Guardians Baseball Insider

The Hillcats finally had a normal week with six games played and Monday off and they got off to a roaring start with three straight wins against Fredericksburg before dropping the next two. They finished out the week with extra innings yesterday against Salem. Win or lose, Lynchburg continues to provide a ton of offense, although the pitching can be hit or miss. In addition to some great and some not so great starts, Jerson Ramirez blew his first save of the season between two good appearances last week.

Day by Day

6/17 W 5-3 vs. Fredericksburg – W: Hart (3-1); L: Merrill (0-1); S: Ramirez(5)
6/18 W 4-3 vs. Fredericksburg – W: Jones (1-4); L: Parker (3-4); S: Munoz (1)
6/19 W 8-2 vs. Fredericksburg – W: Arias-Bautista (3-1); L: Seijas (1-5)
6/20 L 9-10 vs. Fredericksburg – W: Moore (2-0); L: Ramirez (0-1)
6/22 L 8-9 vs. Salem – W: Fernandez (1-0); L: Smith (0-1)
6/23 W 5-4 vs. Salem – W: Jenkins (2-0); L: Scroggins (2-2); S: Arias-Bautista (2)

Player of the Week

C/1B Yainer Diaz: 12/26, 3 2B, 7 RBI, 2 BB 

Diaz played every game last week and not only got a hit in each, but now has an eight game hit streak with hits in 14 of his last 15 games. This run of great average, OBP, power and consistency is the best for Diaz since July of 2019 when he was back in Arizona.

Who’s Hot

RP Jaime Arias-Bautista: 3.2IP, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 R

Bautista has only pitched in relief this year, but had yet to pitch less than two innings in any appearance. His first appearance this week was no different as he threw in relief on June 19th and went 3.2 shut out innings. He came into the game with two runners on and one out and was immediately treated to an error, but he managed to give up just the one run tallied to Lenny Torres before finishing out the rest of his stint scoreless and holding on to earn his third win of the season. He then jumped in to save the day on Wednesday with two strike outs in a scoreless inning to earn the extra inning win.

OF Cody Farhat: 8-28, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 5 RBI, 6 R

Much like Diaz, Farhat has been on a bit of a streak with hits in seven straight, although he hasn’t been quite as impressive overall. The first game in this run was his best with a triple and home run as well as two RBI and two runs scored, but he did add a double yesterday to finish things off strong.

Who’s Not

1B Will Barlett: 0-6, 4 K, 0 BB 

Bartlett made this list last week and has continued his downward spiral, going 0 for the week while playing part time. This cool spell spans far more than a couple weeks, however, as he now is 4 for his last 63 with 19 strike outs, eight walks and two home runs.

SP Josh Wolf: 4 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 3 BB, K, 2 HR

The Hillcats managed to take Sunday’s game into extras, but that was despite the hole that Wolf dug to start the game. He gave up four in the first with all the runs coming on consecutive doubles with one out. After a scoreless second, he gave up back to back homers in the third for three more runs allowed. This was Wolf’s only game pitched of the week and has continued his run of either being amazing or absolutely terrible. He has pitched exactly four innings in five of seven games and allowed one or fewer runs four times and four or more three times.

Up next

6/24-6/27 AT Salem
6/29-6/30 vs Delmarva (Double header Wednesday)