Game Recaps: Saturday 8/8

Bisons beat Clippers 2-1

The Buffalo Bisons escaped Huntington Park with a 2-1 victory over the Clippers Saturday night.

Columbus loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but couldn't complete the rally.

Adam Pettyjohn pitched eight shutout innings for the Bisons. He didn't walk a batter, struck out seven and allowed six hits. Only one Clippers base runner reached third base against Pettyjohn.

Tim McNabb pitched the ninth for his third save of the season. Matt LaPorta started the frame with a walk, Wes Hodges and Damaso Espino each singled to load the bases. With one out, Andy Cannizaro hit into a fielder's choice that scored LaPorta, but McNabb struck out Jesus Merchan to end the game with the game-tying run at third.

Hector Rondon had another solid start despite the loss. He pitched six innings, allowing eight hits, no walks, and four strikeouts. Poor defense by the Clippers in the fifth inning aided a two-out rally that scored both Buffalo runs. Rondon was credited for one earned run.

Frank Herrmann pitched in relief for the Clippers and allowed two hits in three innings, while striking out two.

The final game of the series is Sunday at 5:05pm. Lefty Chuck Lofgren (5-6, 4.12) is scheduled to start for Columbus and Ken Takahashi (0-2, 1.67) will take the mound for Buffalo.

Aeros Roll to 11-7 Victory over New Britain

The Aeros returned to their winning ways Saturday night with a smashing 11-7 victory over the visiting New Britain Rock Cats in front of 4,815 fans at Canal Park. Akron rocked the Cats all night as the club scored in each of the first five innings and belted three home runs and seven extra-base hits total. Jeanmar Gomez was also solid as the Aeros won for the 10th time in 13 contests. Akron moved to 71-43 with the victory, and extended their lead in the Southern Division to eight games over Reading while New Britain fell to 55-58.

Jose Constanza began the game with a walk and moved to third on a single by Matt McBride. Deolis Guerra then uncorked a wild pitch to score Constanza and McBride would score later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Santana. The margin then jumped to 3-0 in the second when John Drennen smacked an opposite field triple with two away and scored on Cristo Arnal’s base hit up the middle. The Aeros then used the long ball in the third, getting towering back-to-back homers from McBride and Nick Weglarz to open the inning and push the lead to five runs.

The Rock Cats got on the board in the top of the fourth against Gomez when Futures Game MVP Rene Tosoni blasted a solo home run to right-center to make it 5-1. Akron would promptly respond with a monster bottom half of the fourth, as Cosntanza chased Guerra from the game with a two-run triple over the head of Brandon Roberts in center field, and McBride made the edge 8-1 with an RBI single to left field.

The slugfest continued in the fifth when the Aeros strung together three straight singles against New Britain reliever Jay Rainville, capped by an RBI blooper from Arnal. The Rock Cats did rally with four runs in the top of the seventh off Matt Meyer thanks to two-run doubles from Toby Gardenhire and Erik Lis, although only two runs were earned.

Akron got two big insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on one swing of the bat from Santana, who drilled a two-run homer to left to make it 11-5. New Britain added two more runs in the ninth to account for the final margin.

Gomez (10-3) became just the third pitcher in the Eastern League this season to record double-digit victories, joining teammate Josh Tomlin and Reading’s Joe Savery. He went 5.2 innings, permitting three hits, one run and two walks while striking out six. Guerra took the loss in dropping to 4-2, allowing eight runs and eight hits in just 3.1 innings. Six Aeros finished with multi-hit nights, with Drennen going 4-5 with a triple to lead the pack. Santana was 3-5 with his team-leading 20th home run and three RBI, while McBride collected three hits as well while also driving in a pair and scoring twice.

This three-game series against New Britain concludes Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m. on a back-to-school afternoon at Canal Park. Safety City comes to the stadium and fans can donate school supplies to the Akron Public Schools for a chance to win great Aeros prizes. Akron sends recently acquired Connor Graham (0-0, 4.26 ERA) for third appearance in Double-A against Cats starter Matt Fox (6-8, 4.05 ERA).

K-Tribe Wins a Season Best Five Straight

The K-Tribe won its fifth straight game, beating Salem 7-1 Saturday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. The fifth straight victory is a season best for Kinston.

