Game Recap 6/17: K-Tribe Split Double Header

Kinston Drops Game One 2-0, Takes Game Two 8-1

The K-Tribe split a double header with Lynchburg, dropping game one 2-0 and coming back with an 8-1 win in game two Thursday night in Virginia. With the win, Kinston takes the series from Lynchburg.

Kinston's bats broke out in game two, starting with a three-run home run for Karexon Sanchez in the top of the third inning. It was the second home run of the series for Sanchez and his team leading sixth homer of the season. The shot gave Kinston a 3-1 lead. The Indians would put the game away by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth. Kinston batted around as Tim Palincsar, Doug Pickens and Ronald Rivas each added RBI's. Kinston managed five hits in the inning. Kinston ended up with 13 hits on the night, as every K-Triber in the line-up had at least one hit. Joey Mahalic was terrific on the mound, giving up just one run on four hits in six innings. Mahalic (2-1) picks up the win, striking out a season high six batters and giving up no walks. Travis Turek came in from the pen to finish out the game for Kinston.

Kinston ace T.J. McFarland gave up just two hits, but it wasn't enough as Kinston was shut out 2-0 in game one against Lynchburg. McFarland lowered his Carolina League leading ERA to 1.98, giving up two unearned runs while striking out a season high eight batters. The bad luck started for McFarland in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs and nobody on, Miguel Rojas hit a grounder to Kinston shortstop Ronald Rivas; Rivas fielded cleanly but threw low to first base. Rojas reached as Rivas was charged with an error. The Hillcats Cody Puckett then stepped up and hit his ninth home run of the season. McFarland (7-2) stays tied for the most wins in the Carolina League, saddled with his second loss of the season. Lynchburg got a great performance out of their starter as 2008 Major League All Star Edinson Volquez made a rehab start for the Hillcats. Volquez, who had elbow surgery last season, allowed just one infield hit in five innings of work. Volquez (1-0) struck out four, hit a batter and did not give up a walk. Sean Watson and Donnie Joseph each pitched a scoreless inning from the pen to preserve the win.

PawSox top Clippers in 11

With the World Cup in full gear, the Clippers and the Pawtucket Red Sox did their part to play along in the opener of a four game set Thursday night at McCoy Stadium, needing extra time with a bases-loaded single from Dusty Brown giving the PawSox a 1-nil victory.

Scoreless into the bottom of the 11th, the Clippers opted to intentionally walk Josh Reddick, who had three hits on the night, to load the bases for Brown, who had struck out four times. Brown promptly played hero, lining a two-out full-count pitch to left for a clean single.

Justin Germano (2-2) took the loss for Columbus, while Robert Manuel (4-1) got the win in Manager Torey Lovullo's first game against his former team.

Yohan Pino threw six scoreless innings, scattering six hits and striking out six for Columbus. Randor Bierd was almost equally effective on the other side, throwing five scoreless innings of his own. For the Clippers, Jess Todd, Josh Judy and Vinnie Pestano combined for four scoreless innings of relief.

Offensively, the Clippers could only muster five hits, with Jordan Brown providing two of them.

Aeros Bullpen Implodes In 9-6 Loss

The host New Hampshire Fisher Cats rallied for five runs in a deciding eighth inning against the Aeros bullpen Thursday night for a 9-6 victory in the rubber match of a three-game series at Merchantsauto.com Stadium. It was a rare mishap for the Akron bullpen, which entered the game with a 3.70 ERA this year, and the entire pitching staff allowed 10 walks and seven hits in front of the crowd of 5,437 fans. The Aeros lost their first series since May 24-27 against Altoona in falling back down to .500 at 33-33 overall and second-place New Hampshire improved to 41-26.

After a quiet start, the Fisher Cats struck in the third and fourth third innings against Akron starting pitcher Kelvin De La Cruz. Callix Crabbe recorded the RBI in the third a groundout while Al Quintana had a run-scoring single in the fourth to give the hosts a 2-0 advantage.

