Game Recaps: Friday 7/17

Rondon pitches Clippers to another win

The Clippers held on to beat Syracuse 5-4 at Huntington Park. Hector Rondon provided another strong start for the Clippers, pitching six innings and giving up only one run on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

The Clippers got on the scoreboard in the second inning, exploding for five runs and sending nine batters to the plate. After a leadoff walk to Wes Hodges, Andy Marte hit his second home run in as many nights, his thirteenth of the year. Tony Graffanino doubled and Josh Barfield singled before Damaso Espino stroked a two base hit scoring a pair of runs. Espino was thrown out at home on a single by Michael Brantley, but Jordan Brown singled home Brantley. The inning ended with the Clippers taking a 5-0 advantage.

Rondon gave up his first run in Triple-A when Jorge Padilla singled and came around to score on a hit by Mike Morse in the sixth.

Syracuse crept back into the game in the eighth on two more runs. Jhonatan Solano scored on a Pete Orr double. Orr scored on Mike Morse's fourth hit of the night.

Greg Aquino got the save, but gave up a run when pinch-hitter Corey Patterson singled home Ian Desmond, who had walked earlier in the inning.

Frank Herrmann pitched a scoreless seventh inning before Rich Rundles allowed two runs in the eighth and Aquino permitted one in the ninth.

Aeros Snap Losing Streak with 6-4 Win

Carlos Santana belted a tie-breaking two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning and the Aeros ended their season-high six-game losing streak with a 6-4 victory over the Bowie Baysox in front of 7,465 fans on Fireworks Friday at Canal Park. It was just the second win in ten contests for Akron (57-36), while Bowie fell to 52-41.

There were some early fireworks in this one, as the first three Aeros reached base against Baysox starter Radhames Liz. Jose Constanza led off with a base hit, and back-to-back errors loaded the bases to start the game. Liz then bounced a pitch past catcher Guillermo Rodriguez for a run-scoring wild pitch, and Beau Mills delivered the big blow with a two-run double to give the Aeros the 3-0 edge. Bowie responded in the next frame however, as Daniel Figueroa’s two-out RBI single cut the lead to 3-1.

Both starting pitchers settled down from there as Liz got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the second and went on to retire the final nine men he faced and Akron starter Ryan Edell faced the minimum nine hitters in the third through fifth innings. The clubs traded runs in the sixth with Akron’s Cristo Arnal placing a gutsy two-out, RBI bunt single up the first base line to make it 4-2, but Bowie knocked Edell from the game in the seventh.

Guillermo Rodriguez opened the inning with a base hit, and Figueroa’s sacrifice bunt attempt died in the first base grass for a single. Joe Nowicki, who is from Milwaukee, then put another bunt up the third base line that Jared Goedert threw away, allowing Rodriguez to score and moving Figueroa to third. The Aeros brought on Steven Wright out of the bullpen, but Jonathan Tucker’s line drive deflected off his glove for an RBI groundout to tie the game at 4-4.

The tie would not last for long though, as a one-out walk to Nick Weglarz set the stage for Santana, who came to the plate having struck out in each of his first three at-bats. He made sure the night would be memorable for a different reason however, belting a fastball from Bowie reliever John Mariotti for a two-run homer to right-center, providing the final margin of the night.

Wright (7-0) earned the win in relief of Edell, providing three scoreless innings and allowing just one hit and one walk while Mariotti (2-8) took the loss. Mills finished 2-4 with his team-leading 22nd double and a pair of RBI, Constanza had another walk along with a hit giving him 11 walks in his past six games, and Santana’s two-run home run gave him 60 runs batted in for the season, one over Weglarz for the team-high and fourth in the Eastern League.

The Baysox and the Aeros face-off again Saturday night at Canal Park starting at 7:05 p.m., and the first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive Matt LaPorta bobble heads courtesy of Distillata. Akron’s Jeanmar Gomez (6-3, 3.21 ERA) will look to feed off his perfect outing in the All-Star Game Wednesday night in Trenton against Ryohei Tanaka (0-0, 0.39 ERA) of Bowie.

