Game Recap 7/15: De La Cruz, Offense Spark Aeros to Victory

De La Cruz Leads Aeros to 6-1 Win Over Erie

Aeros lefty Kelvin De La Cruz earned his first win in exactly two months Thursday night as Akron defeated the visiting Erie SeaWolves by the final score of 6-1. The 6’5” starter allowed just one run in six innings for his second career Double-A quality start while Cleveland Indians star Asdrubal Cabrera paced the Aeros offense on his rehab assignment. A crowd of 2,774 fans at Canal Park witnessed Akron (46-45) claim victory over the SeaWolves (38-54) for the seventh time in 11 chances this season.

Cabrera helped the Aeros take the early lead by doubling to start the bottom of the first and Jason Kipnis promptly followed with a single. Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall then collected the third straight hit with an RBI single to center and Akron struck again in the second. Right fielder Jerad Head singled and Jordan Henry later scored Head from second with two outs on a soft flying single to center to give the hosts a 2-0 advantage.

Erie responded in the third inning as center fielder Justin Henry, the brother of Akron’s Jordan, scored catcher Andy Bouchie on a sacrifice fly. That out then marked a stretch of eight consecutive batters retired by the red-hot De La Cruz.

The Aeros then pounced for two more runs against new Wolves reliever Josh Rainwater in the fifth. Rainwater, in his first Double-A appearance of the season, allowed three straight singles to load the bases and Head drew a one-out bases loaded walk. The hosts then took a commanding 4-1 lead on a fielder’s choice by left fielder Tim Fedroff.

Lefty Ramon Garcia replaced Rainwater in the sixth and ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh. Beau Mills and Head recorded back-to-back lead off doubles while designated hitter Matt McBride sealed the victory with a solo home run in the eighth.

De La Cruz (2-5) struck out five batters against four walks and two hits in the contest, snapping a stretch of 10 straight starts without a victory since May 15th. He finished the sixth inning for just the second time in his Akron career, tying a record he set in his 2010 debut with the team back on May 8th. Erie starter Anthony Shawler (1-1) took the loss in his four frames and a combination of Shane Lindsay, Chen-Chang Lee and Zach Putnam out of Aeros bullpen retired all nine hitters in the final three innings with five strikeouts.

Akron collected 13 hits total as the shortstop Cabrera finished 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored before giving way to pinch-hitter Carlos Rivero in the bottom of the seventh. Four other batters had multi-hit performances led by two singles and two walks from Chisenhall, two RBI by Head and the team-leading 14th home run by McBride.

Clippers return to action with 6-1 win

The Clippers returned to action Thursday night at Norfolk and picked up right where they left off before the All-Star break, getting a solid outing from Carlos Carrasco and a balanced attack offensively while cruising to a 6-1 victory.

Carrasco allowed an unearned run in the first inning, but didn't allow a second hit until the seventh inning and at one point retired 15 Tides batters in a row. He improved to 8-4 on the season.

With the wind blowing in, Wyatt Toregas capped a three-run second inning for Columbus with a two-run home run. The Clippers added two more in the seventh on a Josh Rodriguez single and another in the ninth on a Jordan Brown base hit.

In all, the Clippers had 11 hits from eight different players, compared to just three hits for the Tides.

Bryce Stowell threw the final two innings for Columbus and combined with Carrasco for nine strikeouts on the night. Starter Tim Bascom lasted just three innings for Norfolk and fell to 2-4 on the year.

Morris Returns Triumphant, K-Tribe Lose 6-1

A.J. Morris made his first start since June 3 and went five scoreless innings as Potomac shut down Kinston 6-1 in game two of a four-game series.

A four-run fourth, which included a home run from Tyler Moore, helped get Morris the win in his return. Unfortunately, that inning also featured another serious injury for the P-Nats as Brian Peacock was taken away from Pfitzner Stadium in a ambulance after breaking his right pinky finger.

Morris was making his first start since getting hit in the left calf with a line-drive at Frawley Field in Wilmington. The Texas native was dominant from the start, striking out the side in the first. Morris scattered two singles and a hit batter while walking none and striking out five in five innings. He did not give up a run for his second straight start.

