Jorge Burgos blasts off as Guardians affiliates sweep

Cleveland Guardians minor league recap for Monday, April 7, 2025.

Columbus Clippers 3, St. Paul Saints 2 (F/10)

Box Score: Clippers improve to 6-2.

Trailing 2-1, Columbus rallied to tie the game with one run in the bottom of the ninth inning, then walked St. Paul off with an RBI single from Will Brennan in the bottom of the 10th.

Petey Halpin had tied the game in the ninth, knocking home Angel Martinez with a two-out opposite field bloop single.

Brennan was the lone Clippers to have a multi-hit game, going 2-for-5. Juan Brito went 1-for-3 with a walk while Dom Nunez went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk and both Will Wilson and Justin Boyd walked twice.

Starting pitcher Vince Velasquez had a rough outing, allowing two runs with five walks and two hits with a pair of strikeouts in 2.2 innings. The rest of the pitching was sensational, however.

Zak Kent was perfect, striking out the side in one inning of work and the true standout was Ryan Webb, who came on in long relief with 4.1 scoreless innings on two hits with five strikeouts and three walks.

Nik Mikolajchak closed out the game with 1.2 scoreless frames and a pair of strikeouts, stranding the ghost runner in the top of the 10th to earn the win.

Akron RubberDucks 5, Richmond Flying Squirrels 4

Box Score: Rubberducks improve to 3-0.

Travis Bazzana finally cooled off, but that was just to give space for several other Akron players to heat up on Sunday.

Most notable was Jorge Burgos, who blasted a three-run home run, going 2-for-4 with a triple and walk as well.

Burgos has been scorching hot to begin the season, homering in all three games for Akron.

Cooper Ingle went 2-for-5 with a double while C.J. Kayfus went 2-for-5. Dayan Frias went 2-for-4 with a stolen base and Joe Lampe walked twice.

Starting pitcher Aaron Davenport had a rough outing, allowing three runs on five hits with two walks and a strikeout in just 2.2 innings.

Jake Miller added 1.1 innings of scoreless relief and piggyback partner Trent Denholm was terrific, allowing one run on four hits with five strikeouts and no walks in 4.0 innings of long relief.

Magnus Ellerts closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn the save.

Lake County Captains 13, Great Lakes Loons 2

Box Score: Captains improve to 2-1.

Believe it or not, this game was actually close until the seventh inning, when Lake County blasted off for 10 runs in the final three frames.

Crazy as it sounds, Lake County scored 13 runs despite collecting just nine hits. It helped that four of the nine hits were home runs and that the team also walked a whopping 12 times.

One of those home runs was courtesy of top prospect Ralphy Velazquez, a 432-foot no-doubter to deep right field.

Velazquez finished the day 1-for-5 with a home run and a walk. Also homering were Jonah Advincula (1-for-3 with two walks), Jose Devers (1-for-4 with two walks) and Kevin Rivas (1-for-4 with a hit by pitch).

Jacob Cozart doubled twice and walked while Jaison Chourio went 1-for-4 with two walks and Alfonsin Rosario went 1-for-6 with a double and a stolen base. Christian Knapczyk also went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks.

Lake County pitchers only allowed three hits on the day. In his High-A debut, starting pitcher Jackson Humphries was solid, allowing one run on one hit with three walks and six strikeouts in 3.0 innings, including striking out the side in his first ever inning with the Captains.

Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Fayetteville Woodpeckers 5

Box Score: Hillcats improve to 2-1.

For the second consecutive game, Lynchburg rallied with two runs in the top of the ninth to come back and defeat Fayetteville.

Once again, it was Tommy Hawke getting the offense started. This time, he smacked a game-tying triple, then scored the go-ahead run on an RBI groundout from Welbyn Francisca.

Hawke was a terror on the basepaths, going 1-for-2 with the triple, two walks, a hit by pitch and a stolen base while scoring three runs. He won’t be in Lynchburg much longer after playing last season there as well.

Francisca also was rock solid, going 1-for-3 with two walks and two stolen bases. The other standout was catcher Bennett Thompson, who went 2-for-4 with two doubles.

The other story of this game was the professional debut of Jacob Zibin, a 10th round pick out of high school by Cleveland with a then-record $1.2 million signing bonus in 2022 who missed the entire 2023 and 2024 seasons with injury, including Tommy John surgery.

Zibin shook off the rust and allowed two unearned runs on three hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 3.0 innings.

Other pitching standouts were Guardians 2024 fourth round pick Rafe Schlesinger, who tossed 3.0 scoreless innings of long relief with four strikeouts and 17th round pick Logan McGuire, who closed out the game with two perfect scoreless frames and two strikeouts to earn the win.