Game Recaps: Monday 7/20

Kinston was off on Monday night.

Clippers dump Yankees 8-1

The Clippers beat Scranton Wilkes-Barre 8-1 in the series opener at Huntington Park on Monday night. Zach Jackson turned back the clock and the Columbus offense knocked around Yankees starter Romulo Sanchez.

Jackson ended a winless streak that dated back to May. It briefly looked like another rough day when the second batter of the ballgame, Ramiro Pena drilled a solo homer to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Jackson allowed nothing further in the runs column over his six innings of work. He gave up seven hits, one walk and struck out four batters in the win.

Romulo Sanchez took the opposite route from Jackson, cruising through the two innings before disaster struck. With two outs and a runner at on base in the third, the Clippers tore into Sanchez. Following two walks, Matt LaPorta drove in a pair with a single and Wes Hodges plate a run with a single of his own. Andy Marte stepped to the plate and smacked his fourth home run since the All-Star break, a three-run shot, for a 6-1 Columbus lead.

The Clippers tacked on two bonus runs in the sixth on hits by Josh Barfield and Wyatt Toregas. Toregas finished with a game-high three hits. Frank Herrmann pitched two scoreless frames and Rich Rundles finished off the Yankees in the ninth.

The second game of the series will start at 7:05pm Tuesday night with Fausto Carmona taking the ball for Columbus and Kei Igawa throwing for the Yankees.

Erie Downs Aeros Again, Win 6-2

The second-place Erie SeaWolves ended Akron’s three-game winning streak by the final count of 6-2 Monday night at Jerry Uht Park with 6,193 fans in attendance. It was the 10th win in 12 contests against the Aeros this season for Erie, as they won despite a quality start from right-hander Josh Tomlin. Five of the last six Akron (59-37) losses are now courtesy of the Seawolves, who improved to 53-42.

The scoring began for Erie in the fourth when Tomlin, who successfully retired all nine of the batters he faced in the first three frames, permitted a home run to right field by Deik Scram to make it 1-0. Cale Iorg then followed with the second SeaWolves hit of the night on a single, and slugger Brennan Boesch blasted the second home run of the inning, his 18th of the year, on the first pitch of his at bat to give Erie a three-run edge.

Akron got on the board in the top of the seventh when catcher Carlos Santana singled to left-center and fellow All-Star Beau Mills continued the rally with another single. Red-hot John Drennen then hit a lining single to load up the bases and give the Aeros their first big threat against Erie reliever Brendan Wise. A pair of sacrifice flies by Carlos Rivero and Mickey Hall halted the big inning as Akron managed to cut the deficit to 3-2.

After fanning nine straight SeaWolves batters in the fourth through sixth following the three straight hits, Tomlin struggled again in the seventh. A fielding error by third baseman Kyle Haines preceded a double by Casper Wells while Tomlin left the game after allowing an intentional walk to Ron Bourquin. All three runs would come around to score, albeit in the unearned variety against Akron reliever Neil Wagner, who permitted a single and a walk while another error by Haines compounded the inning. That would be the end of the scoring for the night, as the Aeros managed just seven hits and two walks after combining for 22 hits and 19 walks in the past two games against Bowie.

Wise (4-0) earned the win in relief of starter Luis Marte while Tomlin (9-7) took the loss for the fourth time in four starts against Erie. Cody Satterwhite then became the second SeaWolves pitcher to earn his 10th save of the season by holding Akron hitless over 2.1 scoreless innings. Drennen was the only Aero with two hits on the night, finishing 2-4 while Cristo Arnal collected just his eighth extra-base hit in 64 games played between Class AAA Columbus, Class A Kinston and Akron on the season with a double to left in the first inning.

This four-game series continues in Erie Tuesday night with a 7:05 p.m. start time as the Aeros look to improve upon their 5.5-game lead in the Southern Division. Left-hander Bobby Livingston (7-4, 4.74 ERA) gets the nod for Akron against SeaWolves southpaw Jon Kibler (5-5, 3.97 ERA).

Captains "Reck" Drive

Nate Recknagel doubled home Donnie Webb in the bottom of the eleventh inning as the Lake County Captains defeated the Greenville Drive 5-4 in extra innings on Monday. The Captains and the Drive split the four game series.

The Captains put up a run in the bottom the first inning when Delvi Cid hit a lead off home run off of Drive starter Hunter Strickland to give the Captains a 1-0 lead. Michael Valadez singled home Chris Nash in the bottom of the second inning and the lead was 2-0. Nate Recknagel hammered his tenth home run of the year in the bottom of the third inning and it was 3-0.

The Drive scored four times in the top of the fifth inning when Zack Gentile doubled home two runs. A sacrifice fly by Ryan Lavarnway scored another run and a double play ball plated the fourth run and it was 4-3. The Captains tied it up at 4-4 when Recknagel singled home Donnie Webb in the bottom of the fifth inning. Recknagel collected eleven RBI’s in the four game series.

Captains’ starter Chris Jones did not get a decision going four innings and allowing four runs on six hits, walking two and striking out a season tying high seven. Brian Grening came on in the fifth inning and pitched three scoreless innings striking out five. Matt Langwell threw a scoreless inning in the eighth and Steve Smith follow with two scoreless innings. Francisco Jimenez (2-0) pitched a scoreless eleventh inning to get the win. Drive starter Hunter Strickland (5-4) did not factor in the decision pitching five innings allowing four runs on walking two and striking out four. Jeremy Kehrt pitched five scoreless relief innings allowing four hits, walking two and striking out four. Leandro Marin (1-1) gave up the run in the eleventh inningand took the loss.

The Captains travel to Lexington on Wednesday to begin an eight game road trip that will also include a stop in Bowling Green, KY. Game time is 7:05 PM and the Captains will have LHP T.J. House (2-8, 2.76) on the mound.

Scrappers Start Road trip with a 9-2 Loss

On Monday night, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers started a five game road trip in Maryland against the Aberdeen Ironbirds. Despite an early lead the Scrappers lost game one of the three game series 9-2.

The Scrappers started the scoring in the top of the first, when Kyle Bellows hit his third home run of the season deep over the left center field wall and the Scrappers briefly held an early 1-0 lead. The Ironbirds responded with a single run in the bottom of the first and the game was tied 1-1 after the first inning.

In the second, the Scrappers came up with three straight singles with two outs; the final single was from Lurvin Basabe who delivered an RBI for the second straight night. Aberdeen responded to the Scrappers lead again in the bottom of the second,
when Steve Bumbry tripled to center and scored on a sacrifice fly to left field. Aberdeen went on to add a single run in the third and three more each in the fourth and fifth and defeated the Scrappers in the first of five straight road games 9-2.

Posted in: