Travis Bazzanna homers again in Captains win, Doug Nikhazy tosses seven strong innings for Clippers

Cleveland Guardians minor league recap for Monday, September 2, 2024

Columbus Clippers 0, Gwinnett Braves 1

Box Score · Clippers improve to 69-61

Columbus got some great pitching on Sunday, but that’s not going to matter much when you don’t score any runs.

Starting pitcher Doug Nikhazy took one of the toughest losses of his career, allowing one run in seven brilliant innings on six hits with two strikeouts and one walk. A solo home run did him in.

Offensively, Juan Brito went 1-for-3 with a stolen base and Micah Pries went 2-for-4. That was the extent of everyone who reached base safely twice and no one had an extra base hit.

Akron RubberDucks 2, Bowie Baysox 1

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 76-50

A day after clinching a playoff spot, Akron remained red hot with another stellar pitching performance. This time, it was Trenton Denholm’s chance to shine.

Denholm tossed five scoreless innings on two hits with one strikeout and one walk, lowing her ERA since being promoted to Double-A to a stellar 2.70.

Also impressing were Davis Sharpe, who added two scoreless innings of relief, and Lenny Torres Jr., who also added a scoreless inning of relief.

Jack Leftwich danced around a solo shot in the ninth inning to earn his 10th save of the season.

Yordys Valdes led the way for Akron’s offense, going 2-for-3 with a home run and a stolen base.

Cooper Ingle reached base safely three times, going 1-for-2 with a pair of walks.

Lake County Captains 6, Cedar Rapids Kernels 3

Box Score · Captains improve to 73-51

Don’t look now but Travis Bazzana is heating up at High-A. Leading off for Lake County, Bazzana went 2-for-4 with his third home run and a walk. His OPS now is a healthy .835 and rising.

Jonah Advincula also had a monster day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a two-run home run, a walk and a stolen base.

Guardians 2024 second round pick Jacob Cozart had his best day as a pro, going 2-for-4 and also throwing out the lone base thief from Cedar Rapids. Jose Devers homered and scored a pair of runs.

Starting pitcher Dylan DeLucia was OK, allowing three runs on five hits (two of them home runs) in 4 ²⁄₃ innings with four strikeouts and a walk.

Zach Jacobs, Jay Driver and Sean Rapp closed out the victory with a rock solid 4 ¹⁄₃ innings of scoreless relief, with Jacobs earning his seventh win and Rapp picking up his second save.

Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Carolina Mudcats 3

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 65-58

Lynchburg stopped its losing skid on the back of Welbyn Francisca, who had a spectacular day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base.

Tommy Hawke reached base safely three times, going 2-for-4 with a walk and Logun Clark went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Luis Merejo went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks while Barrett Riebock walked twice. Christian Knapczyk was hit by a pair of pitches and stole a base.

Starting pitcher Jackson Humphries allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts and a walk in four innings pitched.

Venezuelan prospect Jervis Alfaro was spectacular in long relief, allowing one run on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk in four innings to earn the win.

Guardians 2024 19th round draft pick Cam Schuelke slammed the door with a scoreless ninth inning.