Thumped. Hammered. Shellacked.

Teams using players supplied by the Indians' front office experienced the same sensation Tuesday.

The Indians, Triple-A Columbus, Double-A Akron and High-A Carolina lost by a combined 37-8, an aggregate total that might be difficult to exceed this season.

The problems in Cleveland -- primarily pathetic starting pitching -- filtered to Akron, where the Aeros fell to the Altoona Curve, 14-6. The Curve, by the way, use players provided by those baseball bullies known as the Pirates.

Aeros starter Danny Salazar wasn't ejected like the Indians' Carlos Carrasco, who somewhere in his development missed baseball etiquette classes. But  Salazar didn't make it through the third and his poorly-located pitches helped Altoona's Andrew Lambo hit for the cycle by the FIFTH inning.  For those wondering, Lambo's name isn't found on any list ranking Pirates' prospects, which means his likely ceiling isn't much higher than Double-A.  

Columbus's Joe Martinez (six innings) and Carolina's Jordan Cooper (five innings) at least had full workdays. Neither pitched received adequate run support. The Clippers lost, 4-0, at Louisville. Wilmington handled Carolina, 5-1.

The team with the highest payroll and expectations produced the biggest clunker. Using a lineup that would have been considered potent in 2006, the Yankees bludgeoned the Indians, 14-1.  The nicest thing manager Terry Francona could say about Brett Myers, who replaced Carrasco in the fourth, was that he "saved" the bullpen by lasting 5 1/3 innings. The ineffective outing inflated Myers' early-season ERA to 12.19.

The Captains escaped bloody Tuesday. Their game at Great Lakes was postponed because of poor weather.

The four teams above the Captains in the Indians' hierarchy would have been better off encountering the same fate.

- Guy Cipriano | @newsheraldguy