Rondon struggles early; Clippers drop series opener
Lehigh Valley beat Hector Rondon and the Clippers 4-2 in the series opener at Coca-Cola Park.
Columbus was looking to surpass the .500 mark in July and sent Rondon to the mound looking for his fourth consecutive win in triple-A, but the young right-hander struggled for the first time since his promotion to the Clippers.
Rondon allowed three runs in the first three innings, putting Columbus behind the eight-ball early. The Clippers scored in the fourth on Andy Cannizaro's RBI single to make it 3-1, but they had trouble solving lefty Gustavo Chacin.
The Iron Pigs lit the lamp again in the fifth as minor league veteran Mike Cervenak doubled in Jason Ellison for a 4-1 lead. Rondon lasted five innings, giving up the four runs on eight hits and two walks.
Chacin made it through six innings, allowing just one run while scattering four hits before turning the ball over to the bullpen. Alex Concepcion threw a scoreless seventh, but allowed back-to-back doubles by Matt LaPorta and Wes Hodges in the eighth to bring the Clippers to within a pair at 4-2.
Jason Anderson walked the lead-off man in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate, but a double play and a strikeout ended the Clippers threat and the game.
Gomez leads Aeros to victory over Erie Jerad Head opened the scoring in the bottom of the second for the Aeros, booming a solo home run to left off Erie starter Pat Stanley. Gomez cruised through three innings and struck out five in the process, but made a location mistake in the fourth and surrendered a solo bomb to Alex Avila to tie the game at 1-1. The Aeros came back and manufactured a run in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead, as Mickey Hall led off with a walk and stole second before a wild pitch advanced him to third base. Jose Constanza then scored him with a sacrifice fly to left, giving Akron another one-run lead. The narrow margin would not stand for long as the SeaWolves tied it at 2-2 with a solo home run by Casper Wells in the top of the sixth inning. A crazy bottom of the sixth then gave the Aeros the advantage again, as a trio of Akron All-Stars ignited a monster frame. Nick Weglarz led off with a four-pitch walk, and white-hot Carlos Santana lined a single to right to put two men on with nobody out. Beau Mills then put down a surprise bunt that Stanley threw away down the right field line to score Weglarz, and second baseman Shawn Roof (who was backing up the throw at first) continued the madness by sailing a throw to second into left field as Santana trotted home and Mills advanced to second. Hall would cement the inning three batters later with an RBI single to left, making it 5-2. Santana helped Akron take a four-run advantage in the bottom of the seventh, giving Gomez plenty of run support, as Jesus Merchan started things with a broken-bat double down the third base line. Santana then scored Merchan with an RBI double to left, but the SeaWolves struck back with two outs in the eighth. Deik Scram reached second on an error by Weglarz, Brennan Boesch smacked a RBI double to left-center, and Wells scored him with a single to cut the deficit to two at 6-4. Akron would finalize the scoring in their half of the eighth however, as Head tripled to right and avoided the tag of Avila at the plate on a run-scoring fielder’s choice by Hall. Gomez (8-3) earned the win with seven exceptional innings and made only two mistakes on the two solo home runs, collecting his eighth quality start and bringing his ERA to 2.05 at home this year. The 21-year-old limited Erie to just two runs on four hits, and collected a season-high tying eight strikeouts. Stanley (4-4) took the loss in permitting five runs (four earned), five hits and four walks in six innings. Santana and Head each finished 2-4 to extend their personal hitting streaks to six and seven games, respectively, and Hall gathered two walks, drove in a pair of runs, and swiped his fourth base of the season. Dash squeaks by K-Tribe Dash starter Wander Perez then hit Ole Sheldon with a pitch to load the bases. Perez induced Cord Phelps to ground into a double play, but Tim Fedroff scored on the play to make it 2-0 Kinston. Doug Pickens (1-for-4) then roped a two-run homer, his third of the season, to put the Indians out in front 4-0. The Dash would get three runs right back in the bottom of the inning, starting with an error by shortstop Kyle Haines. With one away, the Dash would get three straight singles off K-Tribe starter Mike McGuire (0-3), including a Brent Morel RBI single. Salvador Sanchez would get an RBI fielder’s choice followed by a Logan Johnson RBI single to make the score 4-3. The Dash would add two more in the third inning to take the lead 5-4. McGuire lasted just three frames, allowed five runs, four earned, on six hits, two walks and struck out one. Jonathan Holt entered the game for the K-Tribe in the fourth and allowed a Seth Loman two-run homer to make the game 7-4. Bryce Stowell went the next three frames, allowing three runs on three hits, two walks and struck out two. The big blow off Stowell was a Sanchez three-run homer to cap the scoring for the Dash and put a exclamation point on a 10-5 win. Gregory Infante (1-0) earned the win in relief, going three innings, not allowing a run or a hit, walking two and striking out one.
