Game Recaps: Wednesday 8/12

Clippers lose to Indy

Matt LaPorta's solo blast in the second inning provided the only bright spot for the struggling Columbus offense.

Virgil Vasquez went seven innings, allowing only three hits to Clippers batters. The Clippers reached third base only once following LaPorta's 15th homer of the season. Juan Mateo and Jean Machi each tossed a scoreless inning of relief for Indy.

Ryan Edell pitched well enough to win, allowing just two runs on seven hits over five innings, but fell to 0-4 due to non-support. Frank Herrmann was dominant over two frames, striking out four batters and Rich Rundles authored a perfect eighth for the Clippers.

Barnes wins in debut

Scott Barnes won his Double-A debut and eight of Akron’s 14 hits went for extra bases as the Aeros defeated Connecticut 7-4 in front of 2,241 fans at Dodd Stadium Wednesday night. Akron improved to a season-high 29 games over .500 at 73-44, while the Defenders slipped to 66-50.

The Aeros opened the scoring with a run in the top of the second for the second straight night, as John Drennen doubled with two away and scored on Jared Goedert’s two-bagger to right-center to make it 1-0. Akron then exploded for four runs in the third, as Beau Mills chopped an RBI double down the first base line to score Nick Weglarz and Lonnie Chisenhall followed with a towering three-run homer to right to put the Aeros in command at 5-0.

Connecticut got two runs back in the bottom of the inning when Barnes made his only mistake of the night, grooving a 3-1 fastball to Brett Pill that the Eastern League RBI leader promptly parked over the left field fence to cut the margin to 5-2. The Defenders added another run in the bottom of the sixth to pull within two runs, but Goedert drilled a two-run homer just to the left of dead center field with two down in the top of the eighth to turn it into a 7-3 Akron advantage.

Those two insurance runs loomed large in the bottom of the eighth, as reliever Zach Putnam found himself in immediate trouble. After setting the side down in order in the seventh, Putnam allowed a single and a four-pitch walk to start the eighth. Tyler La Torre then poked an RBI single back up the middle to make it 7-4, and a fielder’s choice put runners on the corners with just one out. The game turned there however, as Putnam snared Mike Mooney’s soft liner back to the mound and then flipped to first to double up Brandon Crawford and end the inning. Josh Judy came on for the ninth and allowed just a single to earn the save.

Barnes (1-0) earned the win against his former organization, as the left-hander came over from the Giants in the Ryan Garko deal July 28th. He allowed just the two-run homer to Pill in five innings of work, walking none and striking out six. Barnes also retired the final seven men he faced following the home run, with four of those outs coming via strikeout. Wisconsin native Daryl Maday (5-4) suffered the loss on his birthday, allowing five runs and nine hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out four. Judy’s save was his sixth in seven opportunities.
Overall, the quartet of Barnes, Erik Stiller, Putnam and Judy held Connecticut to a 1-8 mark with runners in scoring position, and the Defenders are now just 2-19 in that category through the first two games of this series.

Goedert paced the offense from the ninth spot in the order, finishing 2-3 with a walk, a double, a homer, and three RBI. Chisenhall’s three-run bomb marked both his first home run and his first three RBI as an Aero, while six Aeros (including Goedert) finished with multi-hit games and every Akron starter reached base at least once. The Aeros also finished with six doubles to tie a season-high.

K-Tribe continue winning streak

Alex Castillo and Roman Pena each came up with clutch two-out hits, as Kinston beat Lynchburg 5-2 Tuesday night in Virginia. With the win the K-Tribe extended their season high win streak to seven games.

The K-Tribe broke open a scoreless tie in the sixth with another big inning. Cord Phelps started the frame with a walk, followed by an Ole Sheldon single. After Doug Pickens bounced into a fielder’s choice, Adam Davis walked to load the bases. Ronald Rivas would follow with a strike out, leaving the two-out drama to Castillo. Castillo responded with a two RBI single, giving Kinston a 2-0 advantage. Pena would then smack the next pitch against the right field wall, scoring Davis and Castillo to give Kinston a 4-0 lead. The duo both went 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI on the night. Pickens also had two hits for Kinston.

Kinston starting pitcher Paolo Espino (4-6) picked up the win, giving up six hits and no runs in six innings. Espino struck out six batters while walking one, lowering his ERA to 2.88 on the season. Chen-Chang Lee gave up an unearned run in two innings of work, striking out one. Kyle Landis had his seven inning scoreless streak come to an end, when he gave up a run on two hits in the bottom of the ninth inning. Lynchburg starter Justin Wilson took the loss for Lynchburg.

Greenjackets down Captains

Mike Loberg drove in two runs with a pinch hit double in the top of the ninth inning as the Augusta Greenjackets defeated Lake County Captains 4-3 on Wednesday. The Captains are now 4.5 games out of first place.

The Captains grabbed a first inning lead when Donnie Webb walked and went to second on a wild pitch and then scored on a single by Nate Recknagel and it was 1-0. Augusta took the lead in the top of the second inning when Ehire Adrianza grounded out and Andy D'Alessio scored. Juan Perez then scored on a wild pitch and it was 2-1. Chris Nash singled and then John Allman hit a two run home run in the bottom seventh inning to give the Captains a 3-2 lead.

Captains Starter Nick Hagadone got a no decision going 2.2 innings and allowing two runs on one hit, walking two and striking out three Chris Jones followed Hagadone and went 5.1 scoreless innings and allowing four hits, walking one and striking out a season tying seven batters. Steve Smith (2-3) gave up the two runs in the ninth inning and took the loss. GreenJackets starter Ari Ronick did not get a decision working seven innings and allowing three runs on four hits, walking two and striking out four. Ryan Verdugo (3-0) pitched the eighth inning and got the win. Chris Wilson pitched a scoreless ninth inning and picked up his fourth save and his second in the last two games.

Scrappers down Cyclones

On Wednesday night, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers bats came alive scoring twelve runs in the win over the Brooklyn Cyclones. With the win Mahoning Valley improves their record to 34-19 so far this season; 1-1 against the Cyclones.

Scrappers starter Clayton Cook held the Cyclones to just four hits in five shut out innings. That gives him four wins and lowers his ERA to 2.06. Austin Adams came to relieve Cook in the sixth inning pitching two innings. Adams gave up a solo home run; the only Cyclones run of the game. Jose Urena came in to close out the game in the eighth pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth.

Mahoning Valley's scoring started early, their first run coming in the first on a RBI single by Jason Kipnis. Kyle Bellows drove in five of the Scrappers twelve runs, including two triples in his five at bats. The Scrappers added two more insurance runs in the seventh in route to a 12-1 victory.

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