Kyle Manzardo hits fourth homer in three games, Akron pitchers combine for two-hit shutout

Cleveland Guardians minor league recap for Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Columbus Clippers 3, Syracuse Mets 6

Box Score · Clippers fall to 8-13

Death, taxes, Kyle Manzardo homering again.

Manzardo wasted zero time this game, putting Columbus on top 2-0 in the first inning with a two-run bomb, his fourth home run in the past three games. It also put his season OPS into four digits at 1.002.

Manzardo’s blast was one of just two hits that the Clippers had all game. The other also was a home run, this time off the bat of Johnathan Rodriguez, who went 1-for-3 with a solo shot, his fifth of the season. The blast raised his OPS to .989.

A rehabbing Sam Hentges opened the game with a scoreless inning of work. Connor Gillespie then provided six innings, giving up five earned runs on four hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Amazingly, all four hits that Gillespie surrendered were home runs, as six of the seven hits in this entire game from both teams combined came from the long ball.

Akron RubberDucks 4, Altoona Curve 0

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 8-8

Akron got some great pitching and some timely hitting as the RubberDucks evened their record on Tuesday.

Joe Lampe went 2-for-4 with a double while Khalil Watson went 2-for-4 with a walk, but the real big shot of the game came off the bat of Aaron Bracho, who went 1-for-3 with a walk and a three-run home run in the third inning that put Akron up for good.

Starting pitcher Jaime Arias tossed four one-hit scoreless innings, but struggled with his command, walking five compared to three strikeouts.

Davis Sharpe earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief. Erik Sabrowski impressed with four strikeouts in two scoreless, hitless innings and Jordan Jones finished off the victory with a hitless ninth inning.

Lake County Captains 2, West Michigan Whitecaps 6

Box Score · Captains fall to 6-9

Cooper Ingle had a pair of doubles in a three-hit performance, but had to leave the game after the second double after hobbling a bit into second base.

Hopefully it’s not serious because the fourth-round pick has impressed to begin the 2024 season with a .371 batting average and a 1.034 OPS.

Nate Furman went 1-for-3 with two walks, Alex Mooney went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base and Jonah Advincula went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. CJ Kayfus went 1-for-4 with a walk as well.

Lake County didn’t get the best pitching as Jake Miller gave up three runs on five hits with four walks and three strikeouts in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings. Adam Tulloch followed by giving up two more runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 2 ²⁄₃ innings.

Josh Wolf closed the game out by allowing one run (none earned) on one hit with a walk and a strikeout in two innings.

Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 8 (F/10)

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 8-8

Lynchburg jumped out to a 6-0 lead, scoring all of its runs in the third inning, but the Hillcats pitching staff couldn’t hold the lead.

Christian Knapczyk had a terrific game, going 3-for-5 with a hit by pitch and two stolen bases. The only other multi-hit game was from Wuilfredo Antunez, who went 2-for-5 with a triple.

Angel Genao doubled and stole a base, Rafael Ramirez Jr. doubled, Tommy Hawk went 1-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base and Manuel Mejias went 1-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base. Jaison Chourio walked and stole a base while Ralphy Velazquez had a two-run single.

Lynchburg had a plethora of baserunners, but the Hillcats couldn’t bring any of them around to score other than in the third inning, finishing the game going 4-for-19 with runners in scoring position.

Starting pitcher Rorik Maltrud was sensational, allowing one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and one walk in 4 ²⁄₃ innings.

Kyle Scott was not as effective, allowing five runs (three earned) on five hits with five strikeouts and a walk in three innings. Robert Wegielnik tossed a scoreless 1 ¹⁄₃ innings with a pair of strikeouts and Matt Jachec took the loss, giving up two runs in the top of the 10th inning as Lynchburg failed to rally.