Daily Recap: 7/17

A bit of sad news to report...but OF/1B Matt LaPorta will not be re-joining Akron until at least Saturday. LaPorta had a death in the family and is away from the team at the moment.

In a bit of good news to report....LHP Tony Sipp has been activated at Akron. INF Chris De La Cruz was sent to Buffalo to make room for Sipp on the roster.

Fausto Carmona will make a rehab start in Akron on Saturday night at Canal Park.

Infielder Niuman Romero was absent from the lineup last night as he was serving the first game of a three-game suspension issued by the Carolina League after an altercation with with an opposing player on July 1. Romero's 20-game hitting streak will be put on hold until he returns, which is expected to be Sunday.

ABC’s Good Morning America Weekend will be at Grainger Stadium for a feature to be shot on Wednesday, July 30th. With correspondent John Berman, they will be gathering footage and interviews before, after and during the K-Tribe’s game against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. The story chronicling a day and night in the life of Grainger Stadium will be shown on a future Good Morning America Weekend Broadcast.

Wells’ Grand Slam Downs Aeros

AKRON, OH – The Aeros collected 13 hits, but Casper Wells hit an eighth-inning, go-ahead grand slam to lift Erie to a 7-5 win before 5,002 fans at Canal Park Thursday night. Akron fell to 61-36, while the SeaWolves improved to 40-58.

Deik Scram put the SeaWolves on the board first when he led off the third inning with a solo home run to right to give Erie a 1-0 lead. Scram then added another RBI, this time on a single in the fourth, to make it 2-0.

The Aeros tied the game in the fourth when Matt Whitney and Stephen Head led off with base hits. Both men moved up on a passed ball, and Nathan Panther and Brandon Chaves drove in the runners on RBI singles.

Akron took the lead with three runs in the fifth, batting around in the process. Bronson Sardinha walked to lead off, and Wes Hodges followed with a single. Whitney then hit a solid single to center and the ball skipped over the glove of Wells, allowing Sardinha and Hodges to score easily as Whitney advanced to third. Stephen Head followed with a sacrifice fly, scoring Hodges for the third run, but the Aeros went on to leave the bases loaded to end the inning.

The score stayed 5-2 until the eighth, when Aeros reliever Tony Sipp came on for his first appearance of the year for Akron. The left-hander surrendered a pair of singles and a walk before Wells (who also had three doubles and a walk) made up for his error with a towering blast to left-center for a grand slam, giving Erie the 6-5 advantage. Kody Kirkland added the final run on an RBI single in the ninth.

Erie reliever Brendan Wise (2-0) picked up the win with 2.1 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief. Sipp (0-1) took the loss, allowing four runs while not retiring a batter. Steven Wright worked six solid innings for the Aeros, allowing two runs on eight hits while striking out two and walking none for his first quality start of the season. Whitney finished 3-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Brandon Chaves put up three hits and an RBI for the Aeros.

The Aeros continue this four-game homestand Friday at 7:05 p.m. against the SeaWolves. Left-hander Ryan Edell (5-5, 4.30 ERA) gets the start for Akron against Erie’s Lauren Gagnier (0-1, 108.00 ERA). It will be Fireworks Night at Canal Park with a post-game display, synched to music, presented by Time Warner Cable. Saturday at 7:05 p.m., Indians right-hander Fausto Carmona will make a rehab start for the Aeros as he recovers from a left hip strain. The game broadcast begins at 6:50 p.m. on SportsRadio 1350 AM and online at www.akronaeros.com.

Kinston Rolls 11-1

Kinston starter Hector Rondon (8-4) was spectacular, as the K-Tribe took down Frederick 11-1 Thursday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. Rondon went six innings, giving up just two hits and one earned run. He struck out six and walked one. It is his team leading eighth victory of the season. Mike Pontius and Mike Finocchi pitched scoreless innings from the bullpen.

Kinston jumped on the Keys early scoring two runs in the first on RBI singles from Carlos Rivero and Jason Denham. A two-out, two-RBI single by Beau Mills gave Kinston a 4-0 lead. Kinston led 5-2 going into the bottom of the seventh, before busting out for five more runs, highlighted by a two-run home run from Alex Castillo. Kinston managed thirteen hits on the night.

The K-Tribe returns to Grainger Stadium Friday night for game two of the three game series, Carlton Smith on the mound for Kinston. Game time 7pm, with a fireworks extravaganza after the game.

