Game Recaps: Friday 6/5

Lake County was rained out (again).

Clippers lose one; rained out in another

The Clippers dropped the opening game of a double-header in Charlotte 9-1. The second game was rained out.

The Knights jumped all over Kirk Saarloos in the second inning, scoring eight times, capped off by a Daryle Ward three-run homer. Saarloos lasted only two innings, taking his seventh loss of the season. John Meloan came on in relief and pitched three innings, giving up one run in the 9-1 loss.

The lone Clippers run came in the fifth inning, as Andy Marte, Wyatt Toregas and Andy Cannizarro had consecutive singles with Cannizarro driving in Marte. Joe Smith pitched a perfect inning, striking out all three batters he faced.

The nightcap was delayed by rain for over two hours before the decision was made to cancel the contest. The two teams do not meet again and it will not be made up.

The Clippers travel to Gwinnett to meet the Braves for the first time since their move from Richmond. The first pitch is slated for 7:00pm from the new Gwinnett Stadium.

Sarbaugh Gets 400th Win in 12-5 Triumph

ALTOONA, PA – Akron scored the final 12 runs of the game and assured that manager Mike Sarbaugh would wait no longer for his 400th career victory, storming back from an early five-run deficit to defeat Altoona 12-5 before 3,058 fans at Blair County Ballpark Friday night. The Aeros improved to 34-19 (Sarbaugh is now 400-287 in his sixth season as a manager in the Indians system), while Altoona fell to 18-36.

The Curve stormed out to a 5-0 lead before Akron had a hit, striking for four runs in the second and one more in the bottom of the third. Jeff Corsaletti started the second-inning rally with a double, and moved to third on a groundout. Aeros starter Jeanmar Gomez then hit Steve Lerud on the foot to put men on the corners, and three straight hits from Hector Gimenez, Angel Gonzalez, and Gorkys Hernandez made it 3-0 before Brian Friday capped the scoring with an RBI groundout. Corsaletti and Jonel Pacheco then collected one-out singles in the third, and Steve Lerud’s roller went through Jared Goedert’s legs at third base for a run-scoring error to make it 5-0.

Meanwhile, Curve starter Kyle Bloom cruised through six scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and three walks before departing in line for his first win of the year. Akron turned the tide immediately once he exited though, getting on the board in the seventh with an RBI single from John Drennen and a run-scoring fielder’s choice off the bat of Jose Constanza to cut the lead to 5-2 before exploding in the eighth.

Former Aero Shawn Nottingham came on for the Curve in the top of the eighth, but issued 12 balls in his 15 pitches and was pulled in favor of Scott Nestor after walking the bases loaded. Nestor then issued four straight balls to Goedert to force in a run and make it 5-3, and Drennen followed with a booming three-run double over Hernandez’s head in center field to put Akron in front for the first time. Jerad Head followed with a sacrifice bunt to move Drennen to third, Constanza drew the fifth walk of the inning, and Cristo Arnal bounced into a fielder’s choice to score Drennen and make it 7-5. Arnal then stole second and Carlos Santana took advantage with an RBI single, and Beau Mills capped the inning with a two-run homer down the right field line to make it 10-5. The eight-run outburst was the biggest for the Aeros in a single inning this year.

Akron added two more runs in the ninth, as Nick Weglarz drew the 10th walk of the game and scored on Head’s double down the right field line. Constanza then followed with an RBI triple to center, again over Hernandez’s head, to cap the scoring.

Steven Wright (4-0) earned the win with three shutout innings of relief, but Gomez’s effort should not be overlooked. Although his final line of five runs (four earned) and seven hits in six innings wasn’t great, he held Altoona off the board in his last three innings of work to keep it a workable deficit until the offense came around. Nestor (0-1) suffered the loss after giving up seven runs in just two innings.

Offensively, eight of the nine Akron starters had at least one hit although Drennen was the only Aero with multiple hits, finishing 2-4 with four RBI. He is hitting .318 (7-22) with four doubles, a homer, and 10 RBI in five games since coming back up from Class A Kinston. Constanza and Mills had two RBI each, while Weglarz, the only starter without a hit, drew three walks and scored two runs.

The Aeros and Curve will play a doubleheader at 5:05 p.m. Saturday, highlighted by Jake Westbrook making a Major League rehab start for Akron in game one.

K-Tribe Comes Up Short at Winston-Salem

The Dash City became heartbreak city for the K-Tribe in game number two of Friday night’s doubleheader, as Winston-Salem walked off with the win 2-1 to sweep both games of the double dip.

Brent Morel singled home Kent Gerst in the bottom of the seventh inning off Kinston reliever Dallas Cawiezell (1-1), just a half inning after Kinston’s Lonnie Chisenhall tied things up for the K-Tribe in stunning fashion.

Dash starter Anthony Carter (4-3) shut out the K-Tribe through the first six innings until Chisenhall hit his team-leading 10th homer of the season with one out in the seventh. Chisenhall is now second in the Carolina League with 10 home runs. Chisenhall went 2-for-6 with two runs scored in the double dip.

In the bottom half, Gerst led off with a walk and was quickly sacrificed over to second by Greg Paiml. After Cawiezell intentionally walked Jimmy Gallagher, Lee Cruz hit a screaming liner to right field, but right to Lucas Montero. Montero made the catch and rifled the ball into second to try and double-up Gerst who was halfway toward third base. But Montero’s throw was wide of the bag and couldn’t be handled by shortstop Matt Willard, allowing Gerst to slide back safely just in time. The very next pitch Morel took into right centerfield for the game-winner.

Kinston got an outstanding start from Russell Young (3-5), who went six innings, allowing five hits, one run, a walk and four strikeouts. Carter was equally as impressive for the Dash, pitching 6 2/3, surrendering just five hits, an earned run, no walks and three strikeouts. Nate Jones notched his first win of the season in relief for Winston-Salem.

In game number one of the doubleheader, Daniel Hudson pitched a complete game two-hitter to shut down the struggling K-Tribe offense 4-1.

Having not played in three days due to back-to-back rainouts, Winston-Salem (27-25) got the scoring started early off Kinston (23-30) starter Eric Berger (3-4). Greg Paiml reached on an infield single in the first inning, and then with two outs Berger had some trouble. Berger walked three straight Dash hitters and threw a wild pitch to score Paiml from third. Luckily, Berger escaped the inning with just that one run given up, and then kept the Dash hitters at bay for the next four innings.
Kinston scored their lone run in the fourth inning after Lonnie Chisenhall doubled down the right field line with one out. Cord Phelps then singled to put runners on the corners for Matt Brown. Brown, fresh off the disabled list, hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Phelps and tie the game at one.

The Dash would take the lead on a two-out RBI single by Jimmy Gallagher after Kyle Shelton lead off the fifth inning with a double. The score was 2-1 Dash in the sixth inning when Kinston’s Travis Turek relieved Berger who went five innings, allowing two earned runs, six hits, three walks and no strikeouts. Turek gave up a leadoff single to Brent Morel and then a two-run homer to Christian Marrero, his sixth of the season.

The K-Tribe stays in the Triad to take on Winston-Salem for game three of the four game series Saturday night at 7pm. Ryan Morris will take the hill for the Indians.

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