The Aeros continued their recent success at home Friday night with an all-around performance in a 6-0 victory against the Reading Phillies. A crowd of 7,277 fans on Fireworks Friday witnessed Akron win at Canal Park for the 12th time in 13 games, highlighted by six shutout innings from lefty starter Kelvin De La Cruz. Coupled with a loss by the Altoona Curve Friday, the third-place Aeros (56-48) are now only 3.5 games away from the Western Division lead and the Phillies are 51-53 on the season.
Akron’s scoring began early as leadoff center fielder Jordan Henry singled to left-center in the bottom of the first. Henry promptly stole second base, advanced to third on a fly out and scored on another sacrifice fly by third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall.
The lead jumped to 2-0 in the second inning on a towering solo home run from shortstop Carlos Rivero, just to the right of the left field foul pole. Reading starter Ty Taubenheim allowed another run in the third as Rivero recorded a sac fly to left to score Jason Kipnis.
As De La Cruz kept the Phillies offense in check, the blowout continued in the bottom of the fifth. Chisenhall singled to left and moved to second on a groundout before scoring on a botched play by third baseman Cody Overbeck. Akron left fielder John Drennen then doubled down the right field line and a wild pitch plated Rivero to make it a 5-0 edge.
Reliever John Ennis replaced Taubenheim in the sixth but suffered the same fate despite only having a runner on first base with two outs. The right-hander then hit both Chisenhall and Jerad Head with pitches to load the bases while new relief pitcher Tyson Brumment allowed an RBI infield single to first baseman Beau Mills.
That hit provided for the final margin of the night as relievers Chen-Chang Lee and Connor Graham combined for three shutout innings on one hit for the Aeros.
De La Cruz (4-5) earned his third consecutive win, delivering six spotless innings with seven strikeouts against only three hits and three walks. The left-hander, who turns 22 years old Sunday, improved to 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in five starts in July and his recent winning streak follows a 10-game stretch with no victories. Taubenheim (3-2) took the loss in permitting the first five runs (three earned) in five innings on six hits and three walks.
Eight of the nine Akron batters recorded a single hit but Rivero led the way with a pair of runs scored and two RBI. His home run was his fourth of the season, second against Reading, and the pitching staff’s shutout was their fourth in the month of July.
Akron just announced that left-hander Scott Barnes (5-8, 5.20 ERA) will start Saturday night against Reading righty J.C. Ramirez (2-2, 4.59 ERA).
Clippers two-hit by Ortiz, fall 3-1
It was a different looking Clippers team on Friday night at Huntington Park compared to the previous seven home games, as Ramon Ortiz mowed down Columbus in a 3-1 Buffalo victory. Ortiz pitched a complete game, two-hitter against the best offense in the International League in a game that took just over two hours to complete.
The Clippers scored a combined 54 runs on 86 hits in the first seven games of the home stand against the Bulls and Pawtucket Red Sox, but Ortiz retired the final 16 Clipper hitters he faced and improved his record to 2-3 in 2010. Ortiz only allowed the Clippers to reach base in the fourth inning as Josh Rodriguez doubled to left field, then later scored on a Jared Goedert RBI single to left.
The Clippers only had three at-bats on the night with runners in scoring position, compared to the Bulls going 2-for-10. The Bulls began the scoring in the second inning on Fernando Martinez's eleventh home run of the season off of Yohan Pino. The Bulls would score another in the fourth and again off the bat of Martinez in the sixth, as he drove home his second run with a single to left field, scoring Justin Turner.
Pino returned from the disabled list and pitched well on the night, despite taking the loss, giving up three earned runs on seven hits while striking out four.
The Clippers travel to Louisville to take on the Bats tomorrow night at Slugger field for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch for a short two-game series. Columbus is off Monday before returning to Huntington Park on Tuesday, continuing their series with Louisville.