The Nationals bats got things started against Marty Popham in the fourth. Popham was perfect through three innings until Josh Johnson doubled to lead off the inning. Steve Lombardozzi reached on a bunt single and Derek Norris flew out to score Johnson for the game's first run. After the second out and with Tyler Moore batting, Lombardozzi scored without the ball being put into play. He stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on another wild pitch from Popham. The pitch after Lombardozzi scored, Moore belted his 11th homer of the year, a line shot off the batters eye just left of the 400 foot sign in dead center to increase the lead to 3-0.

Potomac wasn't done as Robby Jacobsen was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a passed ball. Brian Peacock singled Jacobsen home on a infield hit that was misplayed by second basemen Karexon Sanchez.

Peacock stole second with Dan Lyons at the plate, but on the slide it appeared that Sanchez stepped on the right pinky finger of Peacock. The starting catcher was down in considerable pain before being rushed off the field. He was immediately sent off to the hospital in an ambulance with a compound fracture of his right pinky finger.

The Nationals increased their lead in the seventh off Kinston reliever Austin Adams. Dan Lyons singled, stole second and scored on a double by Josh Johnson to give the P-Nats a 5-1 lead.

Kinston got on the board in the eighth. Potomac reliever Carlos Martinez gave up back-to-back hits from Donnie Webb and Lucas Montero. He did induce a double-play from Justin Toole, but that scored Webb and made it 5-1. Martinez walked an Indian and Cory VanAllen loaded the bases by hitting a batter and walking Chun Chen. Dan Leatherman came on to face the tying run in Nick Recknagle and struck him out to leave the bases loaded.

Potomac added one more run in the eighth en route to a 6-1 victory. Leatherman completed a perfect ninth inning on the way to his ninth save of the season.

Captains Win 6-1 for Haley's 5th

Trey Haley out pitched the River Bandits' top prospect Shelby Miller for his fifth win of the year with a 6-1 Captains win. Haley tossed five innings allowing just one run on two hits while striking out seven.

Lake County jumped in front in the third inning. Delvi Cid and Argenis Martinez had back to back singles putting runners on the corners. Casey Frawley drove in the first run with a shot that short hopped the third baseman Alan Ahmady to score Cid making it 1-0.

The Captains opened it up in the fifth inning, Delvi Cid picked up his second hit of the game with a bunt single. Cid stole second for his 40th stolen base of the season. Martinez singled to left his second hit of the game to put runners on the corners. Frawley picked up his third hit a game with a flare to right field to score Cid to make 2-0. Chris Kersten crushed his third homerun of the year a 3-run blast to left center putting Lake County up 5-0.

Quad Cities got a solo homerun from Ryde Rodriguez in bottom of the fifth his second of the series to make it 5-1.

Tim Palincsar led off the sixth inning with his first homerun of year putting the Captains back in front by five at 6-1.

Miller (2-4) suffered the loss for the River Bandits finishing with five innings of work allowing five runs on nine hits while striking out nine. Lake County reliever Jeremy Johnson picked up his first save pitching the final three innings not allowing a run, giving up just one hit and a walk, striking out four. Ryan Morris returned to Lake County and pitched a scoreless inning allowing a hit and a walk.

Harrison's six RBI push Cyclones past Scrappers

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers lost to the Brooklyn Cyclones 7-4 tonight at MCU Park.
Brian Harrison drove in six of the seven Cyclones runs including a two-run home run and a three-RBI double with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning that would eventually be the game winning hit.

Julio Ramirez made his debut for the Scrappers and picked up the loss lasting just 0.2 innings and allowing four earned runs on four hits.

Samuel Tavares got the win for the Cyclones pitching 1.2 scoreless innings of relief. Johan Figuereo came in from the bullpen and shut the door on the Scrappers picking up his sixth save for Brooklyn.

Despite getting a no decision, Alex Kaminksy continued to pitch well lasting five innings, allowing two earned runs on two hits, striking out six and walking just two.

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