Game Recaps 5/19

Buffalo first baseman Jordan Brown was activated from the disabled list today. Also, congrats to Akron left-hander David Huff for winning Eastern League Pitcher of the Week honors.

Hodges Lifts Aeros to 5-3 Win

AKRON, OH – Wes Hodges doubled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning to lift the Aeros over the Altoona Curve 5-3 in front of 8,927 fans at Canal Park Monday to open an eight-game homestand. Akron moved to 19-21 on the season, while Altoona fell to 15-25.

Altoona collected three runs off Aeros starter Ryan Edell in the first inning. James Boone and Melvin Dorta started the inning with singles on Edell’s first three pitches, and Jason Delaney’s RBI groundout plated Boone for the first run. It appeared Edell would get out of the inning without further damage, but Brad Corley smoked a full-count fastball to left-center that cleared the fence, giving the Curve a 3-0 lead.

Akron picked up its first run in the fourth inning. Stephen Head led off with a double to left-center, and with two away Brandon Pinckney singled him home to cut the deficit to 3-1. The single also pushed Pinckney’s hitting streak to 10 games, a season-high for the Aeros. Akron then tied it in the fifth on Chris Gimenez’s first-pitch, two-run homer into the bullpen in right-center after Josh Rodriguez started the rally with a single.

Rodriguez and Gimenez teamed up again to begin the seventh-inning rally with consecutive one-out walks. Hodges then drove a 3-1 pitch from Altoona reliever Evan Meek off the wall in left-center, narrowly missing a round-tripper, to drive in Rodriguez and put the Aeros ahead for good at 4-3. Stephen Head then gave Arkon an insurance run with a broken-bat roller up the first base line to score Gimenez and account for the final margin.

J.D. Martin (4-2) picked up the win in relief, tossing two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh. Meek (0-1) allowed both runs in the seventh and suffered the loss, and Randy Newsom pitched a scoreless ninth for his 11th save in as many chances. Edell battled through his five-inning stint, allowing the three runs in the first but then keeping Akron in the game by stranding six runners (five in scoring position) over the next four innings. He scattered eight hits and a walk while striking out two. Altoona made it tough on Aeros pitching with 12 base knocks on the night, with at least one in each inning, but stranded 10 runners. Altoona starter Corey Hamman threw just three innings, allowing no runs on two hits, but walked four Aeros.

The Aeros continue this four-game series Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at Canal Park. Kevin Dixon (1-3, 5.26 ERA) will get the start for Akron against Altoona’s Jimmy Barthmaier (2-2, 5.35 ERA). Tuesday is Two-for-Tuesday at Canal Park with two-for-one specials on tickets and select concessions. The game broadcast begins at 6:50 p.m. on SportsRadio 1350 AM and online at www.akronaeros.com.

CAPTAINS TAKE THREE OF FOUR FROM LEXINGTON

(Eastlake, OH) – Dustin Realini and Matt Willard had three RBi’s each as the Captains rolled to a 10-4 victory over the Lexington Legends at Classic park on Monday. The Captains took three of four games against Lexington in the series. The Captains are now 4.5 games ahead of both Delmarva and Greensboro.

The Captains jumped out on top in the second inning off starter Jeff Icenogle. With the bases loaded Michael Valdez singled home Roman Pena. Matt Willard then hit a sacrifice fly to score Jeff Hehr and the Captains led 2-0. Joey Mahalic relieved Indians closer Joe Borowski who pitched the first inning of the game in a rehab appearance. In the third inning the Legends loaded the bases with none out and were only able to muster one run on a sacrifice fly by Russell Dixon. The Captains tacked on four more runs in the third inning. Dustin Realini and Pena had RBI’s and Willard picked up two more RBI’s to make it 6-1. The lead was extended to 9-1 in the fourth inning when the Captains got a RBI from Hehr and two more from Realini.

The Legends picked up three runs in the sixth inning on only one hit against Mahalic to make it 9-4. The Captains picked up their tenth run in the eighth inning when Mark Thompson tripled and scored on Adam White’s sacrifice fly. Mahalic got the win and ups his recorded to 2-0. Icenogle takes the loss to drop to 0-3.

The home stand continues on Tuesday as the West Virginia Power comes to town to play five games in four days including a 12:05 PM double header on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Captains will send LHP Kelvin De La Cruz (2-2, 1.77) to the mound against the Power’s LHP Dan Merklinger (0-3, 7.00). The game can also be heard on AM 1330 WELW, WELW.COM or CAPTAINSBASEBALL.COM.

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