A three-run fifth inning and another strong pitching performance by Joe Gardner pushed the K-Tribe to a 4-3 win over Frederick in their series opener on Friday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. The red-hot Indians are enjoying their best stretch of baseball this season, as they have won 7 of their last 9 games.
Playing with heavy hearts after hearing of the passing of Evelyn "Mama" Kornegay today, Kinston jumped on the board first on a Jason Kipnis RBI fielder's choice in the first inning. Frederick responded with three unearned runs in the fourth inning off of Gardner. Shortstop Ronald Rivas made an error on a grounder with two out, allowing one run to score. Then, Jacob Julius hit a two-run double to left to give the Keys a 3-1 lead.
The Indians answered with three of their own in the fifth. Ronald Rivas singled with one out, and then Lucas Montero clubbed a two-run home run to right to tie the game at 3. Three batters later, Kipnis would hit another fielder's choice ground ball to score Jordan Henry with what turned out to be the winning run. The win was Kinston's sixth come-from-behind victory this season.
Gardner (1-0) earned his first K-Tribe win, pitching 5 2/3 innings and giving up three unearned runs on two hits. He walked two and struck out five. He has not given up an earned run in his first 10 2/3 innings in Kinston since being called up from Lake County last Saturday. Rob Bryson, another recent call-up, pitched a hitless final five outs for his first save.
Kenny Moreland (2-2) was the loser for Frederick, surrendering 4 runs on 6 hits in 4 1/3 innings.
The teams meet again at 7 pm on Saturday night. Southpaw T.J. McFarland, who leads the league with a 0.59 ERA, will be on the hill for Kinston.
Clippers Lose 8-1 Friday Night
Columbus dropped the series opening game to the Durham Bulls on Friday night by a score of 8-1.
Right-hander Yohan Pino took the loss in what was really his first bad outing of the season as he went six innings and allowed eight runs (seven earned) on ten hits, one walk and had one strikeout. The poor outing ballooned his ERA to 4.65 and he is now 4-2 on the season.
The Clippers offense piled up ten hits and two walks, but could only muster one run. Outfielder Jose Constanza (3-for-4) and catcher Carlos Santana (3-for-4, 2B) led the way, and outfielder Michael Brantley chipped in going 2-for-5 on the night.
Game two of the series is tonight at 7:05 pm, and the Clippers will send right-hander Carlos Carrasco to the mound.
Aeros Swept In Doubleheader
The Akron Aeros started their four game homestand with a twi-night doubleheader against the Reading Phillies. First pitch came at 6:05 before a crowd of 5,215 fans at Canal Park on Friday night. The game featured a pitching match-up of Aeros pitcher Eric Berger (0-1, 12.54 ERA) vs. Yohan Flande (1-3, 2.80 ERA).
The game started out with back to back singles for the Phillies by CF Quintin Berry to left, and a line drive to center by LF Michael Spidale before the nice 4-6-3 double play started by second baseman Cord Phelps. Berry scored on a Tagg Bozied double, his 12th of the year. The Phillies added to their lead on a Quintin Berry double, bringing in Ozzie Chavez. Akron was hitless through two when in the bottom of the third inning Damaso Espino singled on a line drive to right center field off Yohan Flande, but would be stranded on the bases.
It was not until the fifth inning when the Phillies would post two more runs. With Berry on third for the Phillies, Aeros pitcher Eric Berger’s wild pitch brought the first run home. Kevin Mahar then crushed a double to left field, scoring Spidale.
The Aeros bats finally came alive in the sixth. Jared Goedert doubled to centerfield to lead things off for the Aeros. Goedert then advanced to third on Nick Weglarz ground out. Matt McBride singled to shortstop, scoring Goedert. It would be the Aeros only run of the game.
Bryan Price came in the game in the seventh to face the Phillies Michael Spidale, striking him out. Price then gave up three consecutive hits to Domonic Brown, Tagg Bozied, and Kevin Mahar who doubled to left field, scoring Brown. Nick Weglarz picked up an outfield assist gunning down Tagg Bozied for the out. In the bottom of the seventh inning the Phillies had a 1-2-3 inning.
