Guardians Baseball Insider

Scoreboard

Triple-A – Omaha Storm Chasers 8, Columbus Clippers 3
Double-A – Erie SeaWolves 7, Akron RubberDucks 6
High-A – Lake County Captains 3, Fort Wayne TinCaps 0
Low-A – Lynchburg Hillcats 2, Salem Red Sox 1

HIGHLIGHTS

Yainer Diaz (Lynchburg, DH): 3-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K – Diaz was the offensive star of the Indians’ farm system on Sunday. Three hits in a game is impressive enough, but when one of them is a double that drives in the eventual game-winning run, that’s a pretty good night. This was hardly a flash in the pan, however, as it was his second three-hit game in a row and his fifth multi-effort in eight this season. Not surprisingly, all three sections of his slash line start with a four (.400/.432/.486). Might we see him in Eastlake later this season?

THE BEST OF THE REST

Daniel Johnson (Columbus, CF): 0-2, 2 BB, 1 K – Despite going hitless, Johnson was the only Clipper to reach base multiple times on Sunday.

Owen Miller (Columbus, SS): 1-4, 1 2B, 1 K – Miller has reached base in each of his last eight games played and has an 1.192 OPS (including a .477 AVG) this season.

Bobby Bradley (DH): 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI – The good news: Bradley has four home runs and eleven RBI in 41 at-bats this season. the bad news: He has only three other hits. If you’re wondering, that works out to a .171 AVG and .292 ISO.

Gabriel Arias (Columbus, 3B): 1-4, 1 K – Arias extended his season-opening on-base streak to eleven games yesterday.

Ryan Lavarnway (Columbus, C): 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K – The veteran backstop drove in his tenth and eleventh runs of the season on a second inning homer (his fourth of the season).

Blake Parker (Columbus, RP): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K – While he allowed his first hit of the season, Parker continues to dominate Triple-A East (Can we get some better names for these leagues?) hitting (5.2 shutout innings with a 8:3 K:BB ratio and three saves in as many opportunities).

Jose Fermin (Akron, SS): 0-4, 1 R, 1 BB – Fermin’s walk to start the third inning preserved his season-opening on-base streak, which now stands at eight games.

Alex Call (Akron, CF): 1-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K – Call has also reached in every game he has played this season (nine).

Oscar Gonzalez (Akron, DH): 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI – Gonzalez’s OPS this season is .915, including a .282 AVG and .331 ISO.

Francisco Perez (Akron, RP): 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 4 K – Despite a rough start to the sixth, Perez remain unscored upon in 9.2 innings ( our games) of work this season. He also improved his strikeout to walk ratio to 16:6.

Thomas Ponticelli (Akron, RP): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 3 K – Ponticelli has struck out twelve while walking only two in four games this season (three for the RubberDucks, one with High-A Lake County).

Brayan Rocchio (Lake County, SS): 0-3, 1 R, 1 HBP – Rocchio scored the eventual game-winning run despite not getting a hit or a walk.

Will Brennan (Lake County, CF): 1-3, 1 R, 2 K – Brennan continues his season-opening on-base streak (ten games) one day after his first hitless night of the season.

Aaron Bracho (Lake County, 2B): 1-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K – Bracho made up for his two-strikeout start to the day (Hey, the entire lineup was striking out early – TinCaps starter Ethan Elliott struck out 13 in six innings) with a seventh-inning double that provided all the runs the Captains would need on Sunday.

Mason Hickman (Lake County, SP): ND, 5 IP, 2 BB, 7 K – Hickman rebounded from allowing three runs in five hits in 3.2 innings in his professional debut last Sunday with this stellar effort. He might have gone six if a long fifth (seemed to struggle briefly following a Victor Nova fielding error) hadn’t inflated his pitch count.

Nathan Ocker (Lake County, RP): W (1-0), 2 IP, 1 H, 2 K – Ocker earned his first professional individual victory on Sunday in a solid relief outing.

Tim Herrin (Lake County, RP): S (1), 2 IP, 1 H, 3 K – Herrin, who was 7-for-7 in save opportunities in 2019 (six for Short-Season Mahoning Valley and one for the then Low-A Captains) converted his first of 2021.

Christian Cairo (Lynchburg, 2B): 0-3, 1 BB, 3 K – Cairo failed to get a hit for the first time this season but extended his on-base streak to eight games with a walk.

Micah Pries (Lynchburg, 1B): 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K – Pries has a hit in all seven full games he has played in. His sixth-inning double started a two-run inning that would ultimately win the game for the Hillcats.

Jhonkensy Noel (Lynchburg, 3B): 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI – As he has throughout the first two weeks of the season, Noel was instrumental to the Hillcats’ run-scoring efforts. In this case, his double drove in the tying run in the aforementioned sixth frame.

Eric Mock (Lynchburg, RP): W (2-0) 4 IP, perfect, 1 K – Mock’s four frames of perfect relief earned him his second relief win in three outings this season.

Jaime Arias-Bautista (Lynchburg, RP): S (1), 2 IP, 1 BB, 2 K – Arias-Bautista successfully converted his first professional save opportunity (fourth pro game) on Sunday in Salem Va.