The Aeros offense responded with a bang in the top of the fifth as Cristo Arnal reached first on a bunt single to start the rally. Catcher Damaso Espino followed on the next pitch against New Hampshire’s Ronald Uviedo with his second home run of the season to tie the score at 2-2. Second baseman Jason Kipnis smacked a double to left two batters later and Lonnie Chisenhall promptly delivered the second two-run homer of the inning.

The two teams traded runs in the ensuing frames as Shawn Bowman doubled home Darrin Mastroianni in the fifth and three walks in the sixth helped New Hampshire tie the game again at 4-4. Akron scored for the final time of the night in the seventh to recapture a two-run lead on back-to-back RBI singles from Matt McBride and John Drennen.

New Hampshire took control in the eighth thanks to two leadoff walks against reliever Connor Graham. With two outs and the bases loaded, Manny Mayorson delivered a clutch game-tying single to right and just afterwards, Bowman smashed a three-run homer against new pitcher Steven Wright to provide for the final margin of the night.

Graham (2-4) took the loss after entering the game having allowed only one earned run in his first 10 appearances as a reliever this season. Adrian Martin (3-1) earned the win for the Cats with a scoreless eighth while normal setup man Tim Collins recorded his third save with three strikeouts despite two hits in the ninth. Akron’s bullpen permitted six runs on five walks and three hits in the final 3.1 innings pitched of the night.

Four Aeros batters finished with multi-hit performances, led by the pair of two-run homers from Chisenhall and Espino in the fifth. Leadoff center fielder Jordan Henry had his first two Double-A base hits and collected two walks while McBride’s singles extended his road on-base streak to 27 straight games. Chisenhall’s home run was his sixth in just 18 games played since returning from the disabled list on May 28th.

Captains Lose In Extras

Something about a homestand finale seems to get the West Michigan Whitecaps up for a dramatic finish.
On Thursday night at Fifth Third Ballpark, the Whitecaps wrapped up the home portion of their first-half schedule with a 1-0 win over the Lake County Captains that was capped by Jimmy Gulliver's walk-off double with two outs in the bottom of the 11th.

The dramatic victory came just 10 days after Alexis Espinoza closed out their previous homestand with a walk-off home run in extra innings. Thursday's win gave West Michigan (25-41) two of the three games in the series, knocking Lake County (25-41) out of first place for the first time this half and dealing a serious blow to the Captains' quest for a divisional title.

Despite a pair of dramatic plays at the plate earlier in the evening, the game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the 10th inning. Jordan Lennerton started the decisive rally with a one-out single and pinch runner Avisail Garcia promptly stole second base. After Espinoza struck out, Captains reliever Preston Guilmet intentionally walked Tony Plagman. With two outs and runners at first and second, Gulliver worked the count full before smacking the game-winning double into the gap in left-center to send the crowd into pandemonium with the 1-0 walk-off victory.

Kenny Faulk (3-2) earned the win out of the bullpen, tossing a scoreless top of the 11th and notching a crucial strikeout to strand two runners on base. That capped a combined three-hit shutout that also featured five scoreless frames from starter Ramon Lebron, two hitless innings from Richard Zumaya in his Whitecaps debut, and three pressure-packed, hitless frames from Nathan Newman.

The performance was the second consecutive three-hit shutout by West Michigan against Lake County.

Guilmet (0-1) suffered the loss for the Captains, allowing one run on three hits in 1.2 innings.

Before reaching extra frames, both teams were denied scoring opportunities on well-defended plays at the plate.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Whitecaps' Luis Sanz tried to score from second base on a two-out single by Jamie Johnson. Left-fielder Bo Greenwell fired a bullet to the plate, and catcher Chun Chen withstood a vicious collision and held onto the ball to retire Sanz and end the inning.

In the top of the eighth Lake County mounted a threat. Casey Frawley was at third when Chen drove a one-out fly ball towards right field, but Alexis Espinoza was able to make the catch on the run towards the foul line. As Frawley tagged and raced home, Espinoza squared to the plate and fired a strike to the catcher Sanz that preserved the scoreless tie.

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