Yohan Flande picked up the win, improving to 2-3 on the year. Flande pitched seven innings, giving up seven hits, one earned run and striking out four. Aeros pitcher Eric Berger took the loss and is now 0-2 on the year, Berger pitched five innings giving up six hits, four earned runs, and striking out one.
Justin Germano started game two for the Aeros and looked strong through the first two innings of play, giving up just two hits. The Aeros offense came alive in the bottom of the first inning when Jared Goedert singled to right field, followed by a Nick Weglarz single to right center. Matt McBride flied out to right field, advancing Goedert to third base. Nick Weglarz then advanced to second on a throwing error by Domonic Brown. This led to an intentional walk of Beau Mills to load the bases. The rally ended when Jason Anderson got Carlos Rivero to swing at strike three on the outside corner of the plate.
In the second inning the Aeros got on the board with a fielder’s choice double play off the bat of Miguel Perez, scoring Cord Phelps. The Aeros would then add a run in the fourth inning on a Beau Mills double to center field scoring Nick Weglarz. The Phillies would bounce back in the top of the fifth inning when Omar Aguilar came into replace Justin Germano. Aguilar gave up back-to-back-to-back hits to Kevin Nelson, Freddy Galvis, and Ozzie Chavez to load the bases. Quintin Berry then knocked in the Phillies first run of the game. Then Brandon Pinckney roped a single to left field bringing in Chavez to tie the game at two. Domonic Brown grounded into a force out bringing in Galvis.
The Aeros wouldn’t respond till the bottom of the seventh inning with the game on the line when Matt McBride popped out on a sacrifice fly to center field, bringing in Jared Goedert to even the score at three. Beau Mills flied out to end the inning.
The game went into extra innings and the Aeros brought in Carlton Smith to replace Steven Wright. Smith pitched a scoreless top of the 8th and in the bottom half of the inning Carlos Rivero started things off with a single, followed by a Cord Phelps sacrifice bunt moving Rivero to 2nd. Next came a sac bunt attempt by John Drennen, who reached safely on a Kevin Mahar throwing error, loading the bases. The rally ended as Phillies pitcher Michael Schwimer was able to get the next three batters to ground out twice and strikeout to end the inning.
In the top of the ninth inning the Phillies started out strong as Quintin Berry reached on a throwing error by Carlos Rivero. Berry then successfully stole second, one of his four stolen bases on the day, and advanced to third on a throwing error by Miguel Perez. Smith got Brandon Pinckney to line out to Rivero, followed by a sac fly to John Drennen scoring Quintin Berry with the game winning run.
Game three in this four game series is set for 7:05 p.m. Saturday, with the Aeros sending lefty Kelvin De La Cruz (0-1, 3.00 ERA) to the mound against Drew Naylor (3-3, 4.25 ERA).
Haley Lifts Captains Over TinCaps 6-1
Trey Haley was solid again lifting Lake County to a 6-1 win over Fort Wayne. Haley pitched five innings, allowing just one run, on three hits, improving to 3-0 on the season.
Lake County jumped on the scoreboard in the third inning, Kyle Smith started things off with a lead-off single. Ben Carlson followed Smith with a single of his own. Casey Frawley ripped one down the left field line scoring Smith and Carlson and the Captains went up 2-0.
In the fifth, the Captains blew the game open, with the bases loaded Jeremie Tice crushed a triple to right centerfield giving Lake County a 5-0 edge.
The Captains added another run in the sixth inning, thanks to a couple of fielding errors by Edinson Rincon at third base. The first one put Greg Folgia on first, after a stolen base the second error allowed Folgia to score making it 6-0.
Fort Wayne scored a run in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded Francisco Jimenez in for Trey Haley walked Everett Williams, the run was charged to Haley and it was 6-1 at the end of six.
TinCaps starter John Hussey (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season giving up six runs, five earned in his six innings of work. Francisco Jimenez worked 2.2 scoreless innings in relief of Haley striking out a pair. Cory Burns faced the final four and retired them all in order striking out the final batter in a non-save situation.
The Captains and the TinCaps will resume the series Saturday afternoon at 4:05PM from Parkview Field in Fort Wayne, IN. RHP Clayton Cook (1-3) gets the start for Lake County, as he is matched up against LHP Nick Greenwood (2-1) for the TinCaps.
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