Game Recaps: Tuesday 6/2

Clippers fall 3-1 in Charlotte

The Clippers couldn't overcome mistakes and missed opportunities in a 3-1 loss to the Charlotte Knights.
A throwing error by Gordon Beckham allowed Mickey Hall to score the first Clippers run in the third inning. Michael Brantley moved to third on the play, which started with a Brantley bunt. Starter Jose Contreras then walked the bases loaded, but the Clippers could not deliver a hit and it would come back to haunt them.

A pair of Clippers errors led the way to a two-run Charlotte third. With one out, Brent Lillibridge singled and an Andy Marte error put two on for Andy Phillips. Phillips singled to left and on the play, Mickey Hall booted the ball and Lillibridge scored. The Knights took a 2-1 lead on a ground out.

Charlotte manufactured a run in the sixth on a Donny Lucy sacrifice fly to make it a 3-1 game. Contreras retired two batters in the seventh and made way for lefty Mike Johnston, who retired four Clippers in a row. Adam Russell closed the game for his third save.

Zach Jackson threw seven innings, allowing only one earned run, but took the loss. Masa Kobayashi entered in the eighth and loaded the bases with one out, but survived without allowing a run.

The loss sends the Clippers back under the .500 mark, holding a half-game lead over Louisville in the West Division.

The second game of the series begins at 7:15pm Wednesday with Kenny Ray pitching against Charlotte's Justin Cassel, brother of Clippers hurler Jack Cassel.

7th Inning Buries Aeros in 12-5 Loss

The Phillies exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the seventh, turning what had been a 5-4 Akron lead to a 12-5 advantage and eventually a victory before 3,535 fans at FirstEnergy Stadium Tuesday. Reading improved to 28-22 while the Aeros slipped to 33-17.

Akron got off to a quick start, as Beau Mills dropped a double down the left field line with two away in the top of the first and Carlos Santana followed with a two-run homer to right-center to put the Aeros up 2-0. Michael Taylor cut the lead in half with a solo homer in the bottom of the frame, but the Aeros tallied twice more in the fourth on an RBI single from Armando Camacaro and a run-scoring double from John Drennen to push the lead to 4-1.

Reading responded again however, as with two on and two out in the bottom of the fourth Kevin Mahar lofted a three-run homer just over the fence in right to knot the game at 4-4. Akron retook the lead in the next half-inning though, as Santana crushed a solo home run over the roof covering the patio in right field for his second home run of the night and a 5-4 Aeros lead.

Starter Ryan Edell set Reading down in order in the fifth and reliever Zach Putnam stranded a pair of inherited runners in the sixth, but things fell apart for Akron in the seventh. The trouble started when Putnam walked Paul Bako to start the inning, and Ozzie Chavez then lined a single to right. Quintin Berry followed with a bunt that Putnam and third baseman Jared Goedert both froze on, allowing Berry to beat the throw and loading the bases with no one out. Brad Harman then put the Phillies in front for the first time with a two-run double to left center, and Reading would go on to score six more times in the inning while sending 11 men to the plate. The eight runs in the inning were a season-high for Akron pitching.

Tyson Brummett (3-5) earned the win with four shutout innings of relief, his first victory in 12 career appearances at FirstEnergy Stadium. Putnam (1-1) was tagged for eight runs and five hits in just two-thirds of an inning, and his ERA jumped from 1.93 to 6.75 following the outing. Edell didn’t factor into the final decision, but he did tie an Aeros season-high with nine strikeouts in 5.2 innings.

Four Aeros had multi-hit games at the plate, including Santana who finished 2-4 and became the third Akron player to hit two home runs in a game this season. Mills was 2-4 to notch his team-leading 16th multi-hit game of the year, Nick Weglarz finished 2-3 with a walk and a run scored, and Cristo Arnal collected two singles and now has seven hits in the first two games of the series.

Game three in this four-game series is set for 7:05 p.m. Wednesday, as the Aeros send Josh Tomlin (5-3, 4.79 ERA) to the mound against Altoona’s Kyle Drabek, who will be making his Double-A debut.

Blue Rocks Beat Kinston 5-1

The K-Tribe scored a run in the bottom of the first, but that was it as Wilmington went on to a 5-1 victory over Kinston Tuesday night at Historic Grainger Stadium.

The Indians took an early lead when Cord Phelps drove home Lucas Montero with an RBI double in the first inning, giving Kinston a 1-0 lead. The Blue Rocks would take the lead for good when Jamar Walton hit a two-run home run off of Kinston starter Bryce Stowell in the top of the second inning. Stowell (0-1) took the loss in his Carolina League debut, going 3 1/3 innings, giving up four hits and two earned runs. Stowell walked two and struck out four. Jonathan Holt, Matt Meyer, Travis Turek and Garrison Campfield all pitched in relief for Kinston. Every K-Tribe pitcher walked a batter tonight as Kinston gave up a total of nine free passes in the game.

Kinston hitters struck out 13 times as the Wilmington pitching trio of Mario Santiago, Brandon Sisk and Juan Abreu kept the K-Tribe bats at bay. Santiago (2-5) picked up the win for Wilmington.

The two teams have a quick turn around as Wilmington will visit Kinston for the rubber match of the three game series Wednesday morning at 11 AM. Paolo Espino will take the hill for Kinston.

Captains Lose in 11 Innings

Josue Peley singled home Marcus Davis in the bottom of the eleventh inning as the West Virginia Power defeated the Lake County Captains 9-8 on Tuesday. The Captains and Power split the four game series.

West Virginia took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when Robbie Grossman singled and scored two batters later when Erik Huber doubled him home. Calvin Anderson doubled Huber home and then scored on a Jeremy Farrell single and it was 3-0. The lead went to 5-0 in the bottom of the second inning on a two run single by Robbie Grossman.

The Captains rallied with four runs in the top of the third inning when Donnie Webb hit a bases loaded triple and then scored on single by Karexon Sanchez and it was 5-4. It was Webb’s third bases loaded triple of the year. The Captains captured the lead in the top of the fourth inning when Abner Abreu doubled and scored on double by John Allman. Allman scored on a ground out by Chris Nash and the Captains led 6-5. The lead was extended to 7-5 in the top of the fifth inning when Adam Abraham singled home Delvi Cid. The Power made it 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Huber doubled home Grossman.

The Captains got a solo home run from Allman in the top of the sixth and the Power countered with an Anderson RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning and it was 8-7. The Power tied it up at 8-8 in the bottom of the eighth inning on a RBI ground rule double by Chase D’Araud that scored Grossman.

Captains’ starter T.J. McFarland did not get a decision going 4.1 and allowing six runs, five earned on nine hits, walking on and striking out one. Matt Langwell took the loss and his record fell to 0-2.

Power starter Tyler Cox (0-4) did not get a decision either pitching four innings and allowing a six runs, five earned on five hits, walking one and striking out three. Yoffri Martinez got the win pitching three scoreless innings.

The Captains begin a four game series in Hagerstown on Wednesday at 7:05 sending RHP Trey Haley (0-3, 9.00) to the mound against the Suns RHP Terrence Engles (4-2, 3.42).

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