Kinston Blanks the Blue Rocks Again
K-Tribe pitching was dominant again, as the Indians blanked the Blue Rocks for the second straight night. Kinston starter Joe Gardner picked up his ninth win of the season with a 4-0 Indians win Friday night in Delaware. Gardner (9-5, 2.97) is now second in the Carolina League in wins, trailing only his teammate T.J. McFarland. With the win, Kinston is assured of a series win.
Less than a week ago, Wilmington starting pitcher Bryan Paukovits picked up a win at Kinston. In the game, Kinston managed just five hits and no runs off of the big righty. The second time around Kinston got to the Blue Rocks starter early. In the top of the first inning Karexon Sanchez and Abner Abreu hit back-to-back doubles to give Kinston a 1-0 lead. The K-Tribe would expand the lead in the third frame, starting again with a base hit from Sanchez. Abreu would follow with a single and Chun Chen would drive Sanchez home with an RBI base knock. Kyle Bellows then gave Kinston a 3-0 lead with a two-out triple, driving home Abreu. Sanchez would stay hot with his third hit in as many at bats when he blasted a Paukovits pitch over both sets of billboards in right field for a fifth inning home run. It was his team leading tenth homer of the season and put the Indians up 4-0. Paukovits (3-3) was chased after the inning, giving up four runs on eight hits. Sanchez was a triple short of the cycle, going 3-5 with 3 runs scored and an RBI. Abreu and Bellows each had two hits for Kinston.
Kinston starter Joe Gardner was fantastic, giving up just two hits (both singles) through five innings of work. Gardner walked two and struck out five for his ninth win of the season. Brian Grening was strong in relief, giving up just one hit and no runs while striking out two in two innings of work. David Roberts pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out one. Cory Burns relieved Roberts in the bottom of the ninth, when two errors and a hit batter put two Blue Rocks on with nobody out in the inning. Burns coaxed Wilmington’s Nick Francis into a grounder back to the mound, then had Salvador Perez hit into a line drive double play to end the game. It was the Carolina League leading 19th save of the season for Burns. Kinston now leads the Carolina League with ten shutouts. It is the first time that the Indians have posted back-to-back shutouts this season.
The K-Tribe finishes up series and roadtrip Saturday night at 6:05 pm in Wilmington. The K-Tribe will have an off day on Sunday and start a seven game homestand Monday in Kinston.
Whitecaps Sink Captains 1-0
Hernan Perez hit his third home run of the year to plate the only run of game as the West Michigan Whitecaps shut out the Lake County Captains 1-0 on Friday. The Whitecaps swept the series and handed the Captains a season high fifth straight loss.
Captains starter Brett Brach (2-6) took the loss pitching seven innings and allowing one run on three hits, walking one and striking out three. Nick Sarianides followed Brach and threw a scoreless inning allowing one hit and walking one. Antwonie Hubbard came on in the ninth inning and threw a scoreless inning allowing two hits and striking out one.
Whitecaps starter Trevor Feeney (8-10) got the win working 7.1 scoreless innings allowing five hits while striking out three. Jordan Pratt closed out the ballgame working the final 1.2 innings to register his first save of the year.
The Captains travel to South Bend for a quick three game series beginning on Saturday at 5:30 PM. The Captains will have LHP Giovanni Soto (6-6, 2.61) on the bump against the Silver Hawks RHP Diogenes Rosario (4-4, 3.52).
Scrappers lose rubber match to Jammers, 5-0
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers lost the rubber match of a three-game series to the Jamestown Jammers 5-0 Friday night at Diethrick Park.
Alex Kaminsky suffered his third loss of the season for the Scrappers lasting four innings, giving up two runs on six hits and striking out six. Isaac Morales came in from the bullpen for the Jammers and recorded the win pitching four shutout innings. Dan DeGeorge led the way offensively for the Scrappers on the night going 2-3.
The Scrappers will head home for a two-game series with the Williamsport Crosscutters beginning Saturday night at Eastwood Field. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
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