The Columbus Clippers scored seven runs in the first three innings at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Penn. Friday and beat the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 10-7 to even the series at two games apiece. The Clippers recorded 13 hits and eight walks in the win. Here are our three takeaways from Friday’s game:

1.    Cooper Ingle was back in the Clippers’ lineup after returning from his seven-game stint with the Guardians and made his presence known immediately with three hits and a walk, and scoring four times. He was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, including belting his 13th Triple-A home run of the season. We wondered in yesterday’s takeaways how Ingle would react to being back with the Clippers after a disappointing run with the Guards. We now know.

2.   The first two pitchers for Columbus in Friday’s offensive struggle – Rorik Maltrud and Hunter Stanley – gave up seven runs on 12 hits. Fortunately for the Clippers, reliever Steven Pérez stepped in and went the final two innings without allowing a hit or a walk, and striking out three, to pick up his second save of the season. As a result of the early offense behind him, Maltrud earned the win to go to 3-0.

3.   Columbus called up right-handed pitcher Cam Walty from Single-A Lake County Friday. Walty, 24, was drafted by the Guardians in the 20th round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of the University of Arizona. In 2025, the native of Elk Grove, Cal., pitched in 16 games, with 11 starts, for the Hill City Howlers. Solely a reliever this season with the Captains, he is 3-1 in 19 appearances, striking out 37 batters in 37.1 innings.