Game Recap 7/8: Aeros Win in Extras

Bullpen Leads Aeros to 4-3 Win in 10 Innings

The Aeros bullpen delivered another dominant performance Thursday night at Canal Park, helping Akron capture a series victory with a 4-3 win in 10 innings against the Trenton Thunder. Three different Aeros relievers combined to allow just one hit and one walk in 6.2 innings pitched in front the 2,506 fans in attendance, as shortstop Carlos Rivero plated Lonnie Chisenhall for the walk-off run in the bottom of the 10th. Akron (43-43) is now 1.5 games behind the wild card spot in the Eastern League’s Western Division after winning three out of four games against the Thunder (52-34).

Trenton shortstop Luis Nunez started the first inning against Aeros starter Kelvin De la Cruz with a leadoff home run into the canal in left field. De La Cruz stranded a runner on third base to end the frame and the hosts responded quickly in the bottom of the second.

First baseman Beau Mills began the rally with a single to right field, Rivero drew a walk, a wild pitch advanced both runners and Mills scored on an RBI groundout by Damaso Espino. Tim Fedroff then gave Akron a 2-1 advantage with a seeing-eye single to right and Jordan Henry ended the outburst a run-scoring double down the right field.

The lefty De La Cruz allowed another solo homer in the third to Thunder first baseman Marcos Vechionacci and struggled with his control in the fourth. He walked the bases loaded with just one out and left the game in favor of reliever Bryan Price, who avoided further damage by forcing an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

Price retired all seven batters he faced and Connor Graham entered the game for the Aeros in the top of the seventh inning. Nunez greeted him with a stand-up triple past a diving Henry in center, and a two-out wild pitch tied the score at 3-3.

The Thunder stranded a runner on third in the eighth and Akron finally ended the contest in the 10th. Jason Kipnis started with a fly out and then reliever Kevin Whelan walked three straight to load the bases. Rivero chopped a slow grounder to Justin Snyder at second base and his throw home was just late as Chisenhall scored the game-winning run.

Reliever Zach Putnam (4-1) earned the win for Akron and struck out his first five opponents to highlight two perfect innings while Whelan (1-2) took the loss. De La Cruz allowed six hits and four walks in just 3.1 innings pitched but did not factor into the decision because of the efforts of the three-headed relieving corps. Price, Graham and Putnam combined for 10 strikeouts and allowed only two base runners the rest of the way.

Fedroff was the offensive leader on the night for the hosts as he finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Three double plays, including two via a strikeout and caught stealing, hurt the rallies for the Aeros and the team was just 2-for-12 with men in scoring position.

Indy, rain knock out Clippers

Home cooking hasn't agreed with the Clippers this week. Fresh off a seven-game winning streak, Columbus returned home and has now dropped three straight, the latest coming in a rain-shortened 3-2 loss Wednesday night against Indianapolis.

The Clippers jumped out to an early lead when Jared Goedert homered for the third consecutive game. His two-run blast in the first inning would account for the team's only runs, however.

Indy got a bases-loaded single and walk in the third to tie the game, before Columbus starter Josh Tomlin struck out the side. In the fifth, Jeff Clement hit a towering home run, a solo shot that proved to be the game winner.

After a delay of more than one hour and 15 minutes, the game was called as rain continued to pummel Huntington Park. The Clippers put the leadoff man on in the sixth, but never got a chance to finish the frame. The game officially lasted five innings.

Tomlin took the loss for the Clippers to fall to 8-3 on the season. Indy's Brian Burres improved to 2-3 with the win.

Salem Takes K-Tribe 7-2

Salem broke open a tight game with four runs in the third inning, going on to beat Kinston 7-2 Thursday night at Historic Grainger Stadium.

After scoring an unearned run on a passed ball in the first inning off of Kinston starter Joe Gardner, Salem added to the lead in the third. With two-outs and one on in the third inning, Gardner walked his second batter of the inning. Oscar Tejeda followed with an RBI double to give Salem a 2-0 lead. Will Middlebrooks drew another walk to load the bases. Jorge Padron then cleared the bases with a double, giving Salem a 5-0 lead. Gardner was taken from the game before the inning ended, giving up two hits, walking four and hitting a batter in the third frame. Gardner (6-4) took the loss, giving up five runs on three hits in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out three and tied a season high with five walks.

Kinston would score their only two runs of the game on an RBI triple by Karexon Sanchez in the fifth inning and an RBI ground-out by Bo Greenwell later in the frame. Greenwell, Sanchez and Lucas Montero each had two hits for Kinston. Chris Jones gave up two runs on five hits in three innings from the K-Tribe pen. Travis Turek and Corey Burns combined for 3 1/3 hitless innings for Kinston. Salem starter Mark Holliman (2-0) picked up the win, giving up two runs on six hits. Will Latimer picked up the save with 3 1/3 innings of two hit ball. The duo combined to strikeout 15 K-Tribe batters.

TinCaps Defeat Captains 2-1

The Captains feel to the TinCaps on Thursday night by the final of 2-1. Wande Olabisi RBI single in the fifth inning drove in the second run for Fort Wayne as they even up the series with Lake County.

Jason Hagerty doubled to start off the fifth inning for the TinCaps. First baseman Nate Freiman drove in the game's first run with a single to left center. Fort Wayne led to 2-0.

In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Lake County responded after a Greg Folgia leadoff double. Argenis Martinez laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Folgia over to third. Delvi Cid collected his third hit of the game with an RBI single cutting the lead in half at 2-1.

Hayden Beard (3-3) picked up the win out of the bullpen throwing 3.0 innings allowing a run on five hits striking out a pair. Vidal Nuno (3-3) suffered the loss allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven. Nick Schumacher picked up his 18th save of the season pitching the ninth giving up just one base hit.

Crane's wild pitch helps Scrappers walk off

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers came back from a 5-3 deficit to beat the Vermont Lake Monsters 6-5 on a Dustin Crane wild pitch that allowed Carlos Moncrief to score from third.

The win put the Scrappers back at .500 at 10-10. The Lake Monsters fell to 15-5 on the 2010 season.

Crane gave up all three runs in the ninth inning blowing a save opportunity and picking up his first loss of the season.

Takafumi Nakamura came in from the bullpen and picked up his win of the season for the Scrappers pitching two innings, allowing one earned run on two hits and walking one.

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