Valera, Manzardo, Schneemann, Devers and Tugboat shine as Guards affiliates sweep five games

Cleveland Guardians minor league recap for Thursday, May 2, 2024

Columbus Clippers 14, Toledo Mud Hens 8

Box Score · Clippers improve to 12-16

Wednesday was the much-anticipated season debut of No. 6 Guardians outfield prospect George Valera, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury in Spring Training.

He didn’t disappoint.

Valera reached base safely four times, going 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.

Kyle Manzardo continues to rake, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and a walk. It was his org-leading eighth bomb of the season, raising his OPS to a ridiculous 1.067.

The hits just keep coming as both Daniel Schneemann and Myles Straw had three-hit games, with Straw tripling and homering and Schneemann homering for his third game in a row. Schneemann had four RBIs, raising his OPS to 1.057.

That’s not all, Johnathan Rodriguez went 2-for-5 with a grand slam and he only has a .923 OPS for the season.

Jhonkensy Noel reached base safely twice, going 1-for-4 with a hit by pitch while Jose Tena went 2-for-4 with a walk to reach base safely three times.

All that offense helped overcome a rough start from Adam Oller, who gave up six runs (five aerned) on five hits and two walks without getting out of the first inning.

Mason Hickman followed with 2 ¹⁄₃ innings, giving up two runs on two hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

Rehabbing reliever Sam Hentges pitched two scoreless innings, striking out a pair to earn the win. He should be ready to join the Guardians bullpen any day now.

John Doxakis added three scoreless innings and Anthony Banda closed out the victory with 1-2-3 ninth inning, striking out a pair.

Akron RubberDucks 7, Richmond Flying Squirrels 2

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 15-8

Akron got a great pitching performance from Rodney Boone and never looked back. Boone allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings with five strikeouts and no walks, lowering his season ERA to 2.84.

Andrew Walters struck out a pair in 1 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings of relief and Sabrowski closed out the victory by striking out the only two batters he faced in the ninth inning.

Offensively, it was the Joe Naranjo show. The former third round pick had his best game of the season, going 3-for-4 from the No. 9 hole in the lineup, hitting his first home run of the season.

Yordys Valdes had the other multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a stolen base, raising his season batting average to a ridiculous .370.

Petey Halpin doubled and walked while catcher Kody Huff homered and walked. Joe Lampe went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.

Lake County Captains 7, Fort Wayne TinCaps 6

Box Score · Captains improve to 13-9

There was no quit in Lake County on Wednesday.

The Captains trailed 6-1 and fought back with three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, then walked it off with three more in the bottom of the ninth.

Jose Devers made history with his third straight three-hit game, including a walk-off walk with the bases loaded. He also hit his first home run of the season.

Devers wasn’t the only member of the Captains to have a big day at the plate. Guy Lipscomb went 2-for-5, Jake Fox went 2-for-5 with a double, CJ Kayfus went 2-for-5 wiht two RBIs, Alex Mooney went 1-for-3 with a double, two walks and a stolen base, and Angel Zarate and Tyresse Turner both went 1-for-3 with a walk.

Starting pitcher Parker Messic had his first outing where he looked human, although he still was effective, allowing four runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and no walks in six innings.

Jay Driver earned the win with a scoreless ninth inning, striking out a pair.

Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 6 (F/10) G1
Lynchburg Hillcats 5, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 0 (F/7) G1

Game 1 Box Score · Game 2 Box Score · Hillcats improve to 13-10

Game one wasn’t a traditional doubleheader, as it was the completion of a suspended game from Tuesday, where Lynchburg had been trailing 5-1 at the time after another rough starting pitching performance from Alex Clemmey, who allowed five runs on five hits and three walks in just 2 ¹⁄₃ innings, striking out one.

Lynchburg battled back with one run in the first, fifth, seventh and then two in the eighth to tie it. When Kannapolis took a 5-4 lead in the top of the 10th, the Hillcats ended the game with a two-run home run from Angel Genao.

Genao had a monster day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a double and the walk-off home run, raising his season OPS to .957, which is now higher than stud prospect teammates Ralphy Velazquez and Jaison Chourio.

Chourio went 2-for-6 while leadoff hitter Christian Knapczyk impressively walked four times and scored three runs. Wuilfredo Antunez doubled and walked while Luis Durango went 2-for-5 with two stolen bases. Robert Lopez and Velazquez both walked twice and Manuel Mejias went 2-for-5.

The pitching hero of the game was Rorik Maltrud, who tossed 4 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings of two-hit ball, striking out six and walking two. He’s impressed as an undrafted free agent from 2023.

Game two was the Tugboat show as starting pitcher Matt Wilkinson continues to absolutely dominate. This time, he tossed another five scoreless innings, striking out five while walking three and surrendering a pair of hits. He lowered his season ERA to a ridiculous 0.35 through five starts. Someone promote this man already!

Jasiak finished off the shutout with two scoreless innings of relief.

Lynchburg didn’t need much offense, but the Hillcats clustered their three hits perfectly with five walks, with Angel Genao again reaching base safely twice, going 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. Knapczyk was hit by two pitches and Esteban Gonzalez went 1-for-3 with a stolen base. Robert Lopez went 1-for-2 with a walk and Juan Benjamin walked twice.