DRIVE TOPS CAPTAINS IN TEN INNINGS

(Greenville, SC) – Thomas Di Benedetto drove in the winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning off of Captains reliever Jonathan Holt as the Lake County Captains fell to the Greenville Drive 6-5 on Thursday. Richard Martinez had three hits and two RBI’s and Matt Brown had three hits and a RBI as the Captains offense got going getting thirteen hits on the night.

For the second night in a row the Captains scored in the first inning. Lucas Montero was walked by Drive starter Chad Povich. He stole second and went to third on a ground out. He would score on a Richard Martinez single and the Captains led 1-0. The Captains added three more runs in the third inning when Cristo Arnal scored on a throwing error and then Roman Pena and Martinez drove home a run each to make it 4-0.

It was quickly tied at 4-4 in the bottom of the third inning when the Drive got to Captains starter Chris Archer as they got an RBI single from Carlos Fernandez and then two batters later Jered Stanley hit a three run home run, his tenth of the year. The Drive took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning on a RBI single by Thomas Di Benedetto. The Drive had the bases loaded and no one outs in the inning but Gary Campfield was able to get out of the inning with no more runs scoring. The Captains tied it at 5-5 in the top of the seventh off of Drive reliever Javier Garcia on a two out RBI single by Matt Brown.

Archer went three innings and allowed five runs on five hits, walking four and striking out two. Campfield followed Archer and threw two scoreless innings striking out two. Rob Bryson came in after Campfield and pitched 1.2 scoreless innings allowing two hits and walking three. Josh Judy recorded the final out in the seventh inning and hurled 2.1 scoreless innings striking out a season high six batters. Kyle Foster got the win to improve his record to 3-0.

Game three of the four games series is Friday at 7:00 PM with the Captains sending LHP Kelvin De La Cruz (7-4, 1.81) to the hill to face Drive RHP Ryne Lawson (4-2, 3.88). All Captains games can be heard on AM 1330 WELW, WELW.COM or CAPTAINSBASEBALL.COM.

SCRAPPERS RECORD FOURTH WIN IN A ROW

LOWELL, MA- On Thursday night the spinners scored first in the second off of starter Matt Langwell when Ricardo Burgos doubled and then scored on Tim Fererowicz ground out. The Scrappers took the lead in the top of the third on a bases loaded walk by Lonnie Chisenhall and a RBI ground out by Brock Simpson and the Scrappers led 2-1 after three innings.

In the bottom of the fourth the Spinners took the lead on a two RBI triple by Ryan Dent and led 3-2 after four innings. Relief pitching took over for both teams and four straight zeros were put up on the scoreboard and the Spinners held a 3-2 lead after six innings. In the seventh the Scrappers scored two run the first on a throwing error by the Spinners and the second on an RBI single by Chisenhall and after seven the Scrappers led 4-3. The Scrappers added another run in the ninth when Isaias Velasquez reached on a throwing error stole second and scored on a Walter Diaz RBI double and the Scrappers led 5-3 going into the ninth.

Daniel Morales came in to work the bottom of the ninth and set the Spinners down quickly to record his second save of the season. Mike McGuire (2-2) worked two innings of scoreless relief to pick up the victory. The 5-3 Scrapper win was their fourth straight as they improved to 14-15 on the season.

In Other Games...

- Buffalo won 10-2. LHP John Halama threw a complete game giving up 2 runs on 8 hits, no walks and struckout 3. DH Michael Aubrey was 3-for-5 with a run, RF Todd Linden was 3-for-5 with 2 2B, 2 runs and 4 RBI, and 1B Jordan Brown was 1-for-5 with a HR and 2 RBI.

- The GCL Indians split a double-header. In Game 1, they lost 13-10. RHP Danny Salazar went 2.1 innings and allowed 6 runs on 8 hits, 1 walk and had 3 strikeouts in his first bad start of the year. OF Bo Greenwell was 1-for-2 with 4 walks, a HR, and 2 RBI. 3B Abner Abreu went 2-for-6 with a 2B, HR and 2 RBI. In Game 2, they won 2-1. RHP Alexander Perez went 5 innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits, 3 walks and had 5 strikeouts. The offense mustered only 2 hits, with 3B Abner Abreu getting the one big hit going 1-for-3 with 2 RBI. Keep an eye on Abreu, he is developing into something special.

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