Johnathan Rodriguez keeps blasting homers in Columbus, Lake County drops game one of championship series

Cleveland Guardians minor league recap for Monday, September 16, 2024

Columbus Clippers 5, St. Paul Saints 2

Box Score · Clippers improve to 77-65

Columbus got all the runs it needed on one swing Sunday, then added a few more for good mreasure.

Jonathan Rodriguez led the way, going 1-for-4 but his one his was a big one, a three-run home run.

No one else had an extra-base hit, but Myles Straw went 1-for-3 with a two-run single and a walk. Juan Brito and Tyler Freeman also went 1-for-3 with a walk and Raynel Delgado went 1-for-3 with a stolen base.

Starting pitcher Will Dion was decent, allowing two runs on three hits in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings. He struck out five and walked five.

Coming out of the bullpen, Triston McKenzie again was excellent. He tossed 2 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings of long relief with one hit, one walk and a pair of strikeouts.

James Karinchak earned his first save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning including a pair of strikeouts.

Akron RubberDucks 4, Hartford Yard Goats 5

Box Score · RubberDucks fall to 80-58

Akron attempted a late-inning rally but it fell short in the RubberDucks’ regular season finale.

Cooper Ingle led the way offensively, going 2-for-5 with a double. C.J. Kayfus was right with him, going 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. Alexfri Planez and Jorge Burgos also singled, with Planez being hit by a pitch and Burgos walking

Hartford was five-for-five in base stealing with Ingle behind the plate defensively.

Starting pitcher Tommy Mace allowed three runs on six hits with three walks and one strikeout in 4 ²⁄₃ innings. Ross Carver didn’t fare much better, allowing an additional two runs on two walks and a hit in 1 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched.

The rest of the bullpen was magnificent as Magnus Ellerts, Lenny Torres Jr. and Davis Sharpe tossed three perfect innings with five strikeouts combined.

Lake County Captains 4, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 5

Box Score · Captains fall to 0-1 in the championship series

Neither starting pitcher performed well in this game. Lake County’s Rorik Maltrud was yanked in ²⁄₃ of an inning after walking two and giving up two hits in a three-run first inning.

On the flipside, Wisconsin’s starting pitcher didn’t last much longer, as Ryan Birchard was pulled in 1 ²⁄₃ innings after giving up three runs on three hits and five walks. He’s honestly lucky he didn’t give up more.

Wuilfredo Antunez led the way for the Captains offensively, going 3-for-5 with a stolen base and an RBI. Angel Genao walked three times, as did Alex Mooney, who also stole a base. Jonah Advincula also walked three times, stealing two bases and scoring a pair of runs.

Travis Bazzana doubled and scored while Ralphy Velazquez went 1-for-3 with a walk.

Carter Spivey came in long relief and saved the day for the Captains, allowing one run on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts in 4 ²⁄₃ innings. Zach Jacobs gave up an additional run in 2 ¹⁄₃ innings and unfortunately that additional run was the go-ahead one in the bottom of the eighth, which he couldn’t get out of.