De La Cruz pitches K-Tribe past Nationals
Impressive Debut for 20-year old LHP
LHP Kelvin De La Cruz pitched effectively into the 6th inning and the Indians infield smacked around Potomac pitching to send the K-Tribe to a 6-4 win over the Nationals at Pfitzner Stadium.
Kinston jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead on 5 straight one-out singles by Beau Mills, Nick Weglarz, Jared Goedert, Carlos Rivero and Nuiman Romero. They added on 2 more in the 3rd on a Jared Goedert double scoring Nick Weglarz and a Nuiman Romero sac fly. The K-Tribe finished their scoring in the 4th on a HR by John Drennen - the HR was Drennen's first of the year after hitting 13 in 2007.
The 3-4-5 hitters for the Indians; 3B Jared Goedert, SS Carlos Rivero and 2B Nuiman Romero combined to go 8-for-10 with 5RBI to lead the offensive performances.
De La Cruz, making his debut for Kinston after amassing a 8-4 record and 1.69ERA with Lake County, was masterful through the first 5 innings allowing only a 2nd inning run off an RBI single by Nationals firstbaseman and former Kinston Indian Brian Finegan. De La Cruz seemingly tired in the 6th, after striking out DH Francisco Plasencia to start the inning he gave up a walk and a base hit to bring his afternoon to a close.
RHP Josh Tomlin relieved and immediately gave up a 2-run double to RF Aaron Seuss and another RBI base hit to Finegan to close the book on De La Cruz (5.1IP, 5H, 3ER, 2BB, 6K). Tomlin recovered though, retiring the last 7 batters he faced in order with 5Ks. RHP Vinnie Pestano worked a scoreless 9th around a one-out walk to record his 3rd High-A save of the season (18th overall).
The K-Tribe and Nationals will finish up the 4-game series on Thursday a 7pm ET with Carlton Smith starting for the Indians against Potomac LHP Ross Detwiler.
Sipp continues to scuffle as Aeros fall late to Curve
Tony Sipps rehab has appeared to hit an almost inevitable bump in the road. Sipp, just over a year removed from TJ surgery, allowed 3 runs in the 8th inning sending the Aeros to a 6-3 defeat and dropping Sipps record to 0-3, 17.18ERA in three appearances at AA.
The Aeros jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 4th inning. LF Matt LaPorta lead off with a double, advanced to 3rd on a Bronson Sardinha single and 3B Wes Hodges delivered the big blow with a 3-run HR (11) to left field.
Trevor Crowe provided pretty much all the offense from that point forward for the Aeros, finishing 4-for-4 on the night, but marred his offensive performance by getting caught stealing in the first inning and picked off in the 8th.
Ryan Edell started for the Aeros allowing 3 runs off 8 hits in his 6 innings of work. The 3 runs allowed broke a run of 5 straight starts by Edell allowing exactly one earned run.
Captains offensive struggles continue
The Lake County Captains lost 3-2 to the Augusta on Wednesday night falling to a 4 game sweep to the GreenJackets. The Captains have now lost 5 straight and 9 of their last 10 games, scoring only 25 runs over that span.
Joanniel Montero got the spot start in place of recently promoted Kelvin De La Cruz allowing all 3 run GreenJackets runs off 7 hits in his 3.2 innings of work. Captains relievers Jon Holt, Rob Bryson and Kyle Landis worked a combined 4.1 innings of scoreless relief allowing only 1 hit and striking out a combined 5 GreenJackets.
Lucas Montero (2-for-4, RBI), Adam White (1-for-4, HR) and Ron Rivas (2-for-3) provided the only real offensive highlights for a Captains team that has struggled to score runs all year.
In other games....
- Buffalo loses 8-5 to Norfolk. Reclamation project Jeff Weaver allowed 7ER in 6 innings off 12 hits. Brian Slocum pitched the final 3 innings allowing only an unearned run. Tony Graffanino (3-for-5, 2B, 3B), Jordan Brown (3-for-5, 2B, RBI) and Brad Snyder (2-for-5, HR) provided the offensive highlights.
- Mahoning Valley managed just 1 game of their double-header before the rains came in falling 5-3 in 7 innings to Aberdeen. Mark Rodrigues took the loss allowing 3 runs (1 earned) in his 1 inning of work. Robbie Alcombrack the lone offensive standout finishing 3-for-4 with a 2B and 3RBI.
- GCL Indians lose 4-1 to Blue Jays. Alexander Perez loses allowing 2 runs on only 1 hit in 5 innings (3BB, 7K). Time for some writers opinion: - Perez is one guy to watch out for on a full-season roster next year - dominant 2007 in the DSL, good 2008 so far (except for one 2IP, 8ER outing) and plenty of room to grow (6'2", 156lb). Bo Greenwell (2-for-4) and Angel Rodriguez (2-for-4) providing much of the offense.
- DSL Indians rout D'Backs/Reds 11-1. "The Mythical Kelvin Diaz" 2-for-4 with a 2B, 3B and 3RBI (if only he could get a Visa to move stateside). RHP Francisco Valera the benefactor going 5 innings allowing just the lone run.
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2 comments:
What's up with Drennen, is his power outage due to an injury or has he just hit the wall in terms of batting ability?
If it is a talent issue, is he having difficulty with any specific type of pitch?
Drennen has been pitched on the outside part of the plate all year. Hasn't adjusted well to hitting the ball the other way as all his power is middle in pitches. When I was in Frederick I saw him pull two pitches near his fists that he yanked foul about 400 feet into the parking lot. Jon Nunnally touched on it, and I I'll have it in my Happenings piece tomorrow.
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