Kinston blasted three early home runs, then leaned on closer Cory Burns to hold on for a 6-5 win over Potomac Tuesday night in Kinston. With the win, Kinston takes the series from the Nationals. T.J. McFarland gathered his Carolina League leading eighth win of the season , as Burns picked up his league leading 13th save.
The K-Tribe exploded out of the gate, pounding Potomac starter Marcos Frias in the first inning. Lucas Montero led off with a single to right field and Bo Greenwell smoked a double down the left field line to score Montero. The next batter, Abner Abreu blasted a two-run shot to left, his third of the season, to give Kinston a 3-0 lead. Chris Kersten then led off the second inning with a towering home run to left field, his third of the year to make it 4-0.
Kinston continued their power surge in the third inning. Kyle Bellows reached on an infield single and then Doug Pickens cracked a two-run homer to left, his fourth of the season to put Kinston on top 6-2. The three K-Tribe home runs were the second-most put up by the Indians in a game this season; they had six homers in a 15-2 win on April 25 against Myrtle Beach.
Frias (2-3) was pulled after five innings, in which he surrendered six runs on eight hits, walked three and struck out four. It was his first start for the Nationals since going on the disabled list on May 21 with shoulder tightness.
Potomac then rallied against Kinston starter T.J. McFarland. The Carolina League All-Star, pitching his first game since last Tuesday's All-Star game in Myrtle Beach, got into a jam in the fifth inning after a hit and an error. Steve Lombardozzi hit an RBI single to right for Potomac's first run. After a walk loaded the bases, McFarland hit Mike Burgess with a pitch to cut the lead to 6-2. He was able to get out of the jam without any further damage.
In six innings, McFarland (8-2) allowed two runs, one earned, on seven hits, walked three and struck out one. His Carolina League-leading ERA dropped to 1.94. The outing was also good enough to notch his Carolina League leading eighth win of the season.
The P-Nats tightened the game with a three-run seventh inning against Kinston reliever David Roberts. Lombardozzi knocked a solo homer to right and Tyler Moore roped a two-run double to right to cut the Indians lead to 6-5. Roberts got the first two outs of the eighth inning, then allowed a single and a walk to put the tying run in scoring position. Enter Burns who struck out Derek Norris to end the inning. In the top of the ninth, a lead-off walk to Burgess was followed by a Nick Moresi pop out and Tyler Moore striking out looking. After a Brian Peacock single pushed Burgess to third base, Burns struck out Robby Jacobson looking to end the game.
The K-Tribe will look to sweep the series Tuesday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. Joey Mahalic (3-1, 3.40) will take the mound for Kinston.
Aeros Fall Again, Lose 7-3 to Richmond
It was a record-setting night at Huntington Park, as 12,227 fans walked through the gates for Dime-a-Dog Night, setting a new attendance record by four people. The record crowd watched two rallies late in the game, but the Gwinnett Braves had the last laugh, defeating the Columbus Clippers, 4-3.
Clint Sammons came up with the bases loaded and nobody out in the ninth against reliever, Vinnie Pestano and plated two runs on a fielder's choice. Shortstop, Brian Bixler was unable to complete the double play on Sammons' ground ball as Josh Anderson scored the tying run and Joe Thurston scored the winning run.
Jared Goedert hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning off of reliever, Mariano Gomez, barely clearing the wall in left field giving the Clippers a momentary, 3-2 lead. Goedert had a chance to deliver again in the ninth with the bases loaded, but struck out looking against reliever, Craig Kimbrel to end the game.
The late-inning scoring began when Freddie Freeman delivered a solo home run in the top half of the eighth off of Clippers' starter, Josh Tomlin, giving the Braves a 2-1 lead. Tomlin, in a no decision, went ¬eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits as he struck out six and walked one.
The Braves pushed across the first run of the game with help from the setting sun, as Nick Weglarz lost the baseball in left field off the bat of Diory Hernandez, as Barbaro Canizares scored from second base. Hernandez and Canizares combined for four of the Braves' eight hits.
Luis Valbuena tied the game at one in the bottom of the sixth inning with his first long ball of his 2010 Clippers' campaign, a deep shot to right field off of the scoreboard. Before Valbuena's home run, Braves' starter, Todd Redmond, had only given up three hits through five scoreless innings.
Columbus welcomes the Indianapolis Indians to Huntington Park tomorrow night for a two-game series beginning at 7:05 p.m. David Huff (1-0, 2.35) will start for Columbus against Charlie Morton (1-1, 3.42) of Indianapolis.
