Chase DeLauter and Ralphy Velazquez homer in offense-filled day for Guards affiliates

Cleveland Guardians minor league recap for Wednesday, April 17, 2024

Columbus Clippers 7, Buffalo Bisons 4

Box Score · Clippers improve to 7-8

After falling behind 2-0, the Clippers scored seven unanswered runs on Tuesday, which was more than enough to pull off the victory.

Jose Tena was the offensive star of the day, going 3-for-4 with a double and three runs batted in. Daniel Schneemann also had a big day at the dish, going 1-for-2 with a double and two walks while Juan Brito went 1-for-3 with a double, a walk and a hit by pitch.

Myles Straw, Bryan Lavastida and Kyle Manzardo all had a single and a walk to reach base safely twice, with both Straw and Lavastida stealing a base.

Micah Pries went 2-for-4 with his first home run of the season.

Columbus had a bullpen game. Nic Enright had the best performance out of seven relievers, striking out all three batters he faced. He still sports a 0.00 ERA after six appearances.

Akron RubberDucks 6, Erie SeaWolves 0

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 6-4

Akron had a complete game, both on the pitching and hitting sides of the equation.

A whopping four RubberDucks had multi-hit games, led by top prospect Chase DeLauter, who went 2-for-3 with his first home run of the season, a third-inning blast.

DeLauter also got an RBI on a sacrifice fly. He also got caught stealing.

Khalil Watson went 2-for-4 with a triple while Yordys Valdes went 2-for-4 with a double and a pair of runs batted in. Aaron Bracho went 2-for-4.

Three other Akron players reached base multiple times, with Dayan Frias and Milan Tolento both walking twice while Joe Lampe went 1-for-3 with a walk.

Starting pitcher Ryan Webb was outstanding, tossing five shutout innings with three walks, six strikeouts and just one walk in his best performance of the young season.

Ross Carver added two scoreless innings while Bryan Leftwich and Andrew Walters closed out the game by each pitching a scoreless frame.

Lake County Captains 4, Lansing Lugnuts 5

Box Score · Captains fall to 4-5

Lake County had plenty of opportunities Tuesday but didn’t take good enough advantage of them as they came up short despite having three players with multi-hit games.

Jose Devers went 2-for-4 and Cooper Ingle went 2-for-4 with a double while Alex Mooney went 2-for-4 as well. Ingle and Mooney both are off to red hot starts, sporting an OPS over 1.000. CJ Kayfus also kept his OPS over 1.000 with a double.

Starting pitcher Trenton Denholm was rock solid, allowing two runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and no walks in six innings of work.

The bullpen let Denholm down, however, as Josh Wolf gave up two runs in his inning and then Magnus Ellerts couldn’t make it through an inning as Lansing broke the tie in the top of the ninth inning.

Lynchburg Hillcats 11, Salem Red Sox 4

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 4-6

Don’t look now, but Lynchburg’s offense has been heating up something fierce lately.

Young star Jaison Chourio led the way, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks, a double and a stolen base, reaching base safely four times and scoring three runs.

Angel Genao followed suit, also reaching base four times by going 3-for-4 with a walk. Manuel Mejias went 3-for-5 while Wuilfredo Antunez went 2-for-5 with a double. Esteban Gonzalez went 2-for-3 with a walk and a double while the big blow in the game came off the bat of 2023 first round pick Ralphy Velazquez, who blasted his third home run of the season to raise his OPS to 1.127.

With 15 hits and 11 runs scored, the Hillcats didn’t need much pitching on Tuesday, but they got a solid effort from Wardquelin Vasquez out of the bullpen. Vasquez tossed three innings of long relief, not allowing any runs while striking out three, walking one and giving up one hit.

Josh Harlow was superb, tossing two scoreless one-hit innings with three strikeouts while Reny Artiles closed out the victory with a scoreless ninth inning.