Kody Huff's walk-off homer lifts Columbus past Omaha, 3-2

A nearly two-hour rain delay did not slow Logan Allen, and it did not keep Kody Huff from delivering the finish. Columbus turned a tight, seven-inning game into a 3-2 walk-off win over Omaha at Huntington Park on June 6, with Allen’s 10-strikeout start setting the stage before Huff launched the decisive two-run homer to left in the seventh.

Allen looked every bit like a pitcher trying to force his way into Cleveland’s conversation. He worked 6.0 innings, allowed one run on five hits, and punched out 10 without looking bothered by the long wait before first pitch. Columbus needed every bit of that outing because the Clippers’ offense never built much cushion, and Allen left with the game tied 1-1 after six. In a shortened game, that kind of start carries extra weight. There is no margin for wasted pitches, no extra innings to sort it out later, and Allen spent his night erasing that danger pitch by pitch.

Columbus struck first in the second inning when Kahlil Watson doubled and scored on George Valera’s RBI single. That 1-0 lead held until the fifth, when Omaha answered on Kevin Newman’s RBI double to tie it. The Storm Chasers then nudged in front in the seventh on Peyton Wilson’s RBI single, turning a game that had already been compressed by weather into a final-inning test for both bullpens.

Eric Cerantola did not survive it. He retired the first batter in the seventh, then issued a walk before Huff jumped on the next chance and crushed a walk-off homer for his ninth of the season. The swing sent Columbus to 34-27 and dropped Omaha to 28-33, a result that mattered even more because the clubs were in the middle of a six-game set at Huntington Park from June 2-7. Two nights earlier, Columbus had already staged a 9-8 comeback after falling behind 5-2, in front of 9,647 fans on a night when 20,037 hot dogs disappeared during Dime-A-Dog Night.

This one had a different feel, but the same lesson. Allen gave Columbus a starter’s performance with real weight, and Huff turned it into a win with one swing. That is the kind of night Triple-A is built on, and the kind that leaves evaluators asking whether Allen just made the Cleveland picture a little harder to ignore.