header despite allowing his first earned runs on the season. Bibee in his five frames gave up just two runs on three hits and struck out eight Dragons. He would leave the game up 6-to-2 at the time.

The Captains bullpen would cough up the lead however allowing the Dragons tie up the game at six apiece by the end of regulation. Lake County would take the lead at 7-to-6 scoring one run in the top of the eighth inning. The bullpen though would falter again allowing two runs to score including the winning run on a wild pitch giving Dayton an 8-7 walk-off win.

The offense was paced by Angel Martinez who would reach base four times on the night including a big two run double in the teams six run fifth inning. Christian Cairo who has been mired in a long slump would drive in two runs on a base hit in the fifth inning as well.

Top Performers:

Angel Martinez 3-3 R 2B 2RBI BB
Christian Cairo 1-3 2R 2RBI BB
Gabriel Rodriguez 1-4 2B 2RBI
Jhonkensy Noel 1-3 R 2B
Tanner Bibee 5.0(IP) 3H 2R 2ER 2BB 8SO

Dayton 5 Lake County 1 (Game 2)

In game two the Captains would take an early 1-to-0 lead first baseman Joe Naranjo's solo home run his fifth already on the season. Unfortunately that would be the only run Lake County could muster on the night as the Dragons staff only gave up four hits in the game while striking out 14 Captains hitters.

Captains starting pitcher Aaron Davenport was cruising through the first couple of innings before he was touched up for a two run home run in the third inning. Left-hander Jaime Arias-Bautista would relieve Davenport but would give up three runs in the fifth inning which would give Dayton a 5-to-1 lead and eventual final score of the contest. Lake County drops to 10-13 on the year after being swept in the double header by Dayton.

Top Performers:

Joe Naranjo 1-3 R HR RBI
Jhonkensy Noel 1-3 2B
Johnathan Rodriguez 1-3
Korey Holland 1-2 SB
Aaron Davenport 3.0(IP) 5H 2R 2ER 2BB 4SO

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg 4 Fredericksburg 2

The Hillcats stay hot behind another strong start by lefty Rodney Boone who went a season high six innings allowing two runs but only one earned. Boone would strike out five in the game giving him 33 on the season which is currently the third most in the Guardians farm system.

The game was tied at 2-to-2 until the bottom of the eighth inning when Lynchburg would score twice including an RBI double that brought home the second run in the inning by Dayan Frias.

Leading now 4-to-2 closer Elvis Jerez would come in and shut the door earning his third save of the season. With the win Lynchburg improves to 12-10 on the year.

Really cool moment for Lynchburg's Milan Tolentino in the game as his father who was in attendance was in the booth in the sixth inning and was given the opportunity to call his sons at bat. Milan would double in the at bat while his dad was doing play-by-play. Tolentino's father Jose Tolentino is the MLB Spanish play-by-play voice for the Angels.