Written by Al Ciammiachella

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Columbus couldn't continue their winning ways yesterday, as a bullpen implosion doomed a solid start. Akron hung on to win another close one despite a late scare. Kinston didn't waste their own outstanding starting pitching, and got a career offensive day from an unlikely contributor.  Lake County ended up splitting their doubleheader after getting shutout in game one of the twinbill. As always, the positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday's game.

Roberto Perez, C-KIN: 4-4, RBI, R

Perez hasn’t had many days at the dish like this his entire career. An elite defensive catcher, Perez hasn’t been much of a hitter, posting a career line of .239/.373/.351. He has good plate discipline and above-average raw power, but has had some problems putting the bat on the ball. All that was forgotten yesterday, as his four hits brought his season line up to .210/.373/.270. Perez is an exceptional catch and throw guy who consistently gets the ball to 2^nd base in less than 1.90 seconds, which is outstanding. The bat will probably never get to the point where he’s more than a backup in the majors, but his defense could give him a long, well-paying career in The Show someday. It’s no secret that Perez is one of my favorite players in the org, and seeing him with a day like this really gets me excited.

• Scott Barnes, SP-COL: 5 IP, ER, 4 H, 9 K, BB. Dominant start for Barnes, who allowed a solo HR but little else. His last 2 starts combined: 10 IP, 3 ER, 9 H, 16 K, 4 BB
• Justin Germano, RP-COL: 1 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, BB. Germano hasn’t taken well to his demotion, and is pitching worse for the Clippers right now than he did for the Indians.
• Nick Hagadone, RP-COL: L (1-1), 2/3 IP, 2 ER, H, BB, K. Hagadone walked a batter and gave up a HR to take the loss yesterday.
• Cord Phelps, 2B-COL: 2-5, K. Phelps now has a 14-game hitting streak and is hitting .330/.379/.585 in the month of May.
• Jason Kipnis, DH-COL: 2-4, 2 1B. Kip has been hot of late, posting a .359/.409/.590 line in his last 10 games.
• Jared Goedert, 1B-COL: 1-3, HR (1), RBI, BB, R. Goedert with his 1^st and only hit so far with Columbus. He’s 1-12 since rejoining the Clippers.
• Austin Adams, SP-AKR: 5 IP, R (0 ER), 5 H, 5 K, 5 BB. Adams has pitched well this year, but has now walked 7 in his last 6 1/3 IP. His overall numbers are extremely similar to fellow rotation member Kelvin De La Cruz.
• Cory Burns, RP-AKR: S (13), IP, H, K, 2 BB. Burns made things interesting, loading the bases with 1 out and a 1-run lead before coming up with a strikeout and a flyout to nail down his 13^th save of the season.
• Tim Fedroff, LF-AKR: 1-2, RBI, 2 BB, R, 2 SB, CS. Fedroff now has a 2-game hitting streak going. For the month of May, he’s at .423/.477/.546.
• Chun Chen, C-AKR: 1-4, 2B, RBI, K. In addition to the RBI double, Chen allowed two passed balls. The defense is holding him back, but the bat isn’t quite what I had expected prior to the season either. He’s at .280/.324/.457 on the year with 6 HR and 25 RBI.
• Clayton Cook, SP-KIN: W (5-3), 6 IP, ER, H, 5 K, 4 BB. Cook has given up just 4 hits in his last 2 starts (12 IP), but has walked 8.
• Kyle Landis, RP-KIN: S (1), 3 IP, 4 K. Outstanding outing out of the bullpen for Landis, as he allowed just one baserunner in his 3 IP.
• Tyler Holt, CF-KIN: 2-5, 2 R, K. The spark at the top of the Kinston lineup, Holt has been struggling lately and his average is down to .268 after being up over .300 earlier this month.
• Adam Abraham, 3B-KIN: 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, K. Abraham has really found his power stroke of late, pounding out 4 2B and 2 HR in his last 6 games.
• Clayton Ehlert, RP-LCC: S (10), IP, H. Ehlert now has a 2.53 ERA and 19 K against just 2 BB in 21 1/3 IP for the Captains.
• Jesus Aguilar, DH-LCC: 2-6, RBI, R, K. Aguilar’s homerless drought continues, as he’s managed just one longball in May after blasting 6 in April.
• Anthony Gallas, RF-LCC: 2-5, 2B, RBI, BB, R. Gallas smoked his 22^nd double on the year, and has a season line of .355/.423/.574. He’s a little old for low-A at 23, so I’d really like to see him moved up to the more challenging environment of Kinston to see if he can keep this up.
• Dwight Childs, 1B-LCC: 1-1, 2B, RBI, BB. Childs hasn’t had a ton of playing time, but has managed to keep himself sharp despite the inconsistent AB’s. He’s hitting .389 (7-18) with 3 2B and 5 RBI for Lake County, and can play both catcher and 1B defensively.