Alex White made his Double-A debut and guided the Aeros to a 5-2 win over Harrisburg Sunday in front of 6,825 fans at Canal Park. Cleveland’s first-round draft pick in June 2009 delivered seven strong innings, the longest start for an Aero this year, and earned the win as the Akron offense came through in the clutch yet again. The victory gave the Aeros the series victory in improving to 18-25 while the Senators dropped to 21-22 with the loss.
Leadoff center fielder Tim Fedroff helped the Aeros get on the board early with a single to start the bottom of the first. He advanced to second on a throwing error, moved to third on a groundout by Cord Phelps and birthday boy Matt McBride brought him home with a double to left field. In the second, Akron left fielder John Drennen started another rally with a single to right and Miguel Perez began his impressive afternoon with an RBI double to give the hosts the quick 2-0 lead.
Meanwhile, White shut out the Senators through the first six innings against the Senators, allowing just three hits and one walk until facing trouble in the seventh. Red-hot Harrisburg first baseman Chris Marrero led off that inning with his third home run in as many days to make the deficit 2-1. Left fielder Marvin Lowrance followed just two batters later with a solo shot of his own to tie up the ball game at two runs each.
The Aeros would strike back in the bottom half of that seventh as right fielder Jerad Head doubled to initiate a monster inning. Perez then gave Akron the deciding run of the afternoon by plating Head with his second RBI hit. Cord Phelps continued the outburst with a walk and Jared Goedert made it 4-2 with a single to right. McBride gave the Aeros the final three-run advantage with a two-out lining single to right as well, scoring Phelps.
White (1-0) picked up the win in one of the finest starts for an Aero all season. It was his fourth straight start between Class A Kinston and Akron of at least six innings, and he finished the night only allowing five hits and one walk while striking out two. Senators reliever Mike MacDougal (2-1) took the loss by allowing the first two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Steven Wright then pitched a perfect ninth to become the fourth different Aeros reliever in a row to record his first save of the year.
McBride was one of several offensive stars for the Aeros as he celebrated his 25th birthday at Canal Park with a 2-3 performance, driving in a pair and drawing a walk. Perez also drove in two more runs with a single and a double while Goedert’s single in the seventh gave him the longest hitting streak of the season for an Akron batter at 12 consecutive games.
The Aeros begin a four-game series with the Altoona Curve Monday night at 7:05 p.m. at Canal Park for another Dollar Dog Monday. Lefty Scott Barnes (1-4, 6.11 ERA) will make the start against Altoona right-hander Tim Alderson (2-2, 6.08 ERA).
Charlotte blanks Columbus 5-0
Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but a steady diet of scorching fastballs and blistering breaking pitches on a hot Sunday afternoon in South Carolina was how Dan Hudson served up a big helping of retribution to the Clippers as his Charlotte Knights blanked Columbus 5-0.
Hudson gave up nine runs in just one inning at Huntington Park back on April 27th, his worst start as a professional, but this time he took out his frustrations on the Clippers in thoroughly dominating fashion. The Knights righty blew through the Clippers line-up for 8 innings of shutout baseball, striking out a season-high eleven batters along the way, including a stretch of nine batter where Hudson struck out eight and walked one. He walked one and allowed 3 hits, all singles.
The Clippers threatened Hudson in the 1st inning, putting runners on the corners with only one out, but Wes Hodges hit into an inning-ending double play. The Clippers got only two base runners after that.
Charlotte got all the offense they needed in the bottom of the 1st inning when Josh Kroeger blasted a two-run home run over the right field wall in similar fashion to the ball hit by Luis Rodriguez in the bottom of the 12th inning the night before. Freddy Dolsi pitched a perfect 9th inning for the Kinghts.
The Kinghts tagged Clippers started Jeanmar Gomez for another run in the 3rd and two more in the 5th inning to cap the scoring. Gomez went the distance for Columbus to rest a weary bullpen and seemed to get stronger as the game went along, shutting down Charlotte over the final 3 frames.
Game 3 of the series will be a 7:15 affair with Yohan Pino facing off against Charlotte's Lucas Harrell.
