Triple-A Columbus Clippers (5-2) vs. St. Paul Saints (Minnesota Twins) With Andrew Walters finally up in Cleveland, there are pitchers on the Columbus roster who are still hoping for a major-league return in 2024, whether by earning a spot the rest of the year or if injury necessitates a move. Cleveland made the decision twice this past week to line up Triston McKenzie and WIll Dion’s starts the same day and make them “tandem” starters, whether to limit innings or keep McKenzie lined up on a certain day in case a need arose. Perhaps a bullpen role could also be considered for McKenzie as well. In two “relief” outings following Dion this week, McKenzie struck out six over 5 2/3 innings with two walks and two hits. His fastball velocity saw a bump in his first outing Sept. 10, hitting 95 mph, and topping out at 94 on Sept. 15. Logan Allen also came in behind an opener on Sept. 14, and allowed a run on four hits, a walk and three strikeouts, and also hit a pair of batters. Looking ahead to the offseason and 40-man roster decisions, 2021 draft pick, LHP Doug Nikhazy will be Rule 5 eligible this winter. Nikhazy changed his arm slot and delivery this winter to help with troubling control issues. He has improved this year and turned in six innings of one-run ball this week on three hits with two walks, and struck out eight. On offense, Angel Martinez was hot at the right time in Triple-A this week (6-for-16 in four games), and he was recalled because of Steven Kwan’s back soreness. Outfielder Johnthan Rodriguez doesn’t appear to have room to impact the major-league roster this year, but could be an option again next year. He hit five homers this week as part of a 15-for-29 showing in which he also tallied 12 RBI, which should likely earn him International League player of the week honors. What more could you ask from Jrod himself #28 HR pic.twitter.com/TFvcEWO5k8 — Columbus Clippers (@CLBClippers) September 15, 2024 Columbus visits Toledo (Detroit Tigers) this week for the final regular-season series of 2024 with a 4 1/2 game lead in the division for a second-half division title and playoff spot on the line with six games to play. Two wins in Toledo this week would put them in the playoffs. Double-A Akron RubberDucks (3-2) vs. Hartford Yard Goats (Colorado Rockies) Parker Messick, Austin Peterson and Trenton Denholm continue to make pitching the story in Akron heading into the playoffs. After a bit of a tough start last week, Peterson bounced back this week with six shutout innings and six strikeouts, no walks and three hits allowed. Through all games played in September, Peterson leads all qualifying pitchers in the minors in innings pitched at 160, is 10th in strikeouts (159) and fifth in FIP (2.55). Peterson was dealing!!! Final line for @APetey19 6 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 6 strikeouts https://t.co/ekDqA4iM6f pic.twitter.com/2WSe07AofG — Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) September 12, 2024 Messick struck out eight in six innings while allowing a run on three hits and a walk in his final regular-season start of 2024. He finished 18th in all of qualified minor league pitchers this year with a 30.2 strikeout rate. Parker Messickkkkkkkk!!!! Final line for @messick_parker 6 innings, 1 run, 8 strikeouts, win pic.twitter.com/Corppe8cKV — Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) September 13, 2024 Denholm held Hartford to one run over 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts, a walk and five hits allowed. His 148 1/3 innings this season were sixth among qualified starters in the minors. Carlos Carrasco made a rehab appearance on Sept. 13, allowing two runs over three innings with three strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter. His fastball topped out at 93 mph in the rehab outing. Rehab Update: @CleGuardians pitcher @Cookie_Carrasco struck out three over three innings pitched! He topped out at 93 mph pic.twitter.com/3XJKzVFmKR — Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) September 14, 2024 Offensively, 2021 first-round pick of the Marlins, Kahlil Watson, drove in a pair of runs this week through Sept. 14 with three doubles and walked twice as he’s shown flashes of his first-round talent inconsistently throughout the year. Back in front! Kahlil Watson gives us the lead with the RBI double!!! BOT 6: Akron 2 | Hartford 1 pic.twitter.com/b7dwe4deTu — Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) September 14, 2024 Catchers Cooper Ingle and Kody Huff combined for a pair of doubles, a homer (Huff) and three RBI on the week as well. Akron hosts Erie (Detroit Tigers) to open the first round of the Eastern League playoffs on Sept. 17, then play Game 2 and Game 3 Sept. 19 and 20 at Erie. High-A Lake County Captains (2-0) vs. Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds) The Captains dispatched the Dayton Dragons in the Midwest League semifinals this past week thanks to late-game clutch hitting. Down to their last strike in Game 1 at Dayton on Sept. 10, Ralphy Velazquez hit a game-tying double in the ninth inning and Jacob Cozart hit a two-run single. Reliever Shawn Rapp saved the game coming in with two on and none out in the ninth inning. Ralphy Velazquez double's to tie the game for Lake County at 2-2, down to the last strike. Jacob Cozart comes through with a 2-run single to put the Captains up 4-2 in the 9th. pic.twitter.com/8XzOSYsUnL — Justin L. (@JL_Baseball) September 11, 2024 Travis Bazzana had a big Game 2 to clinch the series, coming up with a homer and the go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning. Cozart had a sac fly in that game and threw out a runner attempting to steal in the ninth inning with a runner on third to help nail down the win. Jake Fox homered in Game 2 and Jonah Advincula had the game tying RBI single. Travis Bazzana gives Lake County a 5-4 lead in his next at bat with 2 outs, down 0-2. Jacob Cozart sac fly made 4-3. Jonah Advincula singled to tie it 4-4. pic.twitter.com/oKqrsTuni8 — Justin L. (@JL_Baseball) September 13, 2024 You don't see Travis Bazzana swing at the first pitch often. But he did here in his third plate appearance and went deep to right. pic.twitter.com/COGHmUVbCO — Justin L. (@JL_Baseball) September 13, 2024 Mat Wilkinson shutdown Dayton in Game 1 to the tune of two runs (one earned) in 5 2/3 innings, working around three walks while striking out two. Lake County faces the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Milwaukee Brewers) in the Midwest League Championship Series with Game 1 on Sept. 15 at Wisconsin, Game 2 and 3 (if necessary) at Lake County Sept. 17 and 18.