Game Recaps 6/20

Left-hander Tony Sipp is back in action. After missing all of last season and half of this season recovering from an arm injury and subsequent Tommy John suregery, Sipp made his season debut on Friday with the GCL team going one shutout inning with a walk and strikeout. He'll likely be sent on a rehab assignment to Mahoning Valley or Lake County in the next week or two.

Also, catcher Matt McBride is in action in the GCL as well and DHed yesterday. He went 1-for-3.

First baseman Michael Aubrey was activated from the disabled list today, and infielder Chris De La Cruz was reassigned to Kinston.

Also, in case it was not mentioned before, RHP Jeff Stevens is officially the closer in Buffalo. On Thursday night, Stevens struck out all three batters he faced to improve to three for three in converting saves for the Herd. Stevens has only pitched in six games at the Triple-A level but already has 14 strikeouts to only four hits allowed in nine innings of work.

K-Tribe falls to Salem 5-3

The K-Tribe’s four game win streak was snapped at the hands of the Salem Avalanche, 5-3 Friday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. The K-Tribe bolted out of the gates when Jared Goedert drove home Beau Mills with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first. Salem was no hit through their first three innings by K-Tribe starter Josh Tomlin, then busted out with three runs on four hits in the top of the fourth. The three run inning was highlighted by a Koby Clemens two-run home run.

Kinston cut Salem’s lead to one when Goedert again drove home Mills, this time with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth. After a Salem run in the top of the seventh, Kinston again cut the Salem lead to one on a solo home run by Jason Denham in the bottom of the inning. Erick Abreu (5-2) got the win for Salem, Bryan Hallberg took away his fourth save of the season.

The K-Tribe tries to get back on the winning track Saturday night at Historic Grainger Stadium for game two of the three game series. Hector Rondon (4-3, 3.80) takes the hill for Kinston at 7pm.

CAPTAINS LOSE IN THE 9TH INNING

(Lakewood, NJ) – Travis Mattair scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning by Captains reliever Dallas Cawiezell as the Lakewood BlueClaws defeated Lake County 6-5 on Friday night. The Captains led in the game three different times but could not hold the lead. They are 0-2 to start the second half.

After being shutout the night before, the Captains jumped on BlueClaws starter Jacob Diekman in the first inning scoring two runs. Dustin Realini had an RBI single and Karexon Sanchez doubled in a run to give the Captains a 2-0 lead. The lead was short lived as the Claws got to Captains starter Ryan Morris in the bottom of the first tying the game at 2-2 on RBI’s by Dominic Brown and Mike Durant. The Captains took the lead back in the top of the third inning on a tape measure solo home run by Realini making it 3-2.

The BlueClaws tied it up at 3-3 in the bottom of the third inning on a two out RBI single by Karl Bolt. The Captains got the lead back in the top of the fourth inning when Matt Willard scored from third base on a wild pitch by Diekman and it was 4-3. The lead became 5-3 when the Captains scored another run in the top of the fifth when Matt Brown hit into a double play that scored Roman Pena. The BlueClaws scored two unearned runs off Captains reliever Jonathan Holt in the bottom of the sixth inning aided by two errors by Karexon Sanchez.

Morris went five innings giving up three runs on five hits, walking two and striking out four but did not factor in the decision. Holt went .2 innings giving up the two unearned runs. John Gaub relieved Holt in the sixth inning with two outs and ended up going 2.1 scoreless innings. Cawiezell came on in the ninth and suffered the loss to drop to 2-5. Zach Sterner picked up the win in relied to go to 4-0.

The Captains and the BlueClaws play game three of the four game series on Saturday at 7:05 PM as the Captains send RHP Joey Mahalic (3-2, 5.29) to the mound against the Claws LHP Walter Tejeda (3-2, 4.11). The game can be heard on AM 1330 WELW, WELW.COM or CAPTAINSBASEBALL.COM.

In Other Action.....

- Buffalo won last night 3-1. Jordan Brown had a three-run triple in the 9th for the deciding score. Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera went 2-for-4 and is hitting .381 at Buffalo.

- Akron won 7-3. Josh Rodriguez (4) and Trevor Crowe (1) hit home runs. Crowe is starting to heat up as he went 4-for5 on the night with a 2B, HR and 3 RBI and is now hitting .268. Hodges with another RBI and goes 2-for-4.

- Mahoning Valley lost 3-2 in 11 innings. They only managed three hits. Reliever David Roberts made his debut and was impressive going two shutout innings not allowing a hit with one walk while striking out two.

- The GCL team finally got started, losing 3-2 in their season opener. RHP TJ McFarland was impressive in his professional debut going 5 innings allowing 1 run on 4 hits, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Abner Abreu went 1-for-3 with a 2B and RBI and Kevin Rucker went 2-for-3 with a 2B.

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