The Cleveland system kept stacking wins on Friday in Columbus, Akron and Lake County, while the Hill City Howlers split a doubleheader and saw their night turn sour in a hurry.
Columbus delivered the loudest offensive performance of the bunch, outlasting Lehigh Valley 10-7 in a game that featured 13 hits and no errors for the Clippers. Rorik Maltrud handled the start and improved to 3-0 after a quality outing, allowing three runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out four. Steven Pérez finished it off with his second save, fanning three over two innings.
The game got rolling fast for Columbus. Cooper Ingle opened the first with a double, Angel Genao walked, and Bo Naylor knocked in Ingle with a two-out single.
CJ Kayfus followed with another single, bringing home Genao. In the second, Dayan Frias walked, Ingle singled again, and Genao drove in Frias with a single before Juan Brito added a ground-rule double to left that scored Ingle and made it 4-0.
The Clippers kept pouring it on in the third. Milan Tolentino walked with two outs, Frias tripled him in, and Ingle then launched a two-run homer to left center to push the lead to 7-0.
Brito added a solo shot to right in the sixth, and Columbus closed the door with two more in the eighth. Four straight walks opened that inning, and after the bases were loaded, Kayfus reached on a force out that scored Genao for the final run.
Every Columbus hitter reached base at least once, and Ingle set the tone with a 3-for-5 night that included four runs, two RBIs and a walk. Brito finished 2-for-4 with a run, two RBIs and a walk, while Naylor went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Akron kept the momentum going with a 5-2 win over Chesapeake, backed by a strong night on the mound and enough timely hitting to flip the game. Dylan DeLucia worked 4.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out seven.
Jay Driver picked up his sixth win after recording the final out in the fifth, and Zach Jacobs, Jack Carey and Jack Jasiak finished the job with scoreless work. Jasiak earned his first save with Akron, striking out two in the ninth.
The RubberDucks answered early after falling behind by two. Bennett Thompson tripled with one out in the second and Wuilfredo Antunez doubled him in.
Juan Benjamin tied it in the third with a leadoff homer to left center. Akron then kept the pressure on: Nick Mitchell and Jaison Chourio singled back-to-back, Alfonsin Rosario doubled in Mitchell, and later Rosario stole third and scored on a Jacob Cozart single to put Akron ahead by two.
Cozart added another RBI in the fifth, and Benjamin came home on a bases-loaded hit by pitch to cap the scoring.
Lake County made it three wins in the system with a 6-4 home victory over Lansing. Jackson Humphries earned his first win of the season by dealing 5.0 innings of one-run ball, allowing two hits, three walks and striking out ten. Josh Harlow gave up two runs in one inning, Melkis Hernández allowed one run over the seventh and eighth, and Izaak Martinez locked down his sixth save with three strikeouts and one walk.
The Captains took control early and never gave it back. Tommy Hawke worked an eight-pitch walk to start the first, Aaron Walton singled and advanced to second, and Anthony Martinez doubled both runners in with two outs.
Hawke then added his first High A homer in the third, a leadoff shot to right center. Nolan Schubart walked before Dean Curley launched his tenth homer of the season to make it 5-0.
Lake County added one more in the sixth when Esteban González singled, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch.
Hill City’s doubleheader opened with a blowout loss in Game 1, as Charleston rolled 15-1. Erigaldi Perez took the loss and fell to 0-2 after allowing eight runs on eight hits and two walks in 3.0 innings, striking out three. Keegan Zin gave up four runs in 2.2 innings, Ettore Giulianelli was charged with three more, and Yerlin Luis recorded the final out of the shortened game.
The Howlers’ lone run came in the second when Jhorvic Abreus followed a Reiner Herrera double play with a solo homer to right.
Game 2 was tighter, but Hill City still came up short, losing 6-3. Ryan DeSanto gave the Howlers a solid start, allowing three runs on five hits and one walk over 5.1 innings with five strikeouts. Javi Torres took the loss after giving up three runs in 1.2 innings.
All three Hill City runs came in the third. Dauri Fernandez walked, Jose Pirela reached on a single grounder to second, and after Fernandez was picked off at second, Luis De La Cruz blasted a two-run homer to left. Reiner Herrera followed with a solo shot to give the Howlers a three-run lead, but they couldn’t hold it and dropped the game 6-3.
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