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Guardians Farm Report: Freeman Returns From Injury But Gonzalez Steals The Show For Columbus

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

Todd Paquette

In this story:

Clean sweep down on the farm with all four Guardians minor league affiliates taking home wins Friday night.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Columbus 8 Louisville 4

Cleveland Guardians 22-year-old shortstop prospect Tyler Freeman was activated off the injured list before the game for Columbus making his first appearance since July 25th, 2021, when he suffered a shoulder injury that led to season ending surgery while at Double-A Akron.

Freeman would reach base twice in five plate appearances on an error and a hit by pitch and come around to score once in the game. His debut back on the diamond however would take a back seat to the Clippers red hot outfielder Oscar Gonzalez who extended his hitting streak to eight straight games with four hits on the night including his sixth home run of the season a three-run shot in the fifth inning. 

Gonzalez is now hitting .329 on the season with a .987 OPS and a farm leading six home runs in his first 20 games.

Columbus first baseman David Fry would also homer in the fifth inning with a man on helping the team put up a five spot in the fifth. The Clippers would add three runs in the seventh and go on to win 8-to-4 over Louisville.

Starter Peyton Battenfield wouldn't have his best stuff on the day and did walk four in the game, but he made it through five innings giving up just one run earning his second win on the season. Columbus improves to 15-7 on the year.

Top Performers:

  • Oscar Gonzalez 4-5 2R HR 3RBI
  • Fry 1-2 R HR 3RBI BB
  • Mitch Tolman 1-3 2B 2RBI BB
  • Bryan Lavastida 1-4 2R BB
  • Jose Fermin 0-2 2R 3BB
  • Peyton Battenfield 5.0(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 4BB 2SO (W)

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron 3 Altoona 1

Starter Daniel Espino would give the RubberDucks another strong start but would leave the game in the fifth inning with two outs after suffering some knee soreness. Manager Rouglas Odor after the game said that Espino felt some discomfort after running to cover first base earlier in the game.

The Akron bullpen would combine to throw four and a third innings of scoreless baseball allowing just two hits while striking out 10 Curve batters in relief. 

The RubberDucks offense was led by outfielder Will Brennan who had a huge base hit in the sixth inning with two-outs scoring the go ahead run giving the Ducks a 2-to-1 lead. Brennan would come through again giving Akron an insurance run in the eighth inning on an RBI groundout to first base.

Akron scored their three runs on just four base hits one coming off the bat of a rehabbing Yu Chang who would finish the day 1-for-2 as the designated hitter in the game. With their second straight win against Altoona the RubberDucks improve to 9-10 on the season.

Top Performers: 

  • Daniel Espino 4.2(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 1BB 5SO
  • Manuel Alvarez 1.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO (W)
  • Kyle Marman 1.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO
  • Nic Enright 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 2BB 4SO (SV)
  • Will Brennan 1-4 2RBI
  • Jose Tena 1-3 R 2B
  • Ivan Nova 1-2 R BB
  • Yu Chang 1-2 (Rehab)

High-A Lake County Captains

Lake County 4 Lansing 3

Lake County would win in dramatic fashion on Friday night trailing 3-to-2 in the bottom of the 9th inning. Jhonkensy Noel would walk to lead off the inning when 20-year-old infield prospect Angel Martinez would deliver a two-run blast giving on his first home run of the year giving the Captains a 4-to-3 walk-off win over Lansing.

The Captains only other runs in the game came in the fourth inning on a two run double by Noel that at the time tied the game up at 2-to-2 at the time.

Reliever Jordan Jones would come on in for starter Lenny Torres in the third inning getting the final out after Lansing had put up two runs already and were threatening to score more. Jones would go on to throw a scoreless fourth and fifth innings striking out three total in the game.

Lake County improves to 8-10 on the season in the Midwest League.

Top Performers:

  • Jhonkensy Noel 1-3 R 2B 2RBI BB
  • Angel Martinez 1-4 R HR 2RBI
  • Joe Naranjo 1-4 R
  • Christian Cairo 0-2 R 2BB
  • Jordan Jones 2.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO
  • Mason Hickman 3.1(IP) 3H 1R 1ER 3BB 4SO

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg 8 Red Sox 2

The Hillcats pitching staff would strikeout 18 Red Sox in the game led by starter Trenton Denholm who would strikeout seven over four scoreless innings allowing just two hits. Reliever Davis Sharpe looked sharp as well striking out five batters of his own in just two and two thirds innings of scoreless baseball.

Lynchburg would score eight runs on 11 hits with Milan Tolentino, Jorge Burgos, Joe Donovan and Skeiling Rodriguez all pitching in with two hits apiece. Jake Fox would reach base four times all coming on walks and would score three times.

The Hillcats have now won seven of their last eight games and find themselves a game over .500 at 10-9 after a 3-8 start to the season.

Top Performers:

  • Milan Tolentino 2-4 3R BB SB
  • Jake Fox 0-1 3R 4BB SB
  • Jorge Burgos 2-5 R 2RBI
  • Joe Donovan 2-5 R RBI
  • Skeiling Rodriguez 2-4 RBI
  • Yordys Valdes 1-4 RBI
  • Trenton Denholm 4.0(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 1BB 7SO
  • Davis Sharpe 2.2(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 5SO
  • Trey Benton 1.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 3SO

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Todd Paquette
TODD PAQUETTE

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