Guardians Baseball Insider

Delmarva Shorebirds 3, Lynchburg Hillcats 1

Franco Aleman’s pro debut did not go as planned as Delmarva the Baltimore Orioles Single-A affiliate defeated Lynchburg 3-1 on Wednesday night. Aleman, a 2021 10th round pick, struggled early on giving up two runs on three hits in the first inning. He settled down and competed to finish four innings.

Aleman showed composure as he struck out five batters and only allowed one more run in his first outing. Nerves seemed to have played a factor in his first start with a couple of wild pitches in the first. Aleman topped out at 95 MPH and was still throwing mid 90s when he was pulled following the 4th inning. Omir Santos acknowledged that some debut jitters may have contributed to Aleman’s 1st inning performance.

“He told me that kind of nervous because of his first outing and after that first inning he settled down”

Lynchburg manager Omir Santos

Hillcats relief pitching continues to be a bright spot

As they were in the weekend series against Boston’s Single-A affiliate Salem and in game one against Delmarva the bullpen for the Hillcats provide they can produce quality relief pitching. Wednesday, it was the tandem of Reid Johnston and Davis Sharpe. The two threw for a combined five innings of work with Johnston only allowing the only hit. Both struck out three Shorebird batters and showed good control throughout. The bullpen has been the silver lining for the struggling Hillcats.

“They’ve thrown a lot of strikes. They’ve been pounding the zone since opening day. The bullpen has been outstanding”

Santos

Young Cats off to hot starts

Milon Tolentino, Jake Fox and Isaiah Greene performed well at the plate of Wednesday. Tolentino had a second inning double and is now batting .308/.308 OBP/.846 OPS. Fox had an RBI single to go along with a walk. He is now batting .222/.333 OBP/ .555 OPS. Greene had a hit, walk and was the lone Hillcat to cross the plate. He is the team leader with a batting average of .400/.571 OBP/ .971 OPS. The trio will look to duplicate the success they had Wednesday to get a win on Thursday.

Up next

The Hillcats will look for their first win of the 2022 campaign as they will face Delmarva on Thursday at 6:30 PM in game three of the six game series against the Shorebirds. Santos feels the team has to continue to attack each day as a bring new opportunity.

Tomorrow is another day, a different day. Come with the same mentality and keep playing baseball. It’s going to happen”

Santos