Kinston Drops Opener 10-1 To Potomac

Coming off of a 9-1 victory yesterday over Frederick, Kinston found itself on the other side of a blowout Friday evening at Pftizner Stadium, losing game one to Potomac 10-1.

Potomac held Kinston to just three hits as starter Tom Milone (5-4) tossed a gem, working seven innings, allowing one run on three hits, no walks and seven strikeouts.

Potomac started the scoring early off K-Tribe starter Mike McGuire (0-2). McGuire walked Dan Nelson and hit Danny Espinosa to start the game, and then Jesus Valdez bounced one to shortstop Adam Davis who threw wide of second base on the play, bringing in Nelson for the first run of the game on the throwing error. Michael Burgess would knock in both Espinosa and Valdez with a two-RBI single to give Potomac the 3-0 advantage.

The Nats would add two more in the third on an RBI triple by Chris Marrero and an RBI single by Francisco Plasencia.

McGuire came out after four innings, allowing five runs, thee earned, on five hits and three walks.

Kinston’s lone heroics offensively came in the fifth when Adam Davis hit his 5th home run of the season down the left field line to cut the lead to 5-1.

Potomac would add two more in the seventh and three in the eighth on a bases loaded triple by Plasencia off K-Tribe reliever Garrison Campfield.

Lonnie Chisenhall couldn’t extend his season high hitting streak to 17 games either, as Chisenhall went 0-for-4 and reached base on an error.

Kinston will try to battle back tomorrow night in game two, as Russell Young (2-4, 4.40) takes the ball for the Indians for a 6:35 PM start.

Captains Beat Drive 8-1

Nate Recknagel hit a three run home run and Francisco Jimenez got his first win of the year as the Lake County Captains defeated the Greenville Drive 8-1 on Friday. The Captains have won their last two games.

The Drive got a run in the top of the third inning when Zach Gentile walked and then scored on a double by Ryan Lavarnway and it was 1-0. The Captains took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Recknagel hit a three run home run, his team leading eighth, and it was 3-1. The Captains extended the lead to 4-1 when Karexon Sanchez doubled home Mark Thompson.

The Captains blew it open scoring four runs in the ninth inning on seven hits with two RBI’s from Chris Nash and one each from Bo Greenwell and Matt Willard and the lead was 8-1.

Captains’ starter Kaimi Mead took a no decision going 3.1 innings and allowing one run on three hits, walking three and striking out two. Jimenez (1-0) made his Captains debut and got the win pitching 3.2 scoreless innings allowing one hit, a walk and striking out three. Brian Grening pitched the final two innings and registered his first save of the year. Drive starter Brock Huntzinger (5-7) took the loss pitching 5.2 innings and allowing four runs on three hits, walking three and striking out seven.

The Captains and Drive play game two of the series on Saturday at 7:00 PM with the Captains sending RHP Danny Salazar (2-3, 4.58) to the mound to face Drive RHP Caleb Clay (4-4, 2.94).

Scrappers Win 10-8

Two Oneonta Tigers errors in the bottom of the eighth allowed two runs to score and the Scrappers went on to win 10-8 on Friday night.

The Scrappers scored three run in the bottom of the first off of Tigers starter Jeff Gerbe. Gerbe hit two batters and walked one loading the bases for the Scrappers, adding a run on a fielders choice RBI ground out from Greg Folgia and a RBI single from Ben Carlson.

In the fifth, the Tigers scored three runs off of starter Brett Brach to even the game up at 3-3. With the game tied for the first time, the Scrapper bats responded sending ten men to the plate and scoring five runs. For the first time this season, the Scrappers hit two home runs in one inning, Juan Aponte his first of the season and Kyle Bellows his second.

With an 8-3 lead to start the sixth, the Scrappers bullpen was unable to hold on to the lead, surrendering 5 runs over the next three innings. The Tigers scored two in the sixth, one in the seventh and two more in the eighth, and for the second time the game was tied, this time at 8-8.

Again, the Scrappers would respond to tie the game scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Mahoning Valley was aided by two errors from the Oneonta shortstop Jim Gulliver that allowed both runs to score when he was unable to field two ground balls. In the ninth, Cory Burns allowed a lead off single then the Scrapper defense turned a double play to empty the bases and the Gulliver grounded out to end the game.

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