Bisons complete sweep of Clippers, 5-4. Clippers fall to 7-10 on year. ... Gonzalez 0-4. ... Naquin 3-4 with a homer. ... Yandy 1-4 with a double. ... Zimmer 0-3 w/ BB. ... Merrit 4 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K.

Akron beat Altoona 6-1. ... Allen 0-3 w/ a walk. ... Krieger 0-3 w/ walk. ... Chang 1-4 double. ... Bradley was 0-4 with 4 K's. Yes, you read that right. Batting .184 now.

Hillcats lose 4-3 and waste great outing by Esparza. 5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K. Only 2 of the 4 Potomac runs were earned. Lynchburg's 2 errors cost them. They must have watched Tribe play today.

And the White Caps of West mStateUpNorth completes a 4 game sweep of the Captains. Sigh... Lake County falls to 8-8 on year. ... Civale finally got touched up. 7 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. ... Ben Krauth pitched a scoreless inning, of course. I have not been able to ascertain whether they are moving Krauth to the pen or whether they are just temporarily piggy backin him with other starters. But the fact that he only pitched 1 inning today makes me think they may be moving the lefty to a bullpen roll. I'll try to find out for sure. ... Isaacs 0-3 with walk. ... Ice 0-4 with walk.

Todays starters ...

Cleveland - off
Columbus - off
Akron - Julian Merryweather
Lynchburg - off
Lake County - Brady Aiken

Frankie tripled in his first at bat today. His hit streak is now 13 this year, 21 games dating back to last year.

Looks like Aiken got smacked around again today...

Tribe Minors RHP Delabar suspended for PEDs
By Joe Trezza / MLB.com


Former MLB All-Star Steve Delabar and Mariners reliever Jonathan Aro were among three Minor Leaguers suspended Monday, the Commissioner's Office announced.

Delabar, a six-year Major League veteran who made the 2013 American League All-Star team as a member of the Blue Jays, received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Ostarine. Delabar is on the roster of the Columbus Clippers, the Indians' Triple-A affiliate. As a result of the suspension, Delabar would not be eligible for the postseason if he were to be promoted to the Majors.

Akron beat another one of my favorite nicknamed teams tonight, the Rumble Ponies of Binghamton, 5-2. ... Rumble Ponies are very similar to my War Pigs too. War Horses would be better, but not bad at all. ... Anyway, Merryweather pitched a nice game. 6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. He started out rough but settled in and finished strong. I think he retired 12 straight at one point. ... Greg Allen was 2-5 with 2 SB, has 8 now on year. He had an RBI single, then stole 2nd. Then stole 3rd. The scored on a wild pitch. Nice. ... Krieger was 0-2 with 2 walks and his 4th SB. ... Frankie was 2-4 with triple. ... Papi 1-3 with walk. ... Chang 0-4 with 2 K. He's hitting under 200 now after hot start.

Lake County lost to Great Lakes 7-1. ... I listened to the first 2 innings of this game and Aiken sounded like he was going to cruise. But then, well, Aiken finished 5 innings with 7 hits, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 walks and 4 K's. ... Isaacs was 1-4 with a steal. ... Ice was 2-4 with a double and walk. ... Chu 0-2 with 3 walks.

Milb starters for Tuesday

Columbus - Adam Plutko
Akron - Michael Peoples
Lynchburg - Thomas Pannone
Captains - Shane Bieber

moving Krauth to the pen

He's been exclusively a reliever since he turned pro. A good one: 47 1/3 IP 31 hits 13 walks 58K 2.09 ERA

16th round pick from Kansas last summer. a 6-0 180 LHP.

His predraft prospect report:

"Krauth is a short (6-foot, 190-pound) lefty with below-average stuff but a track record of success thanks to an above-average changeup, command and his ability to mix pitches. Krauth's split-change is a swing-and-miss offering that is easily his best pitch. It's why he struck out 10 per nine as a senior. He really uses his below-average fastball (84-88 mph) to set up the change. He also throws a below-average slider and has added a get-over curveball that is a well below-average offering but one that works as an early count change of pace."

Certainly can see why he's baffling minor leaguers. That doesn't necessarily project to take him too far, but we'll see.

Geez, obviously I know he's been strictly a reliever in his limited pro time. But he was a starter in college and given his success so far there was some question in my mind whether they may switch him from his piggy back role following up the starter to full time starter. When I said moved to pen I meant permanently.

But if he has just one or two great pitches though I can understand them making a reliever out of him. Although plenty of crafty lefties have made long careers while not being able to throw hard enough to break glass. Jamie Moyer types.

Akron RubberDucks‏@AkronRubberDuck 38 minutes ago
OF Greg Allen was presented his Minor League Gold Glove award prior to tonight's game! Congrats Greg!

joez wrote:Tribe Minors RHP Delabar suspended for PEDs
By Joe Trezza / MLB.com


Former MLB All-Star Steve Delabar and Mariners reliever Jonathan Aro were among three Minor Leaguers suspended Monday, the Commissioner's Office announced.

Delabar, a six-year Major League veteran who made the 2013 American League All-Star team as a member of the Blue Jays, received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Ostarine. Delabar is on the roster of the Columbus Clippers, the Indians' Triple-A affiliate. As a result of the suspension, Delabar would not be eligible for the postseason if he were to be promoted to the Majors.

