The Columbus Clippers led 4-0 going to the fifth inning of Friday’s game at Huntington Park, but the visiting Toledo Mud Hens put 18 runs on the board over the next five at-bats to win 18-5. The weather showed some mercy to the Clippers as the rains ended the slaughter in the top fo the ninth inning with no one out. Here are our three takeaways from Friday’s debacle:

1.    All six pitchers for the Clippers gave up at least a run in their outings. Starter Pedro Avila (1-3) took the loss, giving up six runs on eight hits in his 5.2 innings of work. The toughest performance to watch was from Tommy Mace who walked four of the five batters he faced to start the seventh inning and all four eventually came home to score.

2.   It was so bad that infielder Juan Benjamin came in to pitch the top of the ninth inning. Teams are permitted to bring in a non-pitcher when they trail by at least eight runs at any point in the game. Benjamin, who took one for the team, gave up two runs on three hits and a pair of walks without recording an out. The skies then opened and let Benjamin off the hook.

3.   The Columbus offense looked good in the early going, scoring their first two runs a la “small ball”. In the first inning, George Valera, who is back with the Clips, moved a runner to third base on a ground ball to the right side and then Nolan Jones brought him on a sacrifice fly. In the third, Kahlil Watson walked, stole second, and came home on Valera’s single. The next two runs resulted from a Jones blast later in the inning.