Daily Recap: 7/5

I'll offer up some comments tomorrow in my late night update on all this C.C. Sabathia trade talk with the Milwaukee Brewers. I actually talked to a scout late tonight, a high ranking scout from a rival club and he flat out loves LaPorta and considers their system one of the top five systems in baseball. More on this later....it has been a long day with family parties and with a trip to Buffalo on Sunday, I'm spent.

Anyway....

On Saturday, the Indians signed RHP Jeff Weaver to a free agent minor league contract. He will report to AAA Buffalo. Weaver, 31, owns a career Major League record of 93-114 w/an ERA of 4.72 in 284 Major League appearances/267 starts (1714.2IP, 1862H, 899ER, 463BB, 1124K) over 9 seasons from 1999-2007 with Detroit, New York-AL, Los Angeles-NL, St. Louis and Seattle. He won 14 games for the Dodgers in 2005 and won 3 games for the World Champion Cardinals in the 2006 post-season. He was 7-13 w/a 6.20 ERA in 27 starts for the Mariners last year (146.2IP, 190H, 101ER) and previously pitched this season for AAA Nashville (Milwaukee) from May 1-June 11 (2-4, 6.22ERA, 9GS, 55.0IP, 38ER).

Kinston Loses 6-5

Nick Weglarz went 4-for-4 with two home runs, but it wasn't enough as Kinston fell 6-5 to Winston-Salem Saturday night in the Triad. Weglarz also had a single and double, falling just a triple shy of the cycle. It was the first of three against the Warthogs in a battle of two teams vying for the top spot in the Carolina League Southern Division.

Winston-Salem started out in front, scoring three runs in the first three innings off of K-Tribe starter Carlton Smith. Winston-Salem led after four when the comeback began.

Kinston started on the comeback trail in the sixth, when Weglarz went deep for his second home run, a towering blast to right-center field. Kinston tied the game at four in the seventh on a two-run double by Johnny Drennen. Weglarz led off the eighth inning with a double, advanced to third on a bunt, and came home on a Carlos Rivero sacrifice fly on a close play at the plate to give Kinston their first lead at 5-4.

Winston-Salem answered back in the bottom half of the eighth with three straight one-out singles from the bottom of the lineup, and Paolo Orlando knocked in the tying and winning runs on a seeing-eye single to right. Neil Wagner (2-6) took the loss, giving up four hits and two earned runs. Kinston's Mike Finocchi had his best rehab outing of the season, tossing two scoreless innings to keep Kinston within striking distance in the sixth and seventh. Matt Zaleski got the win for Winston-Salem, his fourth of the season.

The Warthogs take sole possession of first place in the Carolina League Southern Division away from Kinston, who now trails by a game with the loss. Jeanmar Gomez takes the hill for Kinston in Winston-Salem on Sunday, game time 5:00 PM.

CAPTAINS SPLIT WITH KANNAPOLIS

(Kannapolis, NC) –Pitching was the name of the game as the Lake County Captains and Kannapolis Intimidators split a double header on Saturday. The Intimidators took game one 2-1 and the Captains took the night cap 3-2. There were only six hits in game one and eight hits in game two. Sloppy defense hurt both teams as they committed eight errors on the night. Captains end the road trip going 4-2.

In game one, the Captains scored in the second inning against Intimidators starter Levi Maxwell on a RBI single by Mark Thompson that scored Jeff Hehr and it was 1-0. The Intimidators scored an unearned run off of Captains starter Chris Archer in the fifth inning on a RBI single by John Curtis to tie the game at 1-1. The Intimidators plated the winning run on an error by second baseman Matt Willard in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Maxwell went the distance to up his record to 9-2. He retired the last fourteen batters in the game. Archer did not factor in the decision going five innings and allowing one unearned run on two hits walking two and striking out two. Gary Campfield took the loss giving up the one run in the sixth inning and saw his record fall to 4-3.

In game two, the Captains jumped on Kannapolis starter Miguel Socolovich with two runs in the first. Adam White scored from first base when Lucas Montero’s single got by right fielder Nick Mahin with Montero taking third base. Roman Pena drove in Montero with a double and it was 2-0. The Intimidators came right back against Captains starter Ryan Morris in the bottom of the first scoring an unearned run on a RBI double from Jim Gallagher to cut the lead to 2-1. The Captains extended the lead to 3-1 when White scored on an errant throw back to the infield from center fielder Sergio Morales after a fly out by Pena had moved him to third. The Intimidators cut the lead to 3-2 n the fifth inning when Oney Guillen singled home Matt Inouye.

Morris, who picked up his first win since May 26th, went five innings allowing two runs on three hits, walking one and striking out six. Josh Judy relieved Morris in the sixth inning and pitched two scoreless inning to pick up his first save of the year. Socolovich took the loss with his record dropping to 2-4.

The Captains are off on Sunday but will return home on Monday for an eight game home stand against Hickory and Asheville. The Captains will send LHP Kelvin De La Cruz (6-3, 1.74) to the hill against the Crawdads RHP Brad Lincoln (4-4, 4.50). All Captains games can be heard on AM 1330 WELW, WELW.COM or CAPTAINSBASEBALL.COM.

In Other Games....

- Buffalo lost 2-0. RHP Frank Herrman, in a spot start, went 7 innings and allowed 2 runs on 8 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. 2B Asdrubal Cabrera went 1-for-4 with a strikeout, SS Andy Gonzalez went 1-4, and catcher Chris Gimenez went 1-for-3 with a 2B.

- Akron won 2-1. RHP Jim Deters went 5 innings and allowed 1 run on 5 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. 2B Brandon Pinckney went 3-for-5 with a run, OF Bronson Sardinha went 3-for-5 with a 2B, and 3B Wes Hodges went 2-for-4 with a walk.

- Mahoning Valley won 6-1 in 10 innings. RHP Brad Hinkle went 5 innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits, 3 walks and had 4 strikeouts. OH Juan Valdes went 3-for-4 with a 2B, infielder Walter Diaz went 2-for-4 with a run, and OF Ramon Hernandez hit a pinch hit grand slam home run in the 10th inning.

- The GCL Indians lost 1-0. RHP Alexander Perer went 6 innings and allowed 1 run on 3 hits, 1 walk and struck out 1. DH Matt McBride went 1-for-4 with a 2B and 2 strikeouts. OF John Allman went 2-for 3.

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