Guardians Farm Report: Gonzalez Helps Power Columbus To Win

Here is a recap of what happened with the Guardians minor league teams last night

Todd Paquette | Apr 23, 2022

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Cleveland Guardians

Only three teams were in action on Friday night with Lake County rained out at Great Lakes.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Columbus 4 Indianapolis 3

Columbus Clippers outfielder Oscar Gonzalez drove in two runs on the evening with a solo home run in the second inning and an RBI double in the fifth. Catcher Gavin Collins also chipped in with a solo home run of his own in the second inning. For Gonzalez it was his his fourth home run of the season tying him for the team lead with Jose Fermin. While for Collins it was his second big fly on the year.

#Guardians 24yr old OF prospect Oscar Gonzalez with a solo blast tonight in the 2nd inning for Triple-A Columbus! The HR was Gonzalez 4th of the season in just his 14th game.@CLBClippers #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/QM2H1TnFFz
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) April 22, 2022

Thomas Ponticelli pitched well making a spot start allowing just one run over three innings and striking out three. Nick Mikolajchak earned the win for Columbus his first of the year throwing one and two thirds scoreless innings. Right hander Ian Gibaut closed the door on Indianapolis picking up his second save of the season.

With the win Columbus moved to 12-4 on the season. They are currently in first place in the International League Western Division.

Top Performers:

Oscar Gonzalez 2-5 R 2B HR 2RBI
Gavin Collins 1-3 R HR RBI
Alex Call 1-4 R 2B
Ike Freeman 1-3 BB
Thomas Ponticelli 3.0(IP) 1H 1R 1ER 2BB 3SO
Nick Mikolajchak 1.2(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 1SO (W)
Ian Gibaut 1.2(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 1BB 3SO (SV)

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Bowie 2 Akron 1

The RubberDucks dropped their fourth straight game to Bowie on a walk-off win in the ninth inning dropping Akron's record to 5-8 on the year.

Akron's offense continues to struggle early on in the season. The Ducks only run came on a solo home run in the third inning by designated hitter Marcos Gonzalez his first on the season.

#Guardians 23yr old RHP Xzavion Curry with a nice bounce back start tonight for (AA) Akron at Bowie. Curry strikes out a season high 8 allowing just 1 run over 4.2 innings.

Line - 4.2(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 2BB 8SO (86 Pitches 55 Strikes)

@xzavioncurry1 @AkronRubberDuck #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/bXZ3GwLF19
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) April 23, 2022

Starter Xzavion Curry bounced back from a rough outing his last time out. Curry struck out eight Baysox batters on the night over just for and two thirds innings giving up just one run on a solo home run.

Top Performers:

Xzavion Curry 4.2(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 2BB 8SO
Kyle Marman 1.1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 1SO
Marcos Gonzalez 1-2 R HR RBI BB
Julian Escobedo 1-3 2B BB

High-A Lake County Captains

Postponed - Rain

Tonight's Captains Game Postponed, Doubleheader Set for April 23rdhttps://t.co/G8VrLtXujh #AllHandsonDeck pic.twitter.com/8YRHlkIxTx
— Lake County Captains (@LCCaptains) April 22, 2022

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg 10 Carolina 3

The Lynchburg offense scored just one run over the first five innings against Carolina last night before exploding for nine runs from the sixth inning on. The win was their second straight vs the Mudcats improving their record to 5-8 on the season.

Catcher Richard Paz had a big night with four hits and four RBI's including a bases loaded double clearing the bases in the sixth inning. First baseman Will Bartlett also had a nice night with three hits of his own driving in a pair. Shortstop Milan Tolentino extended his hitting streak to seven straight games with three more hits tonight. Tolentino is now hitting a team leading .417 on the year.

#Guardians 20yr old (C) prospect Richard Paz doubles with the bases loaded driving in three giving Lynchburg a 4-3 lead in the 6th inning over Carolina. @richard52paz @LynHillcats #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/Fuk6AVJFhA
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) April 23, 2022

The Lynchburg bullpen was terrific after starter Trenton Denholm had to be pulled with two outs in the second inning. Four Hillcat relievers allowed just one run over seven and a third innings allowing just four hits and striking out five Mudcat batters.