The Columbus Clippers' Herrmann gets a lot of groundballs with a hard sinker. The Kinston Indians' Gardner fires his fastball past batters.
Frank Herrmann has been one of the minor leagues' most effective relief pitchers.FARM REPORT
AAA Columbus Clippers
Wednesday: The Clippers were off Wednesday.
Notes: Right-handed relief pitcher Frank Herrmann was 2-0 with two saves and an 0.37 ERA in 16 games spanning 24 1/3 innings, allowing 15 hits, seven walks and no home runs with 17 strikeouts....OF Jose Constanza was batting .346 in 107 at bats, but didn't have enough plate appearances to qualify among the league leaders. He had stolen seven bases in seven attempts....OF-1B-C Chris Giminez (.289) was 8-for-40 (.200) with no homers in his last 10 games, after batting .333 with six homers in his first 81 at bats....SS Brian Bixler (.286) was 12-for-33 (.364) in his last seven games, despite going 0-for-4 in Tuesday's 5-3 loss at Charlotte....Clippers pitchers led the International League with 352 strikeouts but had allowed 47 homers, second-most in the league.
AA Akron Aeros
Curve 5, Aeros 2: Akron starter Kelvin De La Cruz (1-3, 4.58) allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks in 4.2 innings of the Eastern League loss to visiting Altoona (Pa.).
The left-hander struck out seven and gave up one home run. Aeros RF Jerad Head (.222) had two hits, including his first home run of the season.
Notes: Going into Wednesday night's game, 3B Jared Goedert was on a 14-game hitting streak and was second in the Eastern League with a .338 batting average. His 13 doubles, despite just 130 at bats, ranked fourth....LF John Drennen was on an eight-game hitting streak, going 13-for-26 (.500) to lift his batting average from .241 to .301....Right-handed relief pitcher Steven Wright had five straight scoreless appearances, totaling eight innings and allowing five hits and six walks with eight strikeouts....The Aeros were 6-17 at home and 12-10 on the road. In the past five seasons, the Aeros were a combined 207-136 (.603) at their Canal Park home.
Advanced A Kinston Indians
Indians 7, Nationals 0: Nick Hagadone, acquired from the Boston Red Sox in the Victor Martinez trade last season, threw five innings of one-hit ball to lead Kinston past Potomac for the Carolina League win in Woodbridge, Va.
The southpaw (1-3, 2.39) struck out six and walked three. Right-hander Travis Turek (4.06) allowed one hit in three innings of relief and right-hander Cory Burns pitched a hitless ninth.
2B Jason Kipnis (.302) led the K-Tribe with two hits, including a triple, and two RBI.
Notes: 3B Kyle Bellows (.274) was 15-for-38 (.395) in his last nine games, with two doubles, one triple, two homers and nine RBI....CF Jordan Henry was batting .330 in 94 at bats, but didn't have enough plate appearances to qualify among the league leaders, thanks to a finger injury which landed him on the disabled list for most of April. He had stolen 10 bases in 11 tries....Right-hander Joseph Gardner was 2-0 with a 1.66 ERA in four starts for the Indians, allowing 10 hits, 12 walks and no homers, with 20 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings. Combining his numbers with Lake County, Gardner was 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA in 10 starts spanning 46 2/3 innings, fanning 58 while giving up 27 hits, 23 walks and two homers....Righty reliever Matthew Langwell was 3-1 with two saves and a 1.66 ERA in 18 games, with 23 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings, while allowing 14 hits and seven walks.
A Lake County Captains
Dragons 5, Captains 3: Lake County DH Chun-Hsiu Chen (.328) had two hits and two RBI in the Midwest League loss to visiting Dayton.
Clayton Cook (1-4, 5.00) started and took the loss. The right-hander allowed five runs (four earned) on nine hits. He walked none and fanned two.
Notes: Going into Wednesday night's game, catcher-DH Chun-Hsiu Chen (.322) ranked 11th in the league in batting and third in the league in slugging percentage (.551)....The Captains were 9-7 with Chen catching and 22-8 with Roberto Perez behind the plate....Perez had thrown out 18 of 31 baserunners (58.1 percent) attempting to steal....Sometimes the DH when Chen catches, Perez is batting .227 but has drawn 34 walks, fourth-most in the Midwest League....2B Casey Frawley (.296) had reached base in his last 12 games....LF Bo Greenwell was fourth in the league in RBI (32) and sixth in batting (.329)....3B Jeremie Tice (.272), who was leading the league in RBI a week ago, had dropped to third with 34.
Independent Lake Erie Crushers
Cruisers 3, Crushers 2 The host Crushers (2-3) managed just five hits, scoring on an RBI double by catcher Julio Rivera (.286) and an RBI single by LF Travis Vetters (.222) before 4,629 for the 10:30 a.m. start at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon. Lake Erie right-handed starter Matthew Smith (0-1, 9.00) took the loss, yielding three runs on three hits and four walks in three innings. Right-handed relievers Jeff Cinadr and Jesse Orosco, Jr. pitched two and three scoreless innings, respectively.
Notes: 2B Andrew Saylor (.263) tripled and scored and 1B Lee Huggins (.250) singled and scored....Lake Erie hosts Oakland County Thursday night at 7:05.