Indians Outlast Frederick in 12 Innings
An error by Frederick pitcher Sean Gleason in the 12th inning brought home Jason Kipnis and the go-ahead run for the K-Tribe, who hung on to beat the Keys 2-1 in the series rubber game on Sunday afternoon in Frederick. Kinston has now won five consecutive series after winning only one out of their first eight series this season.
Frederick got on the board first on a Miguel Abreu sacrifice fly to score Xavier Avery in the bottom of the first inning. The run was unearned due to a passed ball on Kinston's Alex Castillo, and the only run the Indians would allow. After stranding the bases loaded in the first two innings, the K-Tribe came through with a run in the third. Doug Pickens led off with a double, and two batters later Castillo bounced an RBI single to center to tie the game at 1.
The contest remained tied until the top of the 12th inning. With two out and the bases empty, Kipnis and Doug Pickens hit back-to-back singles, with Kipnis moving to third on Pickens' hit. The next batter, Kyle Bellows, sent a grounder back to the mound. Keys pitcher Sean Gleason bobbled the grounder and then bobbled again when he tried to recover, allowing Kipnis to come home with what would turn out to be the winning run.
The K-Tribe's Marty Popham pitched well in his Carolina League debut, as the starter allowed an unearned run on four hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out five. Kinston's Matt Langwell (2-1) threw 1/3 of an inning for the victory, while Gleason (1-1) took the loss for Frederick. Cory Burns pitched the bottom of the 12th for his second save with the Indians.
Kinston travels to Potomac for a three-game set starting on Monday night at 7:03 pm. Joe Gardner, who hasn't allowed an earned run in 16 2/3 innings since joining the K-Tribe, will start.
Silver Hawks Double up Captains
The South Bend Silver Hawks jumped out to an early lead and made it stand up as they defeated the Lake County Captains 6-3 on Sunday. South Bend has taken two of the first three games of the series.
South Bend took a first inning lead when Matt Davidson hit his team leading fifth home run of the year, a three run homer off of Captains starter Matt Packer, and the Silver Hawks led 3-0. Bobby Borchering hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning to extend the South Bend lead to 4-0.
The Captains got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning when Chun Chen knocked in Casey Frawley with a two out single and the lead was trimmed to 4-1. The Captains inched closer in the bottom of the seventh inning when the Ben Carlson scored on a throwing error and Argenis Martinez hit a sacrifice fly that scored Delvi Cid and the lead was cut to 4-3. The Silver Hawks answered with two runs of their own in the top of the eighth on a RBI double from Andrew Frie and a RBI single from Alberto Diaz and it was 6-3.
Captains starter Matt Packer (2-2) took the loss working three innings allowing three runs, two earned, on three hits, walking one and striking out three. It was his first professional start. Nick Sarianides came on in the fourth inning and allowed a run on four hits while striking out three in two innings of work. Tyler Sturdevant followed Sarianides and threw three innings and allowed two runs on three hits, striking out two. Jeremy Johnson pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
Silver Hawks starter Eric Smith did not get a decision working only one scoreless inning allowing one hit while striking out one. Diogenes Rosario (3-0) got the win relieving Smith and throwing 4.2 innings allowing one run on four hits, striking out seven. Yonata Ortega picked up his ninth save of the year and second in the series hurling a scoreless ninth inning.
The Captains and Silver Hawks wrap up the four game series on Monday at 6:30 PM with the Captains sending RHP Austin Adams (1-2, 3.73) to the mound against the Silver Hawks RHP Scottie Allen (0-1, 5.79).
Everything on this site is free, but for those interested in making any monetary contributions to help support the stability and growth of this site please click on the "Donate" button below.
2 comments:
Great to see White pitching so well. If he continues this success is it likely that he'll be a September call up and possibly a fixture as early as next season's all-star break?
White has zero chance to pitch in the majors this year. Even if he is lights out, there is no reason to add him to the roster and look at him in September when they have about a dozen other guys they need to look at.
I'd actually be surprised if he even goes to Columbus this year as I think no matter he will remain in Akron the rest of the season. Only exception to that would be if Akron misses the playoffs and Columbus makes the playoffs, I could see White going to Columbus in late August to be exposed to that environment. But that's it.
Post a Comment