Noel debuts in Double-A, Arias injured in return

Jhonkensy Noel joined the Akron RubberDucks after being promoted late in the week, Gabriel Arias returned to Columbus from an injury, but got injured again on June 25 and June 26 due to a hit by pitch and a foul ball hitting him in the face, Lynchburg clinched a playoff spot, and Lake County beat up on Dayton on the road this week.

Triple-A Columbus (3-2) through June 25

The Clippers ran into some pitching woes in the middle of the week, particularly from their bullpen, at least until the weekend.

Peyton Battenfield gave the Clippers another solid start to kick off their series at Omaha against the Storm Chasers with six scoreless innings on four hits, a walk and three strikeouts. He’s now allowed just one run in his last two starts (13 innings) and has seven starts this year where he’s allowed a run or less in his 14 total appearances. Battenfield’s start was enough for a 4-2 Columbus win to open the series on June 21.

James Karinchak pitched a scoreless outing in relief of Battenfield in that win and then made his first back-to-back appearances of his rehab from his upper back strain in spring training the next night. In that outing, he walked two, allowed a hit and a run and didn’t record an out. He returned to the mound on June 25 and allowed three more hits and two inherited runners to score, but did strike out two. He has nine appearances on his rehab stint, which is essentially his spring training at this point. His rehab ends June 30 and Cleveland will have to evaluate his up-anddown stint to see if he comes back to the majors or gets optioned to stay in Columbus.

Nick Sandlin made his first two appearances in Columbus since being sent down this week. In a 5-3 Clippers loss on June 23, Sandlin allowed a hit, walk and two runs in two-thirds of an inning pitched. On June 25, he was the pitcher before Karinchak came out and allowed his inherited runs to score, with another walk, hit and two runs. He did strike out two in the outing.