Game Recaps: Friday 5/15

Clippers sweep IronPigs

The Clippers put on an offensive show on Friday night scoring at least one run in every inning except the seventh and eighth. The only two players for the Clippers who did not have a hit were Travis Hafner and Wyatt Toregas.

In the bottom of the first, Chris Gimenez drove a two-run home run to left field, scoring Brantley, putting Columbus up 2-0.

In the bottom of the second, Michael Brantley doubled to center, scoring Wilson Valdez. Trevor Crowe also singled, scoring Brantley.

In the bottom of the third, Andy Marte hit his fourth home run of the season to left field, putting the Clippers up 5-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Trevor Crowe hit his second RBI single of the day, giving the Clippers a comfortable 6-0 lead.

Starter Zach Jackson (2-2 4.15) went five innings, only allowing two hits and three walks, while striking out five.

In the bottom of the fifth, Jordan Brown also hit his fourth home run of the year to left field.

The IronPigs got on the board in the sixth, as John Meloan's struggles continue. He allowed three runs (1 home run) and three hits in the inning, raising his ERA on the year to 6.65. In the bottom half of the inning, Crowe continued his great day at the plate, hitting an RBI double, which scored Brantley.

The IronPigs roughed up Frank Herrmann for two runs in the eighth, but the Clippers prevailed, winning 8-5. Greg Aquino picked up his fourth save of the season.

Aeros win 5-3

Nick Weglarz cranked a three-run homer in the top of the eighth, powering Akron to a 5-3 triumph over Altoona before 3,711 fans at Blair County Ballpark Friday night. The Aeros climbed 18 games over the .500 mark for the first time this season at 25-7 while the Curve dropped to 11-22.

It looked like one run would be enough for Akron in the early going, as left-hander Chuck Lofgren continued his outstanding season and carried a shutout into the bottom of the seventh. The Aeros had given Lofgren a 1-0 lead in the top of third as Jerad Head led off with a single and scored on Jose Constanza's two-out knock, but opportunities to pad the advantage fell by the wayside in the middle innings. Akron got a leadoff single from Weglarz in the fifth but went on to leave runners at first and second, couldn't capitalize on a leadoff base hit from Carlos Rivero in the sixth, and then stranded men on the corners in the top of the seventh.

Lofgren cruised through the first five innings, retiring 12 straight hitters at one point while not allowing a runner past first base until Brian Friday got a fortuitous triple in the sixth when Weglarz lost his footing in left field. Lofgren recovered to get the final out in that inning, but couldn't walk the tightrope in the seventh. Brad Corley led off with a single, and after Jason Delaney flied out to the wall in right-center Corley alertly advanced to second on a pitch in the dirt. Lofgren came back to strike out Steve Lerud looking for the second out, but Jonel Pacheco tied the game with a single to left and advanced all the way to third when Weglarz throw home hit Corley coming down the third base line. Jamie Romak then flared a single to center to score Pacheco and put the Curve in front 2-1 before Lofgren got James Boone on a fly to center for the final out.

Akron responded immediately in the top of the eighth however, as Rivero greeted reliever Jeff Sues with a booming double to right center. Beau Mills flied out, but Jared Goedert muscled a single to right-center to put men on the corners, and Matt McBride then ripped an RBI double off the base of the wall in left to score Rivero with the tying run and set the stage for Weglarz. Sues quickly fell behind Weglarz with three straight balls, and at that point could have elected to walk him with first base open. The right-hander chose to challenge the white-hot Canadian however, and given the green light Weglarz demolished a fastball to put the Aeros in front to stay. Hector Rondon navigated some rough waters in the eighth, allowing a run but fooling Delaney with a changeup that led to an inning-ending double play before Vinnie Pestano turned in a scoreless ninth.

Lofgren (3-0) earned his second straight win with his team-high fourth quality start of 2009. He held Altoona to just two runs and six hits in a season-high seven innings, walking none and striking out four. Curve starter Brad Lincoln was excellent as well, allowing just a run on five hits over seven innings of his own but ultimately receiving a no-decision. Sues (1-2) suffered the loss in relief while Pestano claimed his league-leading 11th save. Weglarz finished 2-4 with his fourth home run of the year and three RBI, and is now hitting .444 with three homers and 18 RBI in just 11 games this month. He also passed Carlos Santana for the team lead in RBI overall with 24. Rivero and Head both finished with two hits apiece.

K-Tribe fall in extras

Kinston took an early lead thanks to a two-out RBI single by Matt Brown in the first inning and a two-out RBI double by Johnny Drennen in the second inning.

Kinston would keep a 3-2 lead until the top of the eighth inning when Frederick’s Brandon Waring hit a two-run home run off of Kinston reliever Garrison Campfield. The bomb was Waring’s second homer of the game and gave the Keys a 4-3 lead.

Kinston would come back in the bottom of the ninth inning as Drennen singled with one out. After a Cord Phelps walk, Chisenhall (2-for-3, two walks, run, rbi) drove Drennen home with an RBI single to tie the score at four.

After Kinston reliever Kyle Landis recorded the first two outs of the tenth inning, Frederick got four straight singles from Billy Killian, David Cash, Pedro Florimon and Matt Angle. Landis (0-1) took the loss for Kinston. Jonathan Holt was solid in a spot start for Kinston, going four innings and giving up just one earned run. Chen-Chang Lee and Dallas Cawiezell also pitched from the K-Tribe pen.

Captains prevail

Mark Thompson singled home Abner Abreu in the top of the twelfth inning to lead the Captains to an 8-7 win over the Hickory Crawdads on Friday. Delvi Cid had hit a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game and force extra innings. This is the first game this year that the Captain trailed after eight innings and won the game.

The Captains scored a quick run off of Crawdads starter Jake Brigham in the top of the first inning when Donnie Webb tripled and then scored on a ground out by Karexon Sanchez to give the Captains a 1-0 lead. The Crawdads came right back in the bottom of the first against Captains starter Danny Salazar when Jake Kaase tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Erik Morrison to tie the game at 1-1.

The Captains kept the scoring going putting up three runs in the top of the second inning on RBI's by Mark Thompson and Delvi Cid with a third run scoring on an error to take the lead back 4-1. The Crawdads added two runs in the bottom of the second on a two run home run by Doug Hogan to cut the lead to 4-3. The Captains made it 5-3 in the top of the third when Thompson singled home Chris Nash.

The Crawdads took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the third inning scoring three times on a RBI single by Kaase and a two run single by Jared Bolden. The lead moved to 7-5 when David Paisano singled home Clark Murphy. The Captains inched closer scoring a run in the top of the seventh inning on a RBI double by Michael Valadez to make it 7-6.

Salazar (0-1) did not get a decision going four innings and allowing six runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out two. Anillins Martinez picked up the win with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief and Steve Smith got his sixth save getting the final two outs of the game. Mark Hamburger saw his record fall to 1-3.

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