Cooper Ingle powers Clippers past Mud Hens, 10-3

Cooper Ingle is turning every loud swing into a louder case for more attention, and Friday night in Toledo he delivered the one that cracked the game open. His three-run home run in the top of the second inning, his eighth of the season, pushed Columbus in front 4-0 and sent the Clippers cruising to a 10-3 win at Fifth Third Field.

That is the kind of night that matters beyond one box score. Ingle entered the game with 31 hits, seven homers and 28 RBI in 94 at-bats, and the contact profile is starting to look real, not just hot. He had already left the yard on May 8 and May 16, so this was not a one-night spike. It was the latest marker in a stretch where the Cleveland draftee has shown he can punish mistakes and carry a lineup when the ball leaves the bat with authority. For a prospect trying to climb from intriguing to unavoidable, that is the point.

Columbus did not lean on Ingle alone. Angel Genao, the 22-year-old switch-hitter from Castillo, Dominican Republic, added three hits, including a double and an RBI, and kept pressure on Toledo from the middle of the order. Genao finished the night hitting .281 with six homers, 20 RBI and four steals in 160 at-bats, a line that speaks to a player giving Cleveland both athleticism and enough thump to matter in the infield mix.

Trenton Denholm handled the rest. The right-hander earned the win with five scoreless innings of relief to improve to 4-2, and he did it with the kind of steady bulk that keeps a game from wobbling after an early burst. He entered the night with a 5.13 ERA across 40.1 innings, but this was the reminder that Triple-A value is not always tidy. Sometimes it is about taking a lead and never giving it back.

The Clippers backed it up with 17 hits, no errors and a clean defensive night while Toledo managed just six hits and committed two errors. The crowd of 4,572 watched Columbus control the series again after wins on May 25 and May 27, and the 10-3 result also nudged the Clippers to 28-25 while dropping the Mud Hens to 26-28. Columbus was set to play again Friday, May 30, before returning home June 2 for Tansky Tuesday Dime-A-Dog Night against Omaha.