Jeanmar Gomez was efficient yet again at Canal Park as the Aeros won their second game in a row against the second-place Erie SeaWolves, taking Tuesday night’s affair 7-4 in front of 3,489 fans. It was an offensive outburst for the second night in a row for Akron, as four extra-base hits led the Aeros to just their fifth win in 17 tries against Erie this season. With the victory, Akron improved to 63-41 while their lead in the Southern Division is back to five games over the SeaWolves (57-45).
The game started off promising with three straight K-Tribe singles capped off by a Lonnie Chisenhall (1-for-3) RBI single to drive in Lucas Montero. It was Chisenhall’s 71st RBI on the season; second most in the Carolina League. The All-Star third baseman has now recorded at least one RBI in five straight games and seven of the last eight games.
Mark Thompson stroked a two run home run in the top of the ninth inning to give the Lake County Captains the lead as they defeated the Bowling Green Hot Rods 5-4 on Tuesday. The Captains are now 2- 36 in games that they have trailed after eight innings and 20-31 in games decide by two runs or less.
The Hot Rods got to Captains' starter T.J. House early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning when Isaias Velasquez doubled. Jake Jeffries walked and Mike Sheridan followed with a single driving in Velasquez. Jeffries scored on a double by from Jason Corder and it was 2-0. The Rods got another run in the bottom of the second inning when Velasquez doubled home Robi Estrada to up the lead to 3-0.
The Captains scored twice in the top of the sixth inning off of Rods reliever Tyree Hayes when Jeremie Tice singled home Mark Thompson and Delvi Cid to cut the lead to 3-2. The Hot Rods added a run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Justin Reynolds single off of Captains reliever Matt Langwell and Jason Tweedy followed with a triple and it was 4-2. The Captains score their first run in the ninth inning of a double by Karexon Sanchez that scored Donnie Webb prior to the Thompson homer.
House did not get a decsion going three innings and allowing three runs on five hits, walking one and striking out three. Anillins Martinez pitched three scoreless relief innings striking out three. Matt Langwell (1-4) gave up a run in two innings of work and picked up the win. Steve Smith pitched a scoreless ninth inning and registered his seventeenth save of the year. Hot Rods starter Frank De Los Santos did nit factor in the decision either pitching five scoreless innings and two hits, walking two and striking out two. Marquis Fleming (1-6) pitched the final 1.1 innings and took the loss.
Scrappers split series with Muckdogs
Tuesday morning the Scrappers improved to 2-0 on the season in day games with a 3-0 shutout of the Batavia Muckdogs. With the victory the Scrappers now lead the season series three game to two, with five more games to be played at Eastwood Field.
Scrapper's starter Brett Brach worked a professional high seven innings while limiting the Muckdogs to no runs on just three base hits while striking out five. With the win, Brach improved to 2-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.79. Cory Burns worked the final two innings to record his fourth save of the season.
The Scrappers scored their first run of the game in the top of the second when Chun Chen reached on a throwing error, stole second and then scored on Jason Smit's RBI single to right field. In the top of the ninth, the Scrappers added two more runs when Kyle Smith singled to center then Kyle Bellows followed with a double to left, putting runners at second and third. Chen then reached base again on a fielding error that also allowed both runs to score.
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