Matt McBride smacked three homers to lead the Aeros to a crucial 5-0 victory over the host Bowie Baysox on Thursday night. The 25-year-old first baseman came close to setting a new Akron franchise record in front of 3,316 fans at Prince George’s Stadium as lefty starter Scott Barnes shined with seven stellar shutout innings. With the third straight win, the Aeros (39-40) now trail the Baysox (43-37) by only 3.5 games for the second- place wild card spot in the Eastern League’s Western Division.
The fantastic performance by McBride began in the top of the first inning against Bowie starting pitcher Ryohei Tanaka. Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall singled to right with two outs while McBride pounded the next pitch to make it a 2-0 Akron lead.
Chisenhall flied out to start the fourth inning while McBride continued his dominance against Tanaka with another homer to left. As Barnes cruised against the Baysox attack, the Aeros manufactured another run to take a 4-0 advantage in the fifth on a one-out RBI single by Cristo Arnal after Tim Fedroff doubled to lead off the frame.
Tanaka was the victim to a similar fate in the sixth inning as he started the frame by forcing Chisenhall to fly out to right field. On a 1-1 pitch, the unstoppable McBride hit his third straight home run to left field to provide the final scoring of the night.
He then had one final chance to make history with Kipnis on first base and one out in the eighth inning against Baysox reliever Josh Perrault. He drew a first-pitch ball, fouled off a grounder and then sadly flied out to rehabbing Baltimore left fielder Felix Pie. The game ended quietly after that as Bowie collected just five singles, a double and a walk overall.
Barnes (4-7) was spectacular as he scattered just five hits in his seven dominant innings along with only one walk and four strikeouts. It was his fourth no-run outing of at least five innings pitched this season, although the inconsistent left-hander entered the contest Thursday with a 6.16 ERA. The game was also his team-leading 15th start of the year and he remains in the Eastern League for starters with 9.21 strikeouts per nine innings.
Meanwhile, Tanaka (4-8) had one of his worst performances of the season in taking the loss and allowing all five runs scored. Akron relief pitcher Connor Graham then delivered two shutout frames to secure the team’s sixth shutout during the 2010 season.
Meanwhile, McBride’s historic performance was the sixth three-homer outing in Aeros history, the last done by Stephen Head on August 8th, 2008. McBride has now reached base in all 34 of his road games this season along with all nine of his home runs, and now has five homers in just four games on this current road trip. His three runs scored also tied a season-high for an Akron player as six other batters collected a single hit on the night.
New setting, same result for Clippers
After winning a pair of games at home against Indianapolis, the Clippers and Indy had a change of scenery, but it didn't phase Columbus as they jumped on the host Indians early and coasted to a 6-1 win.
The Clippers scored three runs in the first, getting a Jared Goedert RBI-single and a two-run double from Wes Hodges.
Jeanmar Gomez was a bit wild, walking four in five innings of work, but the only run he allowed was of the unearned variety in the second inning. Gomez improved to 6-7 on the year, getting four innings of solid relief from Jeremy Sowers, Josh Judy and Jess Todd.
Columbus added two more in the fifth, getting another Hodges double to plate Goedert and a Brian Bixler single that scored Hodges. Luis Valbuena doubled home Josh Rodriguez in the eighth to cap the scoring.
Over the first three days of their four-game, two-city series, the Clippers have expanded their lead over Indy from two games in the International League's West Division to five games.
Great Bullpen Work, Lucas Montero Come Up Big In Win
Kinston erased an early 3-0 deficit, coming back to beat Myrtle Beach 6-4 Thursday night in South Carolina.
A sloppy bottom of the first inning resulted in three Pelican runs (two unearned), thanks to two singles, a walk and an error on a dropped pop-up by Lucas Montero. Kinston starter T.J. House walked the first two batters in the bottom of the second inning and was removed from the game. House gave up two hits and three runs, while walking three and striking out one.
The K-Tribe bullpen then came up big, as Brian Grening pitched four scoreless innings to earn his third win of the season. Grening (3-2) gave up just one hit and did not walk a batter, while striking out four.
Kinston started the comeback in the top of the third inning, when Justin Toole dropped down a bunt single with one out. Lucas Montero followed with a monster home run to right field. The big blast landed on the roof of the Pelicans clubhouse over the right field wall. It was Montero's third home run of the season and cut the Pelicans lead to one.
In the fifth inning Kinston would strike again, starting with a one-out walk by Toole. After a Montero single, Bo Greenwell bounced into a fielder's choice as Montero was retired at second. Abner Abreu then singled home Toole to tie the game at three. Later in the inning, Greenwell broke the tie when he scampered home from third base on a wild pitch by Pelicans reliever Yeliar Castro.
Leading 4-3 going into the top of the seventh inning, Kinston would strike again. Montero led off with a walk and then stole second. After a Greenwell walk, Abreu delivered another RBI single to score Montero. On the move again, another double steal was in play when Pelicans catcher Chris Anderson overthrew second base. The error allowed Greenwell to score from third and give Kinston a 6-3 lead. Montero, tied a Kinston season high with a four hit night, going 4-for-4 with two runs scored. Abreu was 2-for-5 with two RBI on the night.
Kinston reliever Travis Turek would take care of the middle innings, earning his fourth hold of the season. Turek did not give up a hit in three innings, walking two and striking out two. Cory Burns then closed things out for his Carolina League leading 14th save of the season. Burns gave up a lead-off triple, resulting in an unearned run, when Luis Sumoza scored on an errant relay throw to third base. Burns then retired the next three batters, three by strike out.
Long Ball Hurts Captains in 3-2 loss
The home run ball hurt the Lake County Captains on Thursday as the West Michigan Whitecaps beat the Captains 3-2 with all their runs coming via the homer.
The Captains scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning when Delvi Cid score from third base on a Whitecaps error and it was 1-0. The Whitecaps put up three runs in the top of the sixth inning when Chris Sedon hit a solo home run off of Captains starter Matt Packer and the Avisail Garcia hit a two run home run off of reliever Tyler Sturdevant and it was 3-1. Casey Frawley hit his sixth home run of the season in the bottom to the eighth inning to cut the lead to 3-2.
Packer (6-4) took the loss pitching 5.2 innings allowing two runs on two hits, walking one and striking out six. Sturdevant followed Packer and allowed one run on one hit while striking out four in 2.1 innings of work. Jeremy Johnson pitched the ninth inning and did not give up a run.
Whitecaps starter Trevor Feeney (7-7) got the win working eight innings allowing two runs, one earned on six hits, walking two and striking out seven. Zach Samuels pitched a scoreless ninth inning to register his second save of the year.
Dew tosses six hitless innings, Scrappers win, 3-0
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers won 3-0 tonight at Eastwood Field behind six hitless innings from righty starter Owen Dew.
Dew's three strikeout gem earned him his first career professional win.
Nick Kirk came in from the bullpen and pitched a scoreless top of the ninth inning to receive his second save of the season.
Jammers starter Luis Chirinos pitched five innings allowing three runs and received his second loss to the Scrappers and second loss of the season.
Giovanny Urshela's two-RBI single in the bottom of the second inning was the highlight for the Scrappers offensively.
Photo courtesy of Lianna Holub
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