The Columbus Clippers defeated the Gwinnett Braves, 7-5 on Friday night at Huntington Park. The win gave Clippers' manager, Mike Sarbaugh, his 500th of his career and also put Columbus 15 games above .500, matching their best mark this season.
The Clippers took over the lead in the sixth inning as they scored four runs on five hits after trailing 3-1. Jared Goedert led off the scoring spree with his seventh home run of the season and Nick Weglarz continued his hot hitting at Huntington Park when he drove home Wes Hodges on an RBI double to left. Brian Bixler recorded his second hit of the night, a slow-rolling single past the first base bag, scoring Weglarz and giving Columbus their first lead of the night at 4-3. Bixler later scored on Brantley's second RBI of the night. The Clippers tacked on two important insurance runs in the eight on a Matt LaPorta double which ended up being the difference.
The Braves had early leads in the contest as Matt Young drove home the first run of the night on an RBI double to left in the third. Then in the top of the sixth, Gwinnett got home runs from Barbaro Canizares and Jordan Schafer but couldn't hold the lead against Columbus. Gwinnett made it close in the ninth with two runs, bust Justin Germano came in and closed the door.
Carlos Carrasco pitched effectively all night, pitching seven innings, giving up three earned runs on eight hits and striking out eight. He improved his record to 6-3 on the year, one win shy of the team lead shared by Yohan Pino and Josh Tomlin.
Tomorrow, the Clippers and Braves meet up at 7:05 p.m. in game two of their four game series at Huntington Park. Jeanmar Gomez (4-7, 5.76) will take the hill for Columbus against Tim Gustafson (7-4, 4.92) of Gwinnett.
Aeros Offense Falls Flat in 5-3 Loss to B-Mets
The Aeros failed to capitalize on several offensive opportunities Friday night at Canal Park in a 5-3 defeat against the visiting Binghamton Mets. Post-game fireworks attracted 7,374 fans to downtown Akron for the contest where starting pitcher Alex White surrendered three unearned runs in yet another quality start but catcher Mike Nickeas powered the Binghamton offense. The game broke a tie between the two interdivision rivals, as the B-Mets are now 37-36 on the season while the Aeros are 36-37.
With one out in the bottom of the second, Akron left fielder Tim Fedroff started a rally with a lining triple down the right field line. Fedroff scored three batters later on a single to center by Jordan Henry against Mets starter Mike Antonini for the first run of the game.
Nearly the exact same thing happened in the third as John Drennen again lined a triple to right field against Antonini. Designated hitter Jerad Head followed immediately afterwards with an RBI infield single to short, giving the hosts the early two-run advantage.
After cruising through the first five innings, White struggled against the Binghamton lineup in the sixth. Sean Ratliff singled while a Lonnie Chisenhall error at third base prolonged the inning. White then threw a costly wild pitch, leading to a run-scoring groundout just before the hot-hitting Nickeas gave the visitors a 3-2 lead with a two-out homer to left.
The Mets then added to the Akron deficit thanks to a seventh inning rally that featured a solo homer by Brahiam Maldonado and a double play that plated Raul Reyes.
Meanwhile, the Aeros offense struggled against the Binghamton pitching staff as the team failed to capitalize on a leadoff double by Head in the sixth. Akron rallied again in the seventh as Jason Kipnis drew a leadoff walk, Chisenhall singled to right and an error advanced both runners. Drennen then plated Kipnis with a groundout but new reliever Emary Frederick stranded the bases loaded by forcing Damaso Espino to fly out to center.
Cristo Arnal began the bottom of the eighth inning with a double, but Mets pitchers retired the final six Aeros to capture the opener of this three-game series.
Antonini (5-5) earned the win in averting damage over 5.1 innings while White (2-4) took yet another tough loss despite his fifth quality start. The highly touted right-hander permitted seven hits in six innings along with the three unearned runs and three strikeouts as he now has a 1.77 ERA in seven starts for Akron. Binghamton closer Manuel Alvarez finished the contest and delivered a perfect ninth inning for his third save of the season.
The Aeros finished the night 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base overall. Two hit by pitches, six walks and seven hits (including four for extra-base) were not enough to propel the team to a third straight home victory. Binghamton’s Nickeas was the main offensive star as he finished a triple away from hitting for the cycle.
