Clippers Shut out Omaha Storm-Chasers

Kyle Manzardo hits his first homer of the year

The Columbus Clippers earned their first win of the 2024 season with a 3-0 shutout of the Omaha Storm-Chasers, Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. You can find the box score here.

The Clippers are now 1-2 and the Storm-Chasers are 2-2.

Led by two doubles from left-fielder Jhonkensy Noel and a home run from prize prospect Kyle Manzardo

the Clippers kept the Storm-Chasers at bay with two and two-thirds scoreless innings from rehabbing Xzavion Curry who struck out 7 batters

Newcomers Zak Kent (two scoreless innings with two strikeouts) and Peter Strzelecki (a scoreless inning with two strikeouts) had good debuts for the Clippers, and Anthony Gose struck out two in a scoreless eighth and Nic Enright struck out the side in a dominant ninth. I hate the starting depth on the Guardians but I LOVE the bullpen depth. It was interesting to see Adam Oller and Zak Kent both pitch in this game as both have been listed as starters for the Clippers, but a combination of rehab starts and rain may have pushed both temporarily into pitching out of the pen.

Second baseman Jose Tena hit the ball hard (over 100 mph) a couple times but had only a single to show for it, and Juan Brito playing third base did what Juan Brito does and took two walks. Omaha tried to walk the entire Guardians’ farm system, though, issuing seven free passes in this game.

Weather-permitting, Columbus and Omaha will play a traditional double-header starting at 4:15pm EST today.