Daily Recap: 7/26

Huff dominates for Herd, Bisons 2-hit Charlotte

David Huff combined with Jeff Stevens, Rich Rundles and Randy Newsom on a 2-hit shutout of the Charlotte Knights on Saturday, leading the Bisons to a 4-0 win just a day after the Herd had allowed a season high 19 hits.

Huff, making his 10th start for the Bisons, was masterful again; he faced the minimum through 4 innings after Knights DH Royce Huffman bounced into a double play in the 2nd following a HBP of Charlotte SS Chris Getz to open the inning. Huff then retired 9 straight until allowing a 1-out walk in the 5th followed by his first hit of the game to 2B Danny Richar, but he struck out 3B Javier Colina and got C Cole Armstrong to foul out to end the only threat he faced all game. Huff finished with a line of 5IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 4K and threw an impressive 43 of his 61 pitches for strikes. Huff has allowed just 1 earned run in his past 3 starts (15IP).

Jeff Stevens worked 2 scoreless innings in relief (1H, 2K) and was followed by Rich Rundles (1IP, 1H, 2K) and Randy Newsom (1IP, 1BB).

Meanwhile, the Bisons would get all the offense they needed in the first inning. LF Trevor Crowe lead off against Knights starter RHP Tomo Ohka and took a 1-2 offering and crushed it the opposite way for his first AAA HR. The Bisons offense would be held down until the 7th inning; C Chris Gimenez lead off with a single against Ohka before 3B Morgan Ensberg reached on an error whilst attempting to sacrifice. CF Brad Snyder brought both runners home on a 1-out double. The Bisons then would add one more in the 8th on an RBI double by Gimenez scoring 1B Michael Aubrey.

Brad Snyder finished the game 3-for-4 with 2 doubles (20) and 2 RBI and Gimenez finished 2-for-4 with a double. Gimenez is hitting an even .400 (10-for-25) with a 1.025OPS in 7 games since the AAA All-Star Break.

Aeros continue to scuffle, blanked by Mets

The Akron Aeros struggles since the All-Star break continued on Saturday night in front of 6,583 fans at Canal Park as they were blanked 2-0 by the Binghamton Mets. The loss dropped the Aeros record to 3-8 since the AA All-Star break as the offense has managed just 35 runs (3.18/game) over that stretch.

In a game delayed by rain and interupted after the first inning by another rain delay, the loss went to RHP Frank Herrmann. Herrmann (8-4) worked 4 innings allowing only the 1 run off 4 hits, he walked 2 and struck out 6.

LHP Tony Sipp, continuing his comeback from TJ surgery, worked a scoreless 5th inning but not without some trouble. After a double and a pair of walks had loaded the bases, Sipp struckout CF Ambiorix Concepcion to end the inning.

LHP Chuck Lofgren continued the ressurection of his season working the final 4 innings out of the bullpen allowing 1 run off a 9th inning HR by Mets C Salvador Paniagua. Lofgren, who has struggled with his command for the last two season, worked his 4th game of the year out of the bullpen and has posted total numbers of 11IP, 8H, 2R, 1BB, 7K, 1.64ERA - the one walk in 11IP is in stark contrast to 42BB in 58.2IP as a starter.

LF Matt LaPorta (1-for-4), C Wyatt Toregas (1-for-3) and SS Brandon Chaves (1-for-3) provided the only offense for an Aeros team that was 3-hit by Mets starter RHP Tobi Stoner and two Mets relievers.

Miller knocked around, Captains rally falls short

LHP Ryan Miller's struggles continued on Saturday dropping his record to 7-6 and continuing a winless streak that stretches back to May 18th. Miller, worked just 2.1 innings allowing 5R/ER off 8 hits and 4BB as the Captains fell by a score of 7-6 at the hands of the West Virginia Power.

The Captains bullpen gave the team a chance to mount a comeback as RHPs Josh Judy, Jon Gaub and Dallas Cawiezell combined to work the final 6.2IP allowing just 2 runs (1 earned) off 3 hits with 6Ks.

The Captains entered the bottom of the 9th trailing 7-3, but made things very interesting. 2B Mark Thompson lead off with a single, advanced to 2nd on DH Lucas Montero's walk and the bases were loaded on a single from CF Adam White with nobody out. LF Roman Pena flied out to shallow right for the 1st out before 1B Chris Nash lifted a sac fly to cut the deficit to 7-4. RF Matthew Brown then strode to the dish as the tying run and stroked a 2-out, 2-run double to bring the Captains back within 1 run. That was as close as the Captains could get as C Adam Davis grounded out to 2nd to end the game.

Brown finished the night 4-for-5 with 2 doubles and 3RBI, Pena was 2-for-4 and White knocked out a 3-for-4 night with 2 runs scored.

The loss was the Captains 7th straight and 12th in their last 13 games.

In other games....

- Kinston lose 5-2 at the hands of Wilmington Blue Rocks. Jeanmar Gomez worked 6 strong innings (5H, 2ER). LHP Matt Meyer allowed 3 runs in the 8th to take the loss. Niuman Romero (1-for-4), Beau Mills (1-for-4), Carlos Rivero (1-for-3) and Armando Camacaro (1-for-3) provided the only offense for Kinston.

- Scrappers game suspened after 3 innings with the game scoreless. 2008 8th round pick LHP Eric Berger had worked 3 scoreless innings thus far allowing 1 hit and recording 5K (21IP, 24K, 1.29ERA this year). 2B Isaias Velasquez and SS Lonnie Chisenhall were both 1-for-2 when the game was suspended.

- GCL Indians lose both ends of a double-header 10-5 & 11-6 at the hands of the GCL Phillies. LHP T.J. McFarland (2-2) loses game one allowing 9 runs off 12 hits in 4IP. RHP Denny Montero loses game 2 allowing 3 runs (2 earned) in 1.1IP. 3B Abner Abreu shone on offense, homering in both games (7) as part of a combined 4-for-8, 2B, 2HR, 3RBI day - Abreu now hitting .306/.342/.667/1.009 in 27 games - his 7HR leads the GCL and his 1.009OPS ranks 4th. Australian SS Jason Smit banged out his first HR of the year in going 2-for-2 with a BB in game 2.

- DSL Indians with a scheduled off-day.

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