Aeros Fall Again, Lose 7-3 to Richmond
The Aeros lost for the 10th time in 14 games Monday night at The Diamond in Richmond, falling by the final score of 7-3 against the Flying Squirrels. Akron starting pitcher Paolo Espino allowed two homers in the very first inning in front of the crowd of 3,872 fans in attendance and Richmond struck again for three more runs in the seventh. With the loss to the Flying Squirrels (37-40) and tonight’s victory by the Harrisburg Senators, the struggling Aeros (36-40) now sit in fifth place in the Western Division.
The scoring began in the bottom of the first as a Cristo Arnal committed an error at short to start the rally. Richmond left fielder Thomas Neal then blasted a two-run homer to left and just two pitches later, Roger Kieschnick followed with a solo shot of his own to right.
Espino settled down from there and held the Squirrels hitless until the sixth while Richmond starting pitcher Felix Romero dominated the Akron bats. Neal began the top of that sixth with a double, later scored on an RBI single by Connor Gillaspie and Akron reliever Connor Graham stranded two runners with a strikeout to end the frame.
In the top of the seventh inning, first baseman Matt McBride helped the Aeros finally break through with a solo home run off Romero to cut the deficit to only three runs at 4-1.
The Squirrels pounced for another three scores later that frame against Graham however, as the hosts began the inning with four consecutive singles. Kieschnick ended the streak with a sacrifice fly, giving the hosts a six-run advantage despite leaving the bases loaded.
Akron plated the final two runs later that frame as an Arnal single with one out marked the end of the night for Romero. The Aeros then greeted reliever Wilmin Rodriguez with two more singles to load the bases while a wild pitch scored Arnal. Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall then provided the final run of the night with a run-scoring groundout.
Romero improved to 1-1 this year for Richmond with the solid performance, only permitting two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts. Meanwhile, Espino (7-3) took his first loss since May 16th in the contest despite recording seven strikeouts as he allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits in 5.2 innings pitched.
It was a rough night offensively for Akron, as the team could not catch up with the early power of the Flying Squirrels. Right fielder John Drennen extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single and the home run by McBride was his fifth of the season. Unfortunately, Richmond became the fourth straight Aeros opponent to register at least three extra-base hits and 10 hits total in the game, marking the team’s fourth straight loss.
Akron hopes to end their losing ways Tuesday night as this three-game series continues at 7:05 p.m. at The Diamond. The Aeros have still yet to announce their starting pitcher for the contest while Daryl Maday (8-4, 2.22 ERA) will start for the Flying Squirrels.
Captains Suffer First Second Half Loss
The Great Lakes Loons continued the good play against the Lake County Captains defeating the Captains 5-1 on Monday. This was the Captains first loss of the second half. On the season, the Loons are 9-5 and the only Eastern Division team with a winning record versus Lake County.
The Loons scored four times in the top of the fourth inning when with runners at second and third, Captains starter Vidal Nuno uncorked a wild pitch. Nuno tried to throw the deflected wild pitch ball to the Catcher Roberto Perez to get the runner from third but the throw was wild and that allowed the second runner to score also. Later in the inning Brian Hernandez drove in two runs with a single and the Loons led 4-0. They tacked on another run in the top of the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly from Blake Smith to make it 5-0. The Captains lone run came in the bottom of the eighth inning on Adam Abraham’s fourth home run of the year.
Nuno (2-2) took the loss pitching 4.2 innings allowing five runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out five. Nick Sarianides came in relief of Nuno and threw 3.1 perfect innings, striking out three. Jeremy Johnson pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
Loons starter Allen Webster (7-5) got the win working five scoreless innings allowing six hits, walking one and striking out two.
The Captains and Loons play game two of the series on Tuesday at 7:00 PM with the Captains sending RHP Trey Haley (4-2, 4.91) to the bump against the Loons RHP Matt Magill (2-1, 3.40).
Eight-run eighth leads Muckdogs past Scrappers
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers lost Monday night 11-3 to the Batavia Muckdogs at Dwyer Stadium snapping their three-game winning streak.
The Scrappers watched a 3-1 lead evaporate and then, in the bottom of eighth inning, watched the game slip away as the Muckdogs scored eight runs off J.D. Goryl who picked up the loss.
David Kington picked up the win for the Muckdogs pitching one scoreless inning of relief. Tyler Cannon gave the Scrappers a 3-1 lead with a two-RBI single to lead Mahoning Valley offensively. The Scrappers will play game two of the three game set against Batavia on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.
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.
0 comments:
Post a Comment