Travis Bazzana’s first home run is a grand slam as Guardians affiliates earn clean sweep

Cleveland Guardians minor league recap for Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024

Columbus Clippers 12, Syracuse Mets 8

Box Score · Clippers improve to 50-52

Will Brennan got sent down to Columbus and he took that personally. In his return to Triple-A, Brennan went 4-for-6 with three doubles and three RBIs.

Bryan Lavastida also had a monster game, going 3-for-4 with three doubles, three stolen bases and a walk.

Juan Brito reached base safely four times, going 2-for-4 with a three-run home run and a double, two walks, two stolen bases and three runs scored.

Kyle Manzardo went 1-for-3 with a double, three walks and a stolen base to also reach base safely four times. Estevan Florial went 2-for-5 and Christian Cairo went 1-for-3 with two walks.

Starting pitcher Doug Nikhazy had his first rough outing at Triple-A, allowing five runs on four hits with three walks in five innings while striking out seven. Tanner Burns also got knocked around for three runs in 1 ¹⁄₃ innings.

The star out of the bullpen was Anthony Gose, who struck out all five batters he faced in a superb 1 ²⁄₃ innings of work.

Akron RubberDucks 6, Harrisburg Senators 3

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 58-40

Have yourself a day, CJ Kayfus. Kayfus crushed it on Wednesday, going 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles and a pair of runs scored. No one else on the team had a multi-hit game.

Petey Halpin had one hit, but it was a big one, a two-run home run in the first inning, which was his career-high 11th of the season.

Guy Lipscomb, Milan Tolentino and Joe Lampe all singled and walked, with Lampe and Lipscomb also stealing a base.

Starting pitcher Austin Peterson was effective, allowing three runs on six hits in seven innings while striking out two and walking none to earn the win.

Magnus Ellerts earned his second save with two strikeouts in two perfect innings of work.

Lake County Captains 17, Beloit Sky Carp 5
Lake County Captains 5, Beloit Sky Carp 4 (F/8)

Game 1 Box Score · Game 2 Box Score · Captains improve to 59-38

Game one was an offensive eruption, a continuation of a suspended game from Tuesday that had ended early after just one inning.

Everyone and their mother is talking about Travis Bazzana, so let’s get to it. After getting called out on strikes in his first at bat (he got hosed 6+ inches off the plate, I was there in the press box) Bazzana went off. He walked in his next two at bats, then made history in at bat No. 4, blasting a grand slam for his first career home run as a pro. He finished out the day going 2-for-4 with two walks, a stolen base and three runs scored.

I don’t think he’ll be staying in Lake County for long.

Jake Fox and Angel Genao both had monster games as well, both going 3-for-5 with a home run and a double. Jorge Burgos went 2-for-5 with a home run and four runs batted in. Cooper Ingle went 1-for-4 with two walks while Jose Devers went 2-for-4 with a walk and Jonah Advincula walked four freaking times and stole two bases.

Rorik Maltrud struck out the side in the first inning before the game was suspended. Jay Driver and Josh Harlow both added two scoreless innings of relief apiece with four strikeouts each.

In game two, the biggest highlight was defense as recently-promoted Esteban Gonzalez made one of the best catches of the season.

The other hero was Matt Jachec, who tossed 3 ¹⁄₃ innings of scoreless long relief, striking out six batters along the way. That made up for a rough outing from starting pitcher Carter Spivey, who allowed four runs on four hits in 3 ²⁄₃ innings.

Steven Perez tossed a perfect eighth inning with a strikeout to earn the win.

Offensively, Angel Genao went 2-for-4 while Jose Devers went 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base. Maick Collado hit a two-run home run and Johnny Tincher went 1-for-2 with a walk.

Tyresse Turner was the offensive hero, reaching base safely three times by going 1-for-2 with two walks. His one hit was a walk-off in the bottom of the eighth.

Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Fredericksburg Nationals 3

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 52-46

Lynchburg was clutch city on Wednesday, going a ridiculous 8-for-9 with runners in scoring position to defeat Fredericksburg.

Christian Knapczyk led the way, going 3-for-4 with a double. Recently-promoted 18-year-old prospect Luis Merejo, who just turned 18 a month ago, made his presence felt. Merejo went 2-for-4 with a double and triple

Jaison Chourio continues to showcase his wheels and patience. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and two more stolen bases. Chourio now has 40 swipes on the season, making him of of MiLB’s most prolific base thieves. He should be playing in Lake County any day now.

The other star of the game was talented prep pitcher Jackson Humphries, who struck out a career-high nine batters and walked none while allowing one run on a solo home run in four impressive innings pitched.