Clippers' hitting has complemented superb starting and relief pitching. Captains get to finals by winning two decisive Game 5's, both in best-of-five series.
FARM REPORT
AAA Columbus Clippers
Tonight: Durham at Clippers, 6:35. Clippers lead the best-of-five games International League Governor's Cup Finals, 1-0. Bulls RHP Aneury Rodriguez 6-5, 3.80 regular season; 0-0, 3.38 playoffs) vs. Clippers RHP Zach Rodriguez (9-12, 5.29 regular season; 0-0, 1.59 playoffs).
Notes: The third game of the series, and if necessary, Games 4 and 5, will be played at Durham on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. RH Yohan Pino is scheduled to start Game 3 for the Clippers, and RH Paolo Espino is slated for the Game 4 start....Going into Wednesday night's game, the Clippers playoff leaders in batting average were catcher Luke Carlin, .500 (7-of-14); OF Jerad Head, .444 (8-of-18); CF Ezequiel Carrera, .429 (9-of-21); IF Drew Sutton, .333 (6-of-18); 1B Wes Hodges, .316 (6-of-19); OF Jose Constanza, .280 (7-of-25); 3B Jared Goedert, .273 (6-of-22). Carlin and Hodges each had two home runs; Carlin and 2B Josh Rodriguez each had three doubles. Leaders in RBI were Head and Hodges (eight), Carlin (five) and Carrera and Rodriguez (four). Leaders in runs were Head and Carrera (six) and Carlin and Hodges (five). Rodriguez was hitting .222 (4-of-18) but had produced seven runs. 2B Cord Phelps was hitting .200 (4-of-20) but led in walks with five. Carlin and Carrera had each drawn four walks....Going into Wednesday night's game, RH Yohan Pino (1-0, 0.00), LH David Huff (1-0, 1.93), RH Paolo Espino (1-0, 2.57) and RH Zach McAllister (0-0, 1.59) had made the Clippers five playoff starts (two by Huff) and had a combined ERA of 1.61 in 33 2/3 innings....Going into Wednesday night's game, and including playoff games, 1B Wes Hodges was 16-of-53 (.302) with five home runs, two doubles, 15 RBI and nine runs in his last 13 games....OF Ezequiel Carrera was 22-of-62 (.355) in his last 15 games, with three doubles, two triples, two homers, 11 runs, nine RBI and eight stolen bases in nine attempts....OF Jose Constanza had reached base in his last 29 games, including the last 24 regular season games, when he had hits in 21 of them and hit .378 (37-of-98)....Ezequiel Carrera had reached base in his last 24 games, including -- like Constanza -- all five playoff games....Going into Wednesday night's game, and counting their playoff appearances, RH reliever Vinnie Pestano had allowed one run while earning six saves in his last 12 games, striking out 16, walking two and giving up four hits in 12 innings....RH reliever Zach Putnam had allowed one run (unearned) while going 1-0 in his last 12 games, fanning 19, walking three and giving up five hits in 16 1/3 innings; RH reliever Josh Judy has allowed one run (unearned) in his last 10 games, fanning 14 while yielding five hits and two walks in 11 1/3 innings....On this date in 1979, Roger Holt's RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning of Game 7 gave Columbus a 4-3 win over the Toledo Mud Hens, and earned the Governor's Cup Finals championship for the Clippers. Columbus won the best-of-seven game series, four games to three. The Clippers also won the International League title the next season, 4-1, over the Mud Hens, in the league's last best-of-seven series. The Governor's Cup went to a best-of-five format in 1981. The Clippers were part of the New York Yankees organization. The Mud Hens, now affiliated with the Detroit Tigers, were part of the Minnesota Twins organization.
A Lake County Captains
Tonight: Captains at Clinton, 7:30. Game 1 of best-of-five Midwest League championship series. Captains RHP Chris Knapp (1-0, 3.94 regular season; 1-0, 0.00 playoffs) vs. LumberKings RHP Yoervis Medina (5-0, 2.50 regular season; 1-0, 3.00 playoffs).
Notes: The Captains starter on Wednesday night, RHP Jason Knapp, had struck out 35 in 21 innings for the Captains in five games, including his five scoreless innings for the victory in a decisive Game 3 win over West Michigan in the first playoff round. Prior to joining the Captains, Knapp, 20, had fanned 18 in 12 1/3 innings over five outings in the Arizona League -- where, beginning in July, he pitched in games for the first time since having off-season shoulder surgery. In the 33 1/3 combined innings going into Wednesday night's game, Knapp was 2-2 with a 2.43 ERA and had given up just 19 hits -- including no homers. He had walked 13. Knapp, a 2008 second-round draft pick of the Phillies and considered an elite prospect, came to the Indians in the trade of Cliff Lee to Philadelphia last July....Going into Wednesday night's game, RH reliever Preston Guilmet had earned a save in all three of his playoff appearances, pitching six scoreless innings. He had struck out nine, walked none and allowed two hits. Including the regular season and playoffs, Guilmet was 4-1 with a 2.02 ERA and 14 saves in 33 games (all relief), striking out 88 and walking 10 in 58 innings, while giving up just 37 hits -- including just three homers....1B Adam Abraham was hitting .348 (70-of-201) 17 doubles, 12 home runs and 45 RBI in his last 52 games....RH reliever Jeremy Johnson was 0-0 with a 1.10 ERA in 16 1/3 innings over his last nine games, including the playoffs. He had struck out 14, walked five and given up 10 hits during the stretch....The Captains' leading hitters in their six playoff games going into Wednesday night were OF Jonathan Burnette, .368 (7-of-19, two doubles, two homers four RBI, four runs); 2B Argenis Martinez, .333 (5-of-15, four runs, three RBI); OF Jason Smit, .316 (6-of-19, one homer, one double, seven runs, three RBI); SS Casey Frawley, .292 (7-of-24, two doubles, one homer, three runs, two RBI); OF Tyler Holt, .286 (6-of-21, one double, three RBI, four walks, three stolen bases in three tries, one run); 1B Adam Abraham, .263 (5-of-19, two homers, one double, four runs, two RBI, four walks); CF Delvi Cid, .222 (6-of-27four RBI, three runs, five stolen bases in five tries)....LHP Giovanni Soto was 3-2 with a 3.77 ERA in six regular season starts with the Captains, and took a loss in his lone playoff appearance thus far, going 4 1/3 innings and yielding four runs on three hits and five walks with four strikeouts. The Indians acquired Soto from West Michigan, a Detroit Tigers farm team, in exchange for Jhonny Peralta on July 28. In a combined 22 regular season games -- all starts -- for the Captains and Whitecaps, Soto was 9-8 with a 2.93 ERA and two shutouts. He struck out 107, walked 36 and held batters to a .237 average and seven homers in 113 2/3 innings.