More:

Cleveland Indians pitcher Steve Delabar suspended 80 games for positive PEDs test
Steve Delabar: From substitute teacher to the Cleveland Indians

Zack Meisel, cleveland.com


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Indians pitcher Steve Delabar received an 80-game ban from Major League Baseball on Monday for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

Delabar, 33, tested positive for ostarine, a muscle-building (or maintaining) agent that is consumed orally. The right-hander, assigned to Triple-A Columbus during spring training, had not yet pitched because of the looming suspension.

The Indians signed the veteran in mid-January to a minor-league deal with an invite to spring camp. Shawn Armstrong filled the lone vacancy in the club's Opening Day bullpen.

Delabar hasn't traveled the simplest path during his professional career. The Padres selected him in the 29th round of the 2003 amateur draft. He toiled in the minor leagues, played independent ball and then broke his elbow in 2009.

He spent more than a year away from the game, as he went to school, served as a substitute teacher and fell in love with slow-pitch softball.

Eventually, the Mariners gave him another chance, and he broke into the majors in September 2011. He made the American League All-Star team with Toronto in 2013. That year, he posted a 3.22 ERA, with 82 strikeouts in 58 2/3 innings.

Delabar has never duplicated that success, and bounced between the Reds' big-league club and Triple-A affiliate last season.

"For the young kids who maybe get lost in what they want to do, sometimes it takes a little bit to figure out," Delabar told cleveland.com during spring training. "You see people who get into college and get their degree and they get out and they don't even use that degree, because they find something else that they're attracted to. Sometimes you don't know what you want and it takes a little bit of time to mature and find out what you really want."

Speaking of which ... Kuechel and Tomlin both had good games tonight while hitting 88 on the gun.

Clippers lost to those dreaded Iron Pigs 8-5 tonight. Far too much talent on that team to be 7-11 right now. ... Plutko got smacked around a bit. 6 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. ... Armstrong gave up 3 earned in an inning too. ... Yandy was 2-3 with a double and 2 walks. ... Naquin was 3-5 with 2 doubles and a caught stealing. ... Zimmer was 3-3 with 2 doubles, a caught stealing, and an assist from the OF.

Akron lost to the Rumble Ponies again, 4-3. ... Allen 2-3 with 2 RBI. ... Krieger, Bradley and Chang all 0'fer. ... Frankie was 0-4 tonight so his hit streak ends.

Lynchburg lost to the Salem Red Sox 6-2, but was not my man Pannone's fault. He dealt another beauty. 4 IP, 4H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K.

Great Lakes beat Lake County 9-0. Yuck. ... It's weird, Bieber and Civale had both been doing great. Then all of a sudden this week they both get shelled same week. ... Bieber threw 5.1 innings, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. ... Gabe Mejia 1-4 with a CS. ... Ice 0-3 with a walk. ... Chu 1-4.

Indians Prospective @indiansPro

Indians LHP @ThomasPannone has not allowed an (ER) over his last 38.2 (IP) as a @LynHillcats
38.2(IP) 17H 1R 0ER 13BB 52SO 0.00 ERA

Indians LHP prospect @ThomasPannone over his last 19 starts:
106(IP) 69H 23R 20ER 31BB 104SO 1.70 ERA

Wednesday starters:

Cleveland - Trevor Bauer
Columbus - Shawn Morimando
Akron - Nick Pasquale
Lynchburg - Triston McKenzie
Lake County - Juan Hillman

Bieber actually pitched better than his final look shows. He went 4 shutout innings. 1 run in the 5th, things got bad in the 6th, he left with 2 in and 2 on and the reliever finished the job.

Too bad about Mejia. Thought maybe he'd keep it up all season.

CLE AA Allen, Greg CF 3 0 2 2 .286 [celebrates with a good game; AAA beckons]
CLE AA Bradley, Bobby 1B 3 0 0 0 .173 BB (14) [well he walks a lot]
CLE AA Chang, Yu-Cheng SS 3 0 0 0 .185 [o for his last 20 or so]
CLE AA Krieger, Tyler 2B 4 0 0 0 .327
CLE AA Mejia, Francisco C 4 0 0 0 .340
CLE AAA Diaz, Yandy LF 3 2 2 0 .364 2B (2), 2 BB (3) [that's the way!]
CLE AAA Gonzalez, Erik SS 4 1 1 0 .243
CLE AAA Rodriguez, Nellie 1B 3 0 0 0 .075 BB (9) [not quite ready for AAA, but no room back in Akron]
CLE AAA Zimmer, Bradley RF 3 0 3 0 .266 2 2B (5), BB (6), CS (1)
CLE HiA Castro, Willi SS 3 0 0 0 .191 BB (7) [one of the youngest in his league, that's his excuse]
CLE LoA Ice, Logan C 3 0 0 0 .271 BB (12)

CLE AAA Armstrong, Shawn 1 2 3 3 1 2 8.10
CLE AAA Plutko, Adam 6 9 4 3 1 4 9.35 L (0-3) [finished with 3 shut out innings]
CLE LoA Bieber, Shane 5.1 7 5 5 1 8 3.68 L (2-2)