Guardians Baseball Insider

Scoreboard

Triple-A: Columbus Clippers 8, Louisville Bats 4
Double-A: Akron RubberDucks 3, Altoona Curve 1 
High-A: Lake County Captains 4, Lansing Lugnuts 3
Low-A: Lynchburg Hillcats 8, Salem Red Sox 2

Highlights

Trenton Denholm (SP, Lynchburg): 4IP, 2H, BB, 7K – Denholm was on fire, showing off three good pitches. He struck out the side in the second and the final two batters he faced in the fourth. He only threw 66 pitches and 46 were strikes (69%, nice!).

Oscar Gonzalez (RF, Columbus): 4-5, 2R, HR, 3 RBI – Gonzalez visited the short porch in Huntington Park’s left field for his sixth homer of the year. He also eeked out an infield single, just for good measure. He saw 20 pitches, so about four an at-bat. Not bad for the free swinger, just a lot of foul balls and hits.

Daniel Espino (SP, Akron): 4.2IP, 3H, ER, BB, 5K – After a leadoff homer and a walk in the first inning, Espino settled in. It wasn’t the dominant performance of last week, but pretty good. He left in fifth after some knee soreness after covering a play at first base. He was removed for precautionary reasons. His last at bat was a strikeout and a 98 mph fastball, so it didn’t seem to be anything too overly worrisome for now. 

Akron RubberDucks Bullpen: 4.1IP, 2H, 2BB, 10K – Manual Alvarez relieved Espino. Though he ran some deep counts because of his control, he fanned three of the four he retired and allowed a hit. Kyle Marman followed with a hit and three strikeouts in his inning. Nic Enright picked up a four out save with four strikeouts, though two walks for the normally precise tall righty.

Davis Sharpe (RP, Lynchburg): 2.2IP, 5K – Sharpe faced eight batters, retired them all and struck out five of them.

Milan Tolentino (2B, Lynchburg): 2-4, 3R, BB – Tolentino reached before in three of his five plate appearances thanks to a walk, a hit and an infield hit. He’s easily been the Hillcats best hitter so far this year.

Jake Fox (CF, Lynchburg): 0-1, 4BB – Jake Fox has 21 walks and 13 strikeouts this year. His .808 OPS is buoyed by a .481 OBP. Pretty wild for a newly minted centefielder. 

Angel Martinez (SS, Lake County): 1-4, HR, 2 RBI – Martinez hit a two run homer, his first of the year, in walk off fashion for Lake County. 

Rehab

Yu Chang (DH, Akron): 1-2 – Chang had a ground ball single up the middle in his second at bat for the only hit of his short night.

Best of the rest

David Fry (1B, Columbus): 1-2, HR, 3 RBI, BB – Playing first base, Fry only had one hit. He seems to have a lot of one hit games. When he does, it seems to be an extra base hit and driving in runs. He’s only got a .642 OPS but four homers and 11 RBI. He’s just not making a lot of contact. But it is impactful contact.

Jose Fermin (3B, Columbus): 0-2, 3 BB – Fermin is having such an interesting year. His average is down, despite walking more and not striking out much more. He’s shown some pop. He’s not known for his power, but he coaxed three walks, which is hilarious. But there’s something so pure about Fermin. He has a great approach at the plate, makes contact, runs well, plays three infield positions and quite well. Plus he has a fun energy on the field. Just a very interesting profile.

Will Brennan (CF, Akron): 1-4, 2 RBI – Brennan plated the first two runs of the game for Akron with two outs in the seventh by kind of beating the shift. He hit it where the shortstop might have been if not shading him right. He finds a way to be productive almost every game.

Bo Naylor (DH, Akron): 1-1, BB, SB – Making his first appearance since Tuesday, pinch hitting for Chang, Naylor walked and then singled later in the game. He also stole his fifth base of the year (in five tries). Naylor is 15 for his last 15 on steals going back to 2021. 

Jhonkensy Noel (3B, Lake County): 1-3, 2B, RBI, BB – Noel doubled home Lake County’s first run of the game and got on base twice in four plate appearances. He did strikeout once. 

Jared Jones (RP, Lake County): 2.1 H, 3K – Jones gave Lake County and important extended relief outing in a low scoring game.

Jorge Burgos (RF, Lynchburg): 2-5, 2 RBI – Dueces wild for Burgos tonight. Two hits, two RBI and two strikeouts, unfortunately.