Game Recap 5/26: K-Tribe Shutout P-Nats

Indians Shutout P-Nats to Win Sixth Straight Series

Kinston starting pitcher Nick Hagadone earned his first victory with the K-Tribe and second career win as Kinston shutout Potomac 7-0 in the rubber game on Wednesday night in Woodbridge, Virginia. The shutout was the Carolina League leading sixth for the Kinston pitching staff and the victory gave the K-Tribe their sixth consecutive series win. Potomac mustered just two hits on the night, which matched a season-best for Indians pitching.

Hagadone was fantastic, giving up just on hit in five innings of work. He struck out six. Because of injury and low pitch counts, it was just the second win for Hagadone in his Minor League career which started in 2007. His only other win came on April 10, 2008 when he was pitching for Class A Greenville in the Red Sox organization. Hagadone came into this season with a career 2.16 ERA, this season his ERA stands at 2.39.

Kinston got to Potomac starter Evan Bronson in the first inning. Jordan Henry legged out an infield single to begin the game, then stole second. The stolen base was Henry's team leading eleventh of the season. After a Lucas Montero strikeout, Jason Kipnis singled to advance Henry to third base. Henry put Kinston up 1-0, when he scored on a single by Abner Abreu.

The K-Tribe would extend their lead in the fifth inning thanks to a little help from Potomac. After Adam Davis popped out to begin the frame, Henry reached on an error by the Nationals second baseman. Montero would follow with a single. Kipnis then smoked a drive to the gap in left field, driving in two with his team leading third triple of the season. The K-Tribe took a 4-0 lead when Kipnis scored on a sacrifice fly by Abreu.

Adam Davis led off the seventh inning by blasting a solo homer to right field, his third dinger of the season, to give the K-Tribe a 5-0 lead. Kinston tacked on two more in the top of the ninth, as Montero hit a two-run single with the bases loaded for the final runs in the 7-0 win.

Altoona Wins Eight Straight, Defeats Aeros 5-2

The Aeros faltered yet again Wednesday night by the score of 5-2 at Canal Park as the visiting Altoona Curve won for the eighth game in a row. An early pitcher’s duel eventually turned in an epic three hour and 24-minute contest before 1,480 fans in downtown Akron. First-place Altoona (30-16) now leads the last-place Aeros (18-28) by 12 games in the Western Division.

After three innings of scoreless baseball, Akron left-handed starter Kelvin De La Cruz made the first mistake of the night. Curve catcher Hector Gimenez smashed a one-out 0-1 pitch from De La Cruz into the canal in left-center for his second homer in as many days. Altoona then knocked out De La Cruz the next inning. Speedy Curve shortstop Chase D’Arnaud reached base on an error and promptly stole second base. Josh Harrison scored him with a single to give Altoona a 2-0 lead and De La Cruz left the game two batters later.

Akron finally put a run on the scoreboard in the bottom of that fifth as the impressive lower third of the batting order struck again. A one-out walk to right fielder Jerad Head began the rally and he swiped the next base on a John Drennen strikeout. Catcher Damaso Espino then plated Head with an RBI single to right, cutting the early deficit to just one.

A wild and crazy half inning ensued in the top of the sixth in one of the longest Aeros games of the season. Three bunt attempts, three infield singles and two throwing errors epitomized an agonizingly long sequence against Akron reliever Omar Aguilar. The Curve increased the margin to 5-1 by the end of the frame, which also ended with a string of three consecutive outs.

Head helped the Aeros produce the final run of the night with a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh against Altoona reliever Tony Watson. Akron would also threaten with several runners in the eighth and ninth innings but would leave a pair of men on base each time. The loss was the third straight for the purple and black as well as the sixth in a row at Canal Park against the Curve.

Highly touted Altoona starter Bryan Morris, the minor league leader in ERA, improved to 2-0 by allowing just one run in 5.2 innings pitched. De La Cruz (1-3) took the loss as he reached 95 pitches after just 4.2 IP because of five walks and seven strikeouts. Head and Drennen each finished 2-3 on the night while Jared Goedert continued his hot tear with a single to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest active mark in Double-A.

Dragons Top Captains 5-3

The Dayton Dragons jumped out to 5-0 lead and made it stand up defeating the Lake County Captains 5-3 on Wednesday. The win snapped a nine game Dragons losing streak.

The Dragons scored a run in the top of the first inning when Didi Gregorius hit a solo home run, his second of the year and it was 1-0. Mark Fleury added a solo home run in the top of the second inning to make it 2-0. Josh Garton added a RBI single that scored Henry Rodriguez from second base in the top of the third inning to give the Dragons a 3-0 lead. The Dragons got two more runs in the top of the fourth inning on a RBI triple by Gregorius and a RBI single from Tommy Nurre and the lead was 5-0.

The Captains got the offense going in bottom of the fifth inning when Kyle Smith tripled and Greg Folgia was hit by a pitch. Ben Carlson singled home Smith and Chun Chen doubled home Folgia and Carlson and the lead was cut to 5-3.

Captains starter Clayton Cook (1-4) took the loss working 4.2 innings allowing five runs, four earned, on nine hits while striking out two. Nick Sarianides relieved Cook and threw 3.1 scoreless innings allowing a hit and striking out three. Jose Flores made his Captains debut pitching a scoreless ninth inning striking out one.

Dragons starter Jacob Johnson (1-4) got the win working five innings allowing three runs on six hits and striking out six. Ricky Bowen made his Dragons debut and hurled 2.1 scoreless innings allowing two hits and striking out four. Donnie Joseph pitched the final 1.1 innings to record his sixth save of the year.

The Columbus Clippers had a scheduled night off.

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