Game Recaps: Thursday 5/21

Clippers win over former town

The Clippers started off strong, stringing five hits together in the first inning to plate four runs. Trevor Crowe began the threat with a double to left. Major league rehabber Travis Hafner then singled to left to score Crowe. That hit was followed by another single to left from Chris Gimenez. Jordan Brown then doubled to plate a run with Andy Marte singling for an RBI as well. The rally finished when Josh Barfield drove a sacrifice fly to left.

The Herd had an answer in the first, however, cutting a 4-0 lead to a 4-3 difference. Fernando Martinez doubled with two outs ahead of Wily Mo Pena reaching on an error. The error allowed F-Mart to score. Javier Valentin then homered to left field to make it a 4-3 game.

The Clippers got back to hitting in the second, putting another run across on a Crowe single and Hafner double. Columbus led 5-3 until the seventh when Hafner plated Michael Brantley with a single for the team's final run.

Buffalo did get on the board again in the seventh as well. Mike Lamb scored on an Argenis Reyes groundout. The run made the score its final 6-4.

Michael Antonini took the loss in just his second career Triple-A start. The win went to former Bison Zach Jackson.

Perfect game powers Aeros

Jeanmar Gomez delivered the first perfect game in Aeros franchise history as they defeated the Trenton Thunder by the final score of 3-0 in front of 6,344 fans at Waterfront Park on Wednesday. Gomez retired all 27 Thunder batters he faced on the day, finishing off the very first individual no-hitter in franchise history in perfect fashion. Akron takes the three-game series from Trenton (17-20) with the win, improving to 29-9 on the season.

The Aeros batters provided all the support Gomez would need in the top of the third inning by manufacturing a pair of runs. Carlos Rivero kicked off the frame with a single to left, and then Beau Mills extended his hitting streak to three games with his eighth double of the season to right field. Rivero came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Santana, and then Mills scored on a throwing error by Trenton 3B Marcos Vechionacci to give Akron the early advantage.

As the Thunder continued to put up zeroes on the scoreboard, the Aeros delivered again with a run in the seventh inning. Cristo Arnal picked up his second hit in his first day as an Akron Aero to start the rally, and Niuman Romero moved him over with a sacrifice bunt. Rivero then gathered another single, scoring Arnal and providing the final margin of the game at 3-0.

Gomez, a 21-year-old native of Venezuela, was the story for the day today as he pitched the first nine-inning, complete game shutout since Adam Miller did so in August 2006. In retiring all 27 batters, he struck out eight men, while ten hitters flied out, and nine grounded out. It was just the third no-hitter of any kind in franchise history dating back to 1989 in Canton as the two other no-hitters featured two and three pitchers respectively, during the 2003 season. In addition, Gomez’s perfect game was the first in Minor League Baseball since July 15, 2007.

With the victory, Gomez improved to 4-0 in his only four starts with the team since being promoted from Class A Kinston, and lowered his ERA from an already sparkling 0.45 to 0.31 with the perfect game. In his past six starts between Akron and Kinston, Gomez now has a 0.21 ERA in 42 innings pitched, allowing just two runs (one earned), 15 hits and four walks while gathering 37 strikeouts. Zach McAllister (2-2) took the loss for Trenton despite delivering six efficient innings and only allowing two runs on six hits for the quality start. Arnal, Rivero and Mills all had two-hit games for the Aeros, who actually stranded eight base runners and were only 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. None of this would matter today as Gomez needed little help to pick up the win and improve upon the team’s record, which remains the best in professional baseball.

K-Tribe fall in extras

In a series that produced three straight one-run games, it was only fitting that the final game of the 4 game set would be settled once again by the slimmest of margins.

The Potomac Nationals got a 10^th inning home run by Michael Burgess to take the game 4-3 and winning the series 3 games to 1.

The series finale was a pitcher’s duel in reverse, as the first inning lasted 45 minutes, each starter threw 34 pitches and the two squads scored three times a piece.

Kinston starter Ryan Morris surrendered three hits, walked two and let up three runs in the first inning to the Nationals.

The K-Tribe responded with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the frame, all with after two outs.

Cord Phelps singled to start the rally, then back to back walks to Nate Recknagel and Matt Brown loaded the bases. Potomac starter Tom Milone, who came into the game with a 3.11 ERA, the ninth best in the Carolina League, then let up a 2-RBI single to Kinston shortstop Ronald Rivas. Last night’s hero Ryan Blair then doubled to centerfield off the glove of a diving Boomer Whiting to drive home Brown.

The game was filled with goose-eggs for the next 8 innings as both squad’s pitching staffs found their groove and shut down the opposing offenses.

The Indians’ best scoring chance came in the 8^th inning. Matt Brown singled to left and reached second on Potomac leftfielder Jesus Valdez’s fielding error. Then after a Rivas strikeout, Blair was intentionally walked and the K-Tribe brought leading hitter Lonnie Chisenhall off the bench to pinch hit. Chisenhall walked, to load the bases for Adam Davis. Nationals reliever Clint Everts got Davis to fly out to left to end the threat.

The game went into extra innings still tied at three when the Nationals’ leading homerun hitter delivered. Michael Burgess homered over the right-centerfield wall off Kinston reliever Kyle Landis to provide the final run of the game.

In the bottom half of the tenth, Rivas walked with two out, reached second on a Cole Kimball wild pitch, but was left stranded as Blair lined out to second base to end the game.

Landis picked up the loss, his second of the series, to drop to 0-3. Everts earned his second win of the season for Potomac with two scoreless innings in relief, and Kimball notched his second save of the season and the series with the scoreless 10^th.

Kinston is now 0-2 in extra inning affairs this season, while Potomic improves to a perfect 4-0 in extra frames.

Captains pitching falters

Captains pitching struck out a season high sixteen batters but the Greensboro Grasshoppers hit four home runs, three being two run homers, on their way to an 8-2 victory over the Lake County Captains on Thursday. The Captains ended their eight game road trip with a 3 -5 record.

The Grasshoppers jumped out to an early lead against Captains starter Alexander Perez when Paul Gran singled to start the bottom of the first inning. After a sacrifice bunt moved him to second, Jake Smolinski doubled him home. Ben Lasater followed Smolinski with a two run homer and it was 3-0. The second inning was no better as Justin Jacobs led off the inning with a home run. After Justin Bass walked, Paul Gran hit his first home run of the year and it was 6-0.

It went to 8-0 in the bottom of the third inning when Lasater walked and then Jeremy Synan followed with a two run home run. The Captains shoved two runs across the plate in the top of the sixth inning on a RBI single by Abner Abreu that scored Delvi Cid and a sacrifice fly by Chris Nash that scored Donnie Webb to make it 8-2.

Perez (2-2) took the loss lasting only three innings and allowing eight runs on six hits, walking two and striking out a season tying high seven batters. Anillins Martinez followed Perez and threw 2.1 scoreless innings while striking out four. Mike McGuire went 1.2 scoreless innings striking out four and Matt Langwell pitched the final inning striking out one.

The Grasshoppers' Kyle Kaminska (4-2) got the win throwing seven innings and allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out four.

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