Game Recaps: Wednesday 7/8

Rondon nearly perfect as Clippers win
Hector Rondon was nearly perfect for six innings in a 2-1 Columbus victory over the Indianapolis. Rondon pitched six no hit innings, walking two and striking out eight.

Michael Brantley hit a two-out single in the third and scored on a Trevor Crowe double. That was the only run of the game until Andy Marte singled home Graffanino in the seventh. Brantley had two hits on the night, one of two Clippers with multiple hits. Wes Hodges doubled twice and had a single.

Rondon, making his Triple-A debut, was replaced by Rich Rundles. Rundles allowed a single to the first batter he faced, ending the Clippers no-hit bid. Rundles combined with Jensen Lewis to shut out the Indians through eight innings. Greg Aquino allowed one run in the ninth, but preserved his fifth save of the season. Columbus pitchers allowed five hits, one run, and struck out twelve.

Aeros shutout Reading
Aeros starter Josh Tomlin turned in his third straight quality start and Akron collected its 11th shutout of the season in a 4-0 triumph over visiting Reading before 2,324 fans at Canal Park Wednesday. One night after surrendering 11 runs on 14 hits and eight walks, Tomlin and reliever Josh Judy handcuffed the Phillies on just three hits and two walks as the Aeros improved to 56-30 and extended their lead in the Southern Division to seven games over Reading (48-36).

The scoring began in the first when Akron manufactured a run following a one-out double by Cristo Arnal. The speedy second baseman proceeded to swipe third base for his eighth steal of the year, and the extra 90 feet allowed him to score on a groundout by Nick Weglarz. Akron then pounced for a three-run rally in the fifth inning, as John Drennen kick-started things with a one-out walk. Jared Goedert doubled him to third, and two batters later Arnal hit a grounder that third baseman Carlos Leon booted for a run-scoring error. Clean-up hitter Carlos Santana then made it 4-0 with a clutch two-strike, two-out, two-run single to plate Jose Constanza and Arnal, providing for the final margin of the night.

Tomlin (9-5) notched his third quality consecutive start and team-leading ninth of the season by permitting only three hits and two walks with six strikeouts in his seven scoreless frames. All three hits were singles (including a bunt), he induced a trio of double plays behind him, and Reading managed to get only one runner as far as second base all night. Tomlin also moved into sole possession of first place in the Indians player development system with his ninth win, and now leads the Aeros with 75 strikeouts. Phillies starter Mike Stutes (5-5) took the loss yet earned a quality start as well, allowing four runs (one earned) and five hits in six innings and Judy retired the final six hitters in order while striking out four.

Beau Mills led the offense, finishing 3-4 with a double and collecting his team-leading 24th multi-hit game of the year. Arnal scored a pair of runs, while Weglarz and Santana continued to battle for the team lead in RBI. Weglarz collected his team-high 58th of the season with the first-inning groundout, while Santana’s two-run single in the fifth pulled him within one at 57 for the year.

K-Tribe drop second straight
Kinston trailed 1-0 when Lucas Montero singled and stole a base to lead off the first inning. Montero now has 25 stolen bags on the season, the fifth most in the Carolina League. His hard running was rewarded when Tim Fedroff drove him in with an RBI double one batter later. After Fedroff was driven in by a Ronald Rivas RBI single, Kinston led 2-1. The K-Tribe would not score again, managing just five hits for the rest of the game.

Kinston starter Russell Young (2-4) was cruising until the fourth inning, when Frederick started off the frame with four straight singles. Caleb Joseph, Tyler Henson and Billy Rowell would all start the fourth inning with a base hit and eventually score; driven in with RBI hits from Matt Angle and Pedro Floriman. Frederick would add RBI singles in the fifth by Floriman and in the sixth by Robbie Widlanski. Five Keys had multiple hits on the night; Widlansky went 4-for-5 with an RBI to raise his bating average to .388. Ole Sheldon and Doug Pickens each had two hits for Kinston.

Young (2-4) took the loss for Kinston, giving up a season high eleven hits in five innings. Kyle Landis gave up a run in one inning of work from the pen. Chen-Chang Lee gave up just two hits in two scoreless innings. Garrison Campfield struck out the side in the ninth inning for Kinston. Nathan Nery (3-3) got the win for Frederick.

Captains win

Chris Nash had three RBI's and Nate Recknagel added two more, as the Lake County Captains won their third straight game defeating the Hickory Crawdads 8-4 on Wednesday. The Captains are 4-1 on the road trip.

The Captains scored twice off of Crawdads starter Joe Wieland in the first inning when with runners at second and third, Adam Abraham hit a sacrifice fly allowing Mark Thompson to score and moving Karexon Sanchez to third base. Sanchez scored when Recknagel grounded out and it was 2-0. The Crawdads tied it up at 2-2 in the bottom of second when Doug Hogan hit a two run homer off of Captains starter Chris Jones. The Captains regained the lead in the top of the third when Sanchez double and scored on a single by Recknagel.

The Captains added to the lead in the top of the fifth inning when with the bases loaded, Nash singled home two runs and it was 5-2. The Dads scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning on a RBI double by David Paisano and a ground out by Mike Hollander and it was 5-4. The Captains extended the lead to 7-4 in the top of the eighth inning when Bo Greenwell doubled home Delvi Cid and then scored on a double steal. Nash Singled home Abraham in the top of the ninth inning and the lead was 8-4.

Captains' starter Chris Jones (3-1) got the win working five innings and allowing four runs on four hits, walking one and striking out three. Travis Turek came on in the sixth inning and recorded his first save of the year throwing four scoreless innings allowing two hits, walking one and striking out four.

Crawdads starter Joe Wieland (2-1) took the loss pitching five innings and allowing five runs, three earned, on six hits while walking two.

Popham leads Scrappers to win in pitching gem
On Wednesday night, Scrappers starter Marty Popham pitched seven no hit innings against the Auburn Doubledays and the Scrappers defeated the Doubledays 6-1. In Popham's seven inning he recorded a career high nine strikeouts, while only walking one.

The Scrappers scored first in the first when Jordan Henry walked, went to second on a Kyle Smith single, moved to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch. Mahoning Valley would add to the lead in the third when Kyle Bellows walked and then scored on Greg Folgia's RBI double making the score 2-0 Scrappers after three innings.

The Scrappers would add on the lead in the sixth scoring two more runs. Jason Smith doubled home the first run and then Ben Carlson followed with a sacrifice fly to right field making the score 4-0 Scrappers after six innings.

The Scrappers lead continued to grow in the bottom of the seventh when Greg Folgia singled, stole second and went to third on an error. Folgia would score on an RBI double from Lurvin Basabe, Jordan Henry then followed with an RBI single and it was now 6-0 Scrappers after seven innings.

After Marty Popham worked the first seven innings the Scrappers went to the bullpen and called on Austin Adams who worked the eighth retiring the side in order. In the ninth the Jimmy Gonzalez reached on a throwing error, then he was forced out at second, but Markus Brisker reached on the second error of the inning. Chris Hopkins then singled for the first hit of the game for Auburn, then Bradley Gelnn followed with an RBI single and the Doubledays scored for the first time making it 6-1, Yan Gomes then grounded out to end the game.

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