Zach Plesac brilliant in Triple-A debut, Akron blasts six home runs in blowout win
Cleveland Indians minor league recap for May 12, 2019
Columbus Clippers 3, Syracuse Mets 1
Box Score · Clippers improve to 20-14
Zach Plesac made his Triple-A debut Saturday and it was sensational.
Plesac tossed 6.0 shutout innings on just two hits while striking out seven and walking one. Of his 86 total pitches, 58 were strikes. With his performance, Plesac dropped his season ERA to 0.86 through seven starts and 47.1 innings pitched.
If the Indians use Cody Anderson again instead of him the next time there is a need for a fifth starter, I’m going to write a Francona and the front office a stern letter.
Offensively, Brandon Barnes led the way, going 2-3 with a home run and a walk. Trayce Thompson also homered while Eric Stamets went 2-3 with a double. Stamets has hit well since being demoted and currently sports a healthy .290/.380/.452 slashline through 19 games.
Akron RubberDucks 15, Reading Fightin Phils 2
Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 15-20
Well that was one way to break out of a skid. After losing five of their last six games to drop well below .500, Akron exploded offensively on Saturday.
Ka’ai Tom led the way, going 3-5 with two home runs and a double. Wilson Garcia, Connor Marabell and Logan Ice all homered as well, as did a Nellie Rodriguez, who made his season debut for the RubberDucks.
Jorma Rodriguez joined the multi-hit parade, going 2-4 with a walk while Alexis Pantoja went 2-5 with a walk.
Also making his season debut was starting pitcher Aaron Civale. Civale wasn’t fooling hitters, but he at least induced weak contact over 5.0 innings, allowing two runs on five hits while walking two and striking out zero.
Rob Kaminsky, Kyle Nelson and Nick Sandlin combined to toss 4.0 innings of scoreless relief. Nelson has yet to allow a run this season in 14.1 innings pitched while Sandlin has only allowed one run in 8.1 innings thus far.
Lake County Captains 2, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4
Box Score · Captains sink to 19-15
Baserunning mistakes plagued the Captains on Saturday as all three players who attempted to swipe a base were caught stealing, preventing Lake County from getting more than five opportunities at the dish with runners in scoring position.
The lone extra base hit came from the bat of Miguel Jerez, his first of the season. Jerez won the Arizona Rookie League MVP last year after blasting 14 bombs in the short season league.
Ruben Cardenas had a pair of hits for the Captains, but was one of the attempted thieves who was caught.
Starting pitcher Raymond Burgos was okay through 4.0 innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out four and walking two. Zach Draper continued his run of dominance with another two scoreless innings of relief, dropping his season ERA to 0.34, but Kellen Rholl and Skylar Arias both allowed a run to cross the plate in the seventh and eighth innings to allow Wisconsin to take the lead and win the game.