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Indians’ Minor League Playoff Update- Clippers, Rubberducks, & Captains

By Stephen Adams |

Indians’ Minor League Playoff Update- Columbus Clippers, Akron Rubberducks, & Lake County Captains

Here’s a quick rundown of the Cleveland Indians’ farm teams and their Minor League Playoff runs:

Triple-A

Columbus Clippers vs Durham Bulls

Series tied 1-1

Recap Game 1 and 2:

Game 3 Tonight in Durham, NC at Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Pitching Matchup: Shaun Marcum (COL) vs Matt Andriese (DUR)

In Game 1 the Clippers stormed out of the box with 3 homeruns, earning a 9-4 victory in the opener of a best-of-five series. The dingers were hit by David Murphy, Matt Carson and James Ramsey. Jim Massie of The Columbus Dispatch explained that although the homeruns were crowd-pleasers, the real story was the hustling on the bases. Clippers manager Chris Tremie stated, “It’s going first to third. It’s [being] able to score from first. It’s scoring from second base with less than two outs. We did all of that tonight.” Kyle Davies (1-0, 4.50 ERA) solidified the win for Columbus as Alex Colome (0-1, 7.20 ERA) took the loss for Durham.

“It’s going first to third. It’s [being] able to score from first. It’s scoring from second base with less than two outs. We did all of that tonight.” -Clippers manager Chris Tremie

Game 2 had a different storyline. The Clippers clung to a 3-2 lead heading into the 9th but it would not last. After Vince Belnome walked, Ray Olmedo came on to pinch run. Nick Franklin followed with a single, advancing Olmedo to second base. Mike Fontenot topped it off by singling to right field and knocked in Olmedo to tie the game. Then in the top of the 10th, Cole Figueroa started the inning with a triple to center field, and two batters later, Tim Beckham scored the go-ahead run bringing in Figueroa with a sacrifice fly to center. The Clippers had no answer in the bottom of the 10th and finally lost 4-3. This loss for the Clippers marks the first loss of the season when heading into the 9th with the lead (65-1). The Bulls come-from-behind victory tied the series at 1 apiece. The only homerun on the night was a solo shot in the 2nd and came off Audy Ciriaco’s bat. Josh Lueke produced the win and Adam Liberatore merited the save for the Bulls.

Mandatory credit- Columbus Clippers’ twitter post on September 4, 2014

Double-A

Akron Rubberducks vs Richmond Flying Squirrels

Series tied 1-1

Recap Game 1 and 2:

Game 3 Tonight in Richmond, VA at The Diamond

Pitching Matchup: Cody Anderson (AKR) vs Ty Blach (RCH)

On Wednesday night, the Ducks lost a nail-biter 3-2 in 11 innings against the Squirrels. The Ducks trailed 2-1 heading into the 9th. Joe Wendle knocked in the tying run with a single to left but that would be it for Akron. Richmond would come back in the 11th and score the eventual winning run on an RBI double by Angel Villalona. Jose Casilla got the win for Richmond and Elvis Araujo received the loss for Akron.

The Ducks lost 11 of their last 12 games heading into Thursday night’s affair and would need a top-tier performance to keep their season alive. Will Roberts took the call and had a stellar game on the bump earning the victory as Jack Snodgrass took the loss. Roberts struck out 11 in seven innings, giving up only 5 hits and 1 earned run. Jordan Smith blasted a 2-run homer in the 5th for the game’s only 4-bagger. Akron won 5-2 and tied the series up at 1 game apiece.

More from Cleveland Guardians Prospects

Single-A

Lake County Captains vs South Bend Silver Hawks

Lake County wins series 2-0

The Lake County Captains won the best-of-three series by defeating the South Bend Silver Hawks 6-2 in Game 1 and 7-2 in Game 2. At home, in the first game, Mitch Brown earned the victory and Anthony Banda suffered the loss. Brown went 5.2 innings giving up 3 hits, 1 run and struck out 6. Indians’ first pick of the 2014 MLB Draft, Bradley Zimmer, had a 2-RBI triple in the 7th and Clint Frazier hit a 2-run homer in the 3rd. (See ‘Bradley Zimmer, Cleveland Indians’ No.1 Draft Pick 2014‘ for more).

Game 2 was played in South Bend, IN but had a similar result. Anderson Polanco earned the win and Blake Perry received the loss. Polanco struck out 4 and allowed 2 runs in 5.2 innings pitched. Nellie Rodriguez and the Indians’ 38th overall pick from the 2014 MLB Draft, Mike Papi, slammed the game’s only homeruns- both were solo shots.

The Captains will play winner of the Fort Wayne-West michigan series which is currently tied at 1-1. Just for your information, as a former Ohio State Buckeye, I’m obliged to not capitalize the “m” in michigan, so I apologize to my friends from the State Up North but I’m not that sorry.

Mandatory credit: Lake County Captains Twitter post- September 4, 2014

That’s your Minor League Playoff update for Friday afternoon. Go Clippers, Go Rubberducks, Go Captains and Go Tribe!

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