Akron plays game five of this six-game home stand Saturday night against the Binghamton Mets with a scheduled first pitch of 7:05 p.m. at Canal Park. Left-hander Scott Barnes (3-6, 5.82 ERA) will be on the mound for the Aeros as Binghamton southpaw Mark Cohoon makes his Double-A debut.
Hillcats Scratch Kinston 9-1
Lynchburg banged out 16 hits in route to a 9-1 win over Kinston, Friday night at Historic Grainger Stadium.
The K-Tribe used three straight hits to pull ahead in the second inning against Lynchburg starter James Avery. With one out in the frame, Chris Kersten drove a single to center and Richard Martinez pulled a base hit to left. The next hitter, Ronald Rivas knocked a single to center to score Kersten and give Kinston a 1-0 lead. That run was all the K-Tribe could muster off of Avery, who went five innings and gave up six hits, walked one and struck out seven.
Lynchburg matched Kinston's run in the third inning. Indians starter T.J. House gave up a single to Cody Puckett and a double to Brodie Greene with one out. Kevin Coddington grounded out to second to score Puckett and tie the game at 1. The Hillcats surged for three more runs in the fourth inning. Josh Fellhauer led off with a single and Shane Carlson was hit by a pitch. Following a sacrifice bunt, Efrain Contreras shot a two-run single to center to make it 3-1. Three batters later, Brodie Greene laced an RBI single to center to push the lead to 4-1.
Coming off of four consecutive strong starts, House went just four and one-third innings on Friday. He conceded four runs on nine hits, walked none and struck out four.
The 'Cats came back for more in the eighth inning. K-Tribe reliever Brian Grening gave up two walks and then was relieved by David Roberts. Roberts surrendered three consecutive RBI singles off the bats of Coddington, Neftali Soto and Fellhauer to make it 7-1. After two men were out, Kevyn Feiner hit a tapper back to the mound that was thrown away by Roberts, bringing home another run on the error. Neftali Soto added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to give the Hillcats a 9-1 edge.
The K-Tribe will take on Lynchburg Saturday night at 7pm at Historic Grainger Stadium. Joe Gardner (6-1, 1.58) will take the hill for Kinston.
Captains Win to Start Second Half Play
The Lake County Captains started the second half of the season in winning fashion as they defeated the West Michigan Whitecaps 2-1 on Friday. The Captains won the 1st half championship in the Eastern Division.
The Captains had two base runners reach via fielding errors in the top of the fourth inning and were able to capitalize on it when Jeremie Tice singled home Jason Smit from second base to give the Captains a 1-0 lead. Delvi Cid led off the top of the sixth inning with a triple and scored when Casey Frawley singled him home and it was 2-0. The Whitecaps scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning when a sacrifice fly by Jimmy Gulliver scored Clay Jones to cut the lead in half.
Captains starter Clayton Cook (3-4) got the win pitching five scoreless innings allowing five hits while striking out six. Cook has not allowed a run in his last 21 innings of work. Francisco Jimenez came on in the sixth inning and threw two innings allowing one run on four hits, walking one and striking out one. Antwonie Hubbard made his first appearance since June 3 and threw a scoreless inning allowing a hit and a walk. Preston Guilmet pitched a scoreless ninth inning striking out the side and got his sixth save of the season.
Whitecaps starter Giovanni Soto (5-5) took the loss working six innings allowing two runs, one earned on four hits and striking out six.
The Captains and Whitecaps will play game two of the series on Saturday at 7:00 PM with the Captains sending LHP Matt Packer (5-3, 2.19) to the mound to oppose RHP Trevor Feeney (6-6, 3.59).
Scrappers end four game skid
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers snapped a four-game losing streak winning 12-4 on Friday night at Eastwood Field against the Batavia Muckdogs.
First baseman Chase Burnette hit two home runs and drove in five runs to lead the way for Mahoning Valley. Alex Kaminsky pitched five scoreless innings to pick his second win of the season and second as a professional baseball player. Andrew was saddled with the loss lasting four innings giving up two earned runs for the Muckdogs.
The Scrappers are back in action tomorrow as they travel to Falcon Park to take on the Auburn Doubledays. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
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