Kinston pitching made the difference again tonight, as the bullpen retired the final 13 Salem batters they faced. Jonathan Holt (2-5) got the win, giving up one earned run in two innings of relief work. Chen-Chang Lee pitched a two perfect innings, striking out the final four batters he faced. David Roberts finished the game for Kinston, pitching a perfect eighth and ninth inning while striking out one. Kinston starter Scott Barnes pitched three innings, giving up just two hits. Barnes was on a limited pitch count, due to his promotion to Double A Akron after the game.

Kinston took an early 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly from Doug Pickens in the bottom of the first inning. Pickens struck again with an RBI single in the third inning. Pickens would start the fire in the sixth inning when he singled to lead off the frame. After an Adam Davis fly-out, Ronald Rivas walked. Pickens would score on an errant throw from Salem shortstop Kris Negron after a Roman Pena infield single. That would start a string of four straight RBI singles off the bats off Alex Castillo, Lucas Montero, Tim Fedroff and Cord Phelps. The K-Tribe ended up sending ten men to the plate in the sixth inning, scoring five runs on six singles.

Fedroff went 2-for-3, with an RBI and two walks. The UNC product increased his consecutive on-base streak to 28 games, the second most in the Carolina League this season. Phelps had a big night, going 3-for-4 with a run and a RBI. Pickens went 2-for-3 with two RBI.

The K-Tribe will go for the four-game, series sweep of Salem Sunday afternoon at Historic Grainger Stadium. Game time 2pm, Bryan Price will take the hill for Kinston.

Captains Take Four of Five in Lakewood

T.J. House fired six scoreless innings and the Lake County Captains scored in four straight innings on there way to 7-1 victory over the Lakewood BlueClaws on Saturday. The Captains took four of the five games in the series.

The Captains took the lead in the top of the second inning when with runners at second and third and one out, John Allman singled home Karexon Sanchez and moving Donnie Webb to third base. The Captains scored a second run when Allman took off for second base and when the throw went to second Webb scored from third as Allman got himself in a run down. The Captains added a run in the top of the third inning when Dan DeGeorge scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Bo Greenwell and it was 3-0.

It went to 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning when Allman doubled and scored on a double by Adam Abraham. Sanchez made it 6-0 when he singled home Greenwell and Nate Recknagel in the top of the fifth inning. The Captains tacked on a run in the ninth inning when Mark Thompson singled home DeGeorge and the lead was 7-0. The BlueClaws only run came in the ninth inning against Anillins Martinez.

Captains’ T.J. House (4-8) got the win going six scoreless innings and allowing one hit, walking three and striking out six. Travis Turek relieved House in the top of the seventh inning and worked two scoreless, hitless innings and struck out two. BlueClaws starter Jesus Sanchez (8-6) took the loss working five innings and allowing six runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out five.

The Captains begin an eight game home stand on Monday at 7:00 PM as the Augusta Greenjackets and Rome Braves make their final visits to Classic Park to play two four games series. The Captains will open the home stand with RHP Danny Salazar (4-4, 4.71) on the mound against the Greenjackets RHP Orlando Yntema (0-1, 7.20).

Scrappers Shut Out Lake Monsters 9-0

On Saturday night the Scrappers defeated the Vermont Lake Monsters 9-0 and improved to 4-1 on the current six game road trip. With the Scrappers win and the Brooklyn Cyclones loss, Mahoning Valley now has the best record in the NYPL at 32-18.

Mahoning Valley scored two runs in the 2nd and then added two more runs in the 3rd making the score 4-0 Scrappers after four innings. In the 5th, Kyle Bellows tripled and then scored on Casey Frawley’s sacrifice fly to centerfield. In the 6th the Scrappers bats put the game out of reach scoring three more runs. Rafael Vera hit his first home run of the season, then Jordan Henry singled to left field and Jason Kipnis followed with his first professional home run deep to right field. The Scrappers added a single run in the top of the 9th and cruised to a 9-0 win over the Lake Monsters.

Scrappers starter Preston Guilmet worked five shut out innings, holding Vermont to just one base hit while striking out a season high ten batters. Austin Adams pitched three scoreless innings before giving way to Antwonie Hubbard in the 9th inning. Hubbard gave up a lead off double before striking out the side to end the game.

The Scrappers six game road trip wraps up in Vermont against the Lake Monsters on Sunday. Marty Popham is scheduled to make the start for the Scrappers he is 4-1 with a 2.16 ERA. Sundays road game starts at 7:05 PM and can be heard on 1390 WNIO or mvscrappers.com.

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