Game Recaps: Thursday 7/24

Clippers pitching quiets Pawtucket
The Clippers came out on top of the Pawtucket Red Sox 3-1 Friday night, improving Columbus to 6-2 since the All-Star break.

Chuck Lofgren and Paw Sox righty Michael Bowden dueled back and forth for more than six innings, with Pawtucket scoring in first on the only two hits Lofgren would allow in six innings.

The Clippers bats were held largely in check by Bowden, but two solo homers proved to be the difference in the game. Matt LaPorta drilled one in the fourth inning and Jordan Brown went deep in the seventh to break the 1-1 tie. Andy Marte drove in Brown with a double in the ninth to cap the scoring. It was Marte's team-leading 65th RBI of the season, his 23rd in July.

Jensen Lewis continued his scoreless streak with two relief innings, has tossed 15 shutout frames since joining the Columbus roster. Greg Aquino fired a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

Tejera leads Aeros past Curve
Michael Tejera tossed seven outstanding innings and the Aeros Aeros defeated the Altoona Curve 2-1 in front of a rowdy crowd of 8,277 at Canal Park for Fireworks Friday. Tejera delivered his second straight quality start, while Carlos Santana belted his 16th home run in the bottom of the sixth to snap a 1-1 tie and provide the final margin. The Aeros improved to 61-39 in their 100th game of the season, while the Curve slipped to 38-62.

Tejera and Altoona lefty Daniel Moskos went back-and-forth in a pitcher’s duel through the first several innings before Akron finally managed to put a run on the board in the bottom of the fifth. All-Star Beau Mills singled to right-center to begin the frame, while streaking Carlos Rivero singled to left field on the next pitch. Armando Camacaro then laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Mickey Hall drew a walk to load the bases before Kyle Haines scored Mills with an RBI fielder’s choice. The Curve tied the game at 1-1 in their next at-bat however, as a sacrifice fly by Brian Friday scored Jim Negrych.

The tie would not last for long, although Moskos did retire the first two batters he faced in the sixth. Moskos fell behind Santana 2-0 however, and grooved a fastball that Santana ripped over the left field wall on a line to put Akron ahead to stay. Tejera went back out for the eighth but surrendered a leadoff single and gave way to Steven Wright out of the bullpen, who worked around a two-out walk to strand a pair of runners. Altoona put two more runners on in the ninth, but Wright struck out Gorkys Hernandez and got Jim Negrych on a bouncer to first to close it out.

Tejera (2-2) earned his second straight win, working a season-high seven frames and limiting the Curve to seven hits and two walks while striking out three. Moskos (7-8) took the loss despite earning a quality start himself, permitting two runs and five hits over six innings. Wright earned his first save of the season by working the final two frames for his 12th scoreless outing in his last 14 appearances out of the bullpen.

Mills collected his team-leading 29th multi-hit game of the season by finishing 2-3 with a run scored, while Cristo Arnal moved into a tie for eighth in the Eastern League with his 14th stolen base of the season in the fourth inning. Santana’s 16 home runs are now good for fourth in the league, and the switch-hitter is on pace for 22 bombs which would be the most for an Aero since Jonathan van Every smacked 27 in 2005.

Young pitches gem and leads Kinston past Blue Rocks
Russell Young treated fans to the best K-Tribe pitching performance of the season, as Kinston beat Wilmington 3-2 Friday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. Young (3-5) pitched 8 2/3 innings, striking out a season high six and walking none. Young was one out away from the first nine inning complete game pitched by a K-Triber since the 2004 post season. Young gave up just one earned run on seven hits, at one time retiring 16 consecutive Blue Rocks.

Kinston took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Ronald Rivas walked with the bases loaded. The walk drove in Lucas Montero. Kinston would break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fourth inning when Roman Pena drove in Tim Fedroff with a double. The K-Tribe scored the eventual winning run on a solo home run by Lonnie Chisenhall. It was Chisenhall’s (1-for-4) 16^th home run and 65^th RBI of the season, tying him for second in both Carolina League categories. Fedroff, Pena and Montero each had two hits for Kinston as the Indians racked up ten hits. Montero stole three bases, bringing his total to 29 on the season.

After Wilmington used two doubles by Johnny Giavotella and Eric Hosmer in the ninth inning to cut Kinston’s lead to one, Young left the game with one out remaining. Kinston reliever Kyle Landis got Nick Van Stratten to ground out to end the game. Landis picked up his second save of the season.

Salzar's gems leads Captains to victory
Danny Salazar threw seven scoreless innings and Adam Abraham and Bo Greenwell each clobbered home runs, as the Lake County Captains defeated the Lexington Legends on 7-3 on Friday. The Captains have taken two of the first three games of the series.

The Captains took the lead in the top of the third inning when Donnie Webb singled home Devi Cid from second with Bo Greenwell going to second. On the play, the catcher threw the ball to second to try to get Greenwell, but the throw went into center field and Greenwell scored to make it 2-0. Abraham hit his fourth home run of the year in the top of the fourth inning and it was 3-0. Greenwell hit his two run shot in the top of the seventh inning to give the Captains a 5-0 lead. It was Greenwell's first homer of the year.

The Captains tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth inning when Donnie Webb walked with the bases loaded and Nate Recknagel followed with a sacrifice fly and it was 7-0. Brian Pellegini hit a three run home run off of Captains reliever Ryan Miller in the bottom of the ninth inning to end the scoring at 7-3. Pellegrini is a Willoughby South High School graduate.

Captains' starter Danny Salazar (3-3) got the win going seven scoreless innings allowing only one hit, walking three and striking out three. At one point Salazar had retired fourteen batters in a row. Legends starter Kyle Greenwalt (7-10) took the loss pitching 6.2 innings allowing four runs on six hits, walking two and striking out five.

Scrappers drop doubleheader to Spikes
On Friday night the Sate College Spikes swept a doubleheader from the Scrappers. Winning game one 4-3 and the nightcap 10-6.

GAME ONE: The Scrappers jumped out to an early lead on the Spikes scoring three run in the first inning. Jason Smit, Kyle Bellows and Ben Carlson each delivered RBI singles in the inning.

The Spikes rallied in the third inning scoring three runs off of Scrappers starter Preston Guilmet to tie the game up at 3-3. In the bottom of the seventh, the Spikes loaded the bases off of Nick Kirk on two singles and a walk. After loading the bases, Kirk struck out the next two Spikes hitters before throwing a wild pitch that allowed Ty Summerlin to score from third with the game winning run.

GAME TWO: The Spikes started the scoring off in the first inning when Aaron Baker delivered a RBI single off of Scrappers spot starter Jose Urena that scored Brock Holt from second base.

In the Second, the Scrappers responded with two runs. With two outs, Rafael Vera walked and then came home to score on Casey Frawley's first professional home run.

The Spikes added two more runs in the third off of Urena, then the Scrappers added their third run when Greg Folgia doubled home Jason Smit. Then in the fourth inning, the Spikes sent nine men to the plate and scored five runs of Jason of the Scrappers bullpen making in 10-3 Spikes going to the latter innings.

In the sixth, the Scrappers added three more runs cutting the Spikes lead to 10-6. In the inning, Frawley's ground out added a run and then Kyle Smith and Jason Smit added RBI singles. In the seventh, Folgia led off with a double, but that was all the Scrappers could produce falling to the Spikes 10-6.

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