Game Recaps: Saturday 5/23

Columbus has winning steak snapped

Columbus fell 4-3 in Buffalo Saturday, snapping the Clippers season-high five game winning streak.

Each team scratched the scheduled starting pitcher, John Meloan filled in for Jeremy Sowers (recalled to Cleveland) and Nelson Figeuroa got the nod for Dillon Gee (flu-like symptoms).

After each team scored in the opening frame, Buffalo took its' first lead of the series, 2-1 in the second. Argenis Reyes drove in Jesus Feliciano and Buffalo led until the fifth when Trevor Crowe drilled his first home run of the season to tie the game 2-2.

Meloan lasted three innings before making way for Frank Herrmann. Hermann pitched two scoreless frames before Javier Valentin led off the sixth with a double and scored when Mike Lamb singled. Lamb was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, but the Bisons re-gained the lead at 3-2.

Bisons reliever Jon Switzer allowed a solo shot to Jordan Brown, tying the game in the eighth. After Andy Marte singled, Elmer Dessens entered to pitch and induced a double play to end the inning.

Blaine Neal gave up a solo homer to Valentin, which broke the tie and ended the Clippers winning streak. Neal was activated from Mahoning Valley prior to Saturday's game.

Dessens pitched a perfect ninth to finish out the game.

Aeros win in dramatic fashion

The Aeros came back from 4-0 and 6-5 deficits to defeat the Erie SeaWolves Saturday night at Canal Park in front of 7,827 fans. A two-out single by Beau Mills in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Akron the sensational victory, and increased its Southern Division lead to 6.5 games over Erie. The Aeros improved to 30-10 with the win, while the SeaWolves dropped to 24-17.

Erie got on the board early and often, as they erupted for three runs in the top of the first inning against Aeros starter Ryan Edell. Three straight hits with one away loaded the bases, and Brennan Boesch then beat out a potential double play ball to make it 1-0. Alex Avila then blooped a two-out, two-run double down the left field line to push the lead to 3-0, but Edell retired Santo de Leon on a fly to right to end the inning. Edell worked around a leadoff double in the second, but another run came around for the visitors in the fourth when a sacrifice fly by Scott Sizemore bumped the lead up to four runs. The Aeros struck back in the bottom half of that inning though, as Matt McBride (celebrating his 24th birthday) and Nick Weglarz delivered back-to-back RBI singles to cut the deficit in half at 4-2.

The lead completely disappeared for Erie in the fifth, when the Aeros scored three runs in an impressive two-out rally. With Jose Constanza on second base and two gone, Mills extended the inning with a single to right and Carlos Santana proceeded plate both runners with a double to the wall in right-center. McBride then put Akron in front for the first time in the series with an RBI single to make it 5-4, but the SeaWolves immediately returned the favor, putting a two-spot on the board in the top of the sixth. Avila continued his big night with a home run to right field on the first pitch of the inning from reliever Erik Stiller, and Joe Tucker then hit a one-out double to left. Max Leon eventually plated him with a single, bringing Erie back in the lead by a single run at 6-5.

Akron responded with a clutch run in the eighth inning, as all the damage came with two outs yet again. A walk by McBride was the rally starter, and Weglarz then hit a towering drive to right field which bounced off the top of the wall and brought McBride all the way around to score. The Aeros then completed the comeback in the ninth, as back-to-back walks to Head and Constanza and a groundout by Carlos Rivero brought men to second and third with two out. Mills then became the hero by lining a 1-2 pitch to right, scoring Head and giving Akron the walk-off 7-6 victory in stunning fashion.

Vinnie Pestano (2-0) earned the win in relief, skating around a first-and-third situation while turning his fourth straight scoreless outing. Cody Satterwhite (1-3) suffered the loss, permitting the winning run in the ninth. Edell lasted just four innings and allowed four runs on eight hits, but kept the Aeros in the game by stranding four men in scoring position. All of the 3-6 hitters in the Akron lineup had two-hit games on the night, as Mills, Santana, McBride and Weglarz enabled the Aeros to finish 6-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

K-Tribe win 10-5

The 10-run outburst is the highest scoring output for the Indians since April 21 when they scored 15 runs in a win at Myrtle Beach. Kinston’s 14 hits are the most since the team’s 14 hits at Salem in a 7-0 victory in seven innings last month.

The game started very ominously for Kinston however, as the Keys scored four in the first inning off Kinston starter Russell Young (0-2). Frederick’s Brandon Waring hit a 3-run home run, his team-leading seventh of the season.

Frederick scored another run in the second to take the 5-0 lead, but from there Kinston started to creep back in as Young would settle down and not allow another hit through the next three frames.

With the score 5-2 in the sixth inning, the K-Tribe began playing small ball. After a Johnny Drennen walk and a Nate Recknagel single to start the inning, Kinston’s Ryan Blair put down a sacrifice bunt that Frederick starting pitcher Nathan Nery threw away, allowing both runners to score and Blair to advance to second. That opened the flood gates for the Indians as the K-Tribe scored three in the inning to tie the game, then scored five more runs the next two innings to cap the come-from-behind victory and the team’s second win since May 9.

Recknagel, one of the newest members of the K-Tribe, went 4-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored. Ryan Blair hit his first home run of the season for the Indians, a two-run blast in the eighth inning to finish up the scoring.

The K-Tribe allowed just one hit after the second inning, getting another solid effort from the bullpen. Heath Taylor notched his third win of the season pitching two scoreless innings in relief, allowing a hit and striking out three.

Garrison Campfield finished the final two innings of the game, allowing no runs, no hits, one walk and three strikeouts.

Captains fall

The Lake County Captains had the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth inning and for the second night in a row the West Virginia Power picked up a victory over the Captains 8-6 on Saturday.

The Power got the early lead scoring two runs off of Captains starter Trey Haley when Austin McClune singled home Bobby Spain and Josue Peley singled home Erik Huber and it was 2-0. The Captains tied it up in the bottom of the second inning when Jeremie Tice scored on an error and Adam Abraham scored on a wild pitch by Power starter Maurice Bankston. The Power took the lead right back in the top of the third inning when Bobby Spain grounded out allowing Chase D'arnaud to score after he had reached on an error and it was 3-2.

The Power added four more runs in the top of the sixth inning to make it 7-2 but the Captains rallied back with three of their own in the bottom of the sixth when Delvi Cid tripled home two runs and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-5. The Captains inched closer in the bottom of the seventh inning when Abner Abreu hit his fourth home run of the year to cut the lead to 7-6. Robbie Grossman smacked a solo home run in the top of the ninth and the Power led 8-6.

Haley (0-2) took the loss allowing three runs, two earned on two hits, walking five and striking out two. Bankston also did not get a decision. Yoffi Martinez (2-3) got the win even though he allowed three runs to score. For the second night in a row Eddie Pena pitched a scoreless ninth inning and got his seventh save of the year.

Posted in: