Indians Prospect Insider

The Salem Red Sox scored three early runs and that’s all they needed to defeat the Carolina Mudcats 3-2 on Saturday night at Lewis Gale Field in Salem, Virginia. Red Sox starting pitcher, Ryan Pressly, snagged his first win of the season by striking out six and allowing the only three hits that Carolina could muster over six strong innings. Pressly was replaced in favor of Salem reliever Marco Duarte when he was unable to hold onto a shutout by allowing the Mudcats to score their only two runs of the night.

COLUMBUS—In a game that pitted one of the International League’s best offenses against one of Triple-A’s top pitchers, the former prevailed. Barely.The Columbus Clippers (12-10) rallied to beat the Pawtucket Red Sox (15-8), 6-4, on Saturday in front of 6,191 fans on a chilly night at Huntington Park.

The Lake County Captains opened a three game series against the Burlington Bees on a cold, cloudy day at Classic Park. They showed the 1,668 fans in attendance a great pitching performance, as Will Roberts led the Captains to a 6-0 victory. Lake County scored the game’s first run in the second inning, off of right hander Jose Macias (1-3, 6.65 ERA). Catcher Alex Lavisky singled to center to lead off.

Right-handed pitcher Bryce Stowell has been lights out so far this season for Double-A Akron. After a mysterious season last year where he missed a few months at the beginning of the season, Tony recently sat down with him and talked about what happened last year and how he feels this season.

It was a crazy week with player movement within the Indians system as many players were sent all over the place to cover for injuries and promotions in the upper levels. The big move of the week was Nick Hagadone coming back to Cleveland last night with Rafael Perez's trip to the 15-day DL. Arthur recaps them all!

The Indians had an exciting win last night with their first walkoff win of the year in a 3-2 win over the visiting Angels. With the win they find themselves all alone atop the AL Central standings. Jim Berdysz recaps Friday night's game and gives his "second thoughts" on the brilliant performances of Masterson and Pestano, the Indians' struggles with driving in runs, and more!

The Akron Aeros defeated the Altoona Curve 2-1 in the first game of their three game series. Reliever Bryan Price picked up the win in relief. “Bryan came in and really did a good job commanding his fastball," said Aeros Manager Chris Tremie. “He kept the ball down in the zone for an outstanding two and a third innings.” Price came into the game in the top of the sixth inning to relieve starter Giovanni Soto. The right-hander, who has an ERA of 1.42, faced nine batters and only walked one. He struck out five batters, all swinging.

The Columbus Clippers continued their ten game home stand on Friday night and squared off against the Pawtucket Red Sox, who are sitting atop the IL North standings. The Clippers beat the Red Sox 4-1 to avoid their first five game losing streak since 2010. Clippers pitcher Zach McAllister picked up his second win of the season after throwing seven strong innings and only giving up one earned run. “He had a lot of life on his fastball, and was able to get on top of his pitches,” Clippers' manager Mike Sarbaugh said after the game.

The Carolina Mudcats fell to the Salem Red Sox 7-2 on Friday night at LewisGale Stadium in Salem, Virginia. After a successful four game home-stand against the Lynchburg Hillcats where they won three out of four, Carolina was unable to produce much offense thanks to the dominating performance by Red Sox starting pitcher Brandon Workman. Allowing only three hits and striking out four batters in six solid innings of work, Workman earned his first victory of the season. Workman’s replacement, Red Sox reliever Manuel Rivera, struggled at times but was able to earn his first save.

The Peoria Chiefs defeated the Lake County Captains by a score of 3-0. The Chiefs pitching was the story of the game. Starter P.J. Francescon (2-1) pitched six innings allowing just two hits. He did not walk a hitter, and did not allow a run to score. Francescon struck out nine Captains hitters and earned the win. The dominant start was a big part of the victory for the Chiefs.

As Michael Corleone once said, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." Well, that's kind of how Indians fans feel about Matt LaPorta these days. Many had written him off this season, but now that he is hitting .371 with 6 homers in 18 games for Columbus, people can't help but be intrigued again. Tony discusses him and two dozen more players in the IPI's original Around the Farm.

Today the Cleveland Indians announced that they have placed left-handed reliever Rafael Perez on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 26th. To fill his spot in the bullpen and on the 25-man roster the Indians have recalled left-handed reliever Nick Hagadone from Triple-A Columbus. Perez has been diagnosed with a strained left latissimus and suffered the injury during his scoreless inning of work on Wednesday night against Kansas City.

In the week ending edition of Minor Happenings, Triple-A Columbus manager Mike Sarbaugh talks about several big league options for the Indians including Matt LaPorta, Russ Canzler, Cord Phelps, Lonnie Chisenhall and more. Also, updates on other players in the system such as Kyle Bellows, Luigi Rodriguez, Adam Abraham, Corey Kluber, Scott Barnes, Tyler Holt and more are provided!

The Radar Report slides into its new (and permanent) Friday slot and provides radar readings for the fastball and secondary offerings for several Indians prospects. This week's report includes information on Clayton Cook, Jose Flores, Cody Allen, Mike Rayl, Michael Goodnight, Kevin Slowey, Corey Kluber and more.

The Indians lost 4-2 on Thursday to the lowly Royals, and in the process lost the series. The Indians continue to struggle at home as they are averaging 3.5 runs a game and are 2-6, and now the Angels and their starting pitching staff comes to town this weekend. Jason Ruggiero recaps Thursday's loss and gives his second thoughts on what few things went right and so many things that went wrong.

Both the Columbus Clippers and Akron Aeros were off on Thursday, but even with a small slate of action in the Indians' system there was still a lot of excitement last night as both the Carolina Mudcats and Lake County Captains had walkoff wins. Gio Urshela sent everyone home happy in Carolina with a big blast, and Tony talks about him and lots more in IPI's original Around the Farm.