Game Recaps: Thursday 9/3

Toledo homer beats Clippers
Mike Hessman's homer, the 200th of his Triple-A career, sent Columbus down to defeat 4-2. The Clippers lost to Toledo for the seventh consecutive time.

Chuck Lofgren struggled against the Mud Hens this season, with three losses in as many starts, but Thursday he tossed five shutout innings while the Clippers built a 2-0 lead.

In the sixth, Lofgren walked the leadoff batter and allowed a hit to put two runners on for Hessman. The Toledo slugger stroked a ball onto Monroe Street for a 3-2 Mud Hens lead. Toledo tacked on an insurance run in the eighth against Zach Jackson for the final score. Lofgren took the loss with six innings of work. Jackson and Greg Aquino each tossed one inning of relief.

Ruddy Lugo beat the Clippers for the third time this season, going seven strong innings, while Freddy Dolsi pitched the final two frames for the save.

Aeros pull away late
Akron overcame a pair of deficits and used a four-run explosion in the top of the seventh to take the lead for good, defeating Altoona 9-6 before 3,827 fans at Blair County Ballpark Wednesday night. The Aeros improved to a season-high 31 games over .500 at 84-53, while the Curve dropped to 60-77.

Altoona opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a pair of runs off Akron starter Scott
Barnes, but the Aeros answered with three runs in the top of the third. Jared Goedert, who committed two errors in the first, opened the inning with a double and went to third when Jose Constanza beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt. Josh Rodriguez and Carlos Santana then evened the score with consecutive RBI singles, and Lonnie Chisenhall put Akron up by a run at 3-2 with a two-out RBI bloop single.

The Curve retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth as Barnes, who struggled with his command all night, hit Ray Chang to open the inning. Jeff Corsaletti followed with a single, and after Steve Lerud advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt Brian Friday tied the game with an RBI groundout and Gorkys Hernandez put Altoona in front 4-3 with a two-out RBI single to right.

The Aeros recovered and scored the next five runs however, as Altoona reliever Jared Hughes threw a wild pitch with two down in the sixth to tie the game before allowing all four runs in the seventh. Constanza walked to spark the rally, stole second, and went to third on an infield single by Rodriguez. Santana popped out, but Beau Mills followed with a slow roller to third. Constanza broke on contact, and Chang's throw home sailed over Lerud's head (and may not have been in time anyway). Matt McBride followed with an RBI double to make it 6-4 and knock Hughes from the game, and Carlos Rivero had the big blow with a two-out, two-run single to left-center to push the lead to 8-4.

Altoona got a run back in the eighth, Akron answered in the ninth on a run-scoring double by Rivero, and the Curve added one more in the ninth but couldn't get the potential tying run to the plate.

Carlton Smith (5-2) earned the win out of the bullpen, holding Altoona to a run in 2.1 innings. Hughes (1-6) took the loss, allowing four runs and three hits in just 0.2 innings. Rodriguez had his best night since returning from the disabled list, finishing 4-5 with a run scored and an RBI. It was his first four-hit game since recording a career-high five hits August 26th, 2006 against Batavia while playing for Mahoning Valley. Rivero finished 3-5 with three RBI and has driven in five runs in the first two games of this series, while Mills and Chisenhall both went 2-5. Santana drove in his 94th run of the year and is just three away from tying Wes Hodges' team record, while Constanza scored twice and is up to 93 runs on the year, tying Ken Ramos for fourth on the club's single-season list.

Keys clip K-Tribe in extras
A Kinston error in the bottom of the 12th inning gave Frederick a 3-2 walk-off win Thursday night in Maryland. The Keys avoided the sweep as Kinston took two of three games from Frederick.

Tied at two in the bottom of the 12th inning, Frederick first baseman Joe Mahoney took the first pitch he saw from Kinston reliever Chen-Chang Lee and belted it to the wall for a double. One batter later, the Keys Bobby Stevens laid down a bunt that Lee had trouble fielding, eventually throwing wide of first base and allowing Mahoney to score the winning run. Lee was charged with an error and also took the loss, his record falling to 4-6 on the season.

The K-Tribe started the game off with a bang as Lucas Montero hit a lead off home run in the top of the first inning. It was the fifth home run of the season for Montero. Frederick answered quickly with two hits in the bottom of the first; including an RBI single form Lou Montanez. The Keys would take a 2-1 lead when Mahoney hit a solo home run to lead off the second inning.

The score would remain 2-1 until the sixth inning, when Kinston plated an unearned run of their own. With two outs in the inning, Doug Pickens and Adam Davis reached base on back-to-back infield singles. Ronald Rivas then hit a liner to right field that Frederick’s Billy Rowell dropped, allowing Pickens to score and tying the score at two. Rowell was charged with his 15th error of the season.

The K-Tribe pitched well again tonight, as starter Russell Young went seven innings, giving up just five hits and two earned runs. He did not walk a batter and struck out four. David Roberts and Kyle Landis each pitched two shutout innings and each gave up just one hit from the bullpen. Frederick’s pen was equally as good, combining for 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball. Jake Stevens (5-6) picked up the win for the Keys.

Salem lost 7-5 to Winston-Salem in extra innings Thursday night, so the K-Tribe remains tied for the final playoff spot in the Carolina League Southern Division with just four games to play.

Captains set Suns down
Dan DeGeorge drove in four runs to highlight two big offensive innings as the Lake County Captains defeated the Hagerstown Suns 9-2 on Thursday. The win gives the Captains an overall record of 69-64 and insures the Captains a winning record for the second year in a row. They went 75-65 in 2008.

The Captains had a big second inning when Jeremie Tice doubled home John Allman, Matt Willard singled home Bo Greenwell and Dan DeGeorge doubled home Tice and Willard and the Captains led 4-0. The Captains put up three more runs in the bottom of the third inning when Willard drove in another run and DeGeorge singled home two more an the Captains led 7-0.

John Allman doubled home Delvi Cid in the top of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 8-0. The Suns got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning when Tyler Moore singled home Steven Souza and it was 8-1. In the sixth inning, Greenwell scored from third on a passed ball and the lead was 9-1. The Suns made it 9-2 when a sacrifice fly by Moore scored Souza.

Captains starter Danny Salazar did not get a decision pitching 4.2 innings and allowing one run on three hits, walking six and striking out six. Nick Sarianides (1-0) got his first Captains win working three innings and allowing the one run on one hit, walking one and striking out two. Suns starter Paul Demny (3-11) took the loss working two innings allowing four runs on three hits, walking two and striking out one.

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