Game Recap 8/19: Seastrunk Fuels Win

Seastrunk blasts Scrappers to 4-2 win over Muckdogs

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers won game one of a three-game series against the Batavia Muckdogs 4-2 tonight at Eastwood Field.

Diego Seastrunk hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning with the Scrappers trailing 2-0. His home run proved to be the turning point as the Scrappers won their second straight game.

Matt North allowed the Seastrunk home run and suffered his second loss of the 2010 season.

Mike Rayl picked up his first win of the season pitching six innings, giving up two runs on four hits and striking out six. Rayl has now pitched through the sixth inning twice this season.

Clayton Ehlert worked a scoreless ninth to earn his sixth save.

The Muckdogs got on the board first off of Rayl in the top of the second inning when Adam Melker hit a two-RBI single into left field to make it 2-0.

The Scrappers threatened in the bottom of the third and fifth innings putting runners on in both frames, but Muckdog starter Zach Russell was able to get out of trouble and preserve the 2-0 lead.

Russell was replaced by North in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Scrappers again threatened. Back-to-back singles to start the inning by Chase Burnette and Jesus Aguilar brought the go ahead run to the plate in the presence of Seastrunk. With a 0-1 count, Seastrunk hit a three-run home run to right field to give the Scrappers a 3-2 lead.

Mahoning Valley added a run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a Brian Heere RBI double that scored Seastrunk to make it 4-2.

The two-run lead was enough for Ehlert, who worked a scoreless top of the ninth to earn the save.

Yankees get to Huff early, rout Clippers

David Huff had been given eight runs-per-game of support during his 7-0 campaign as a Clipper, but he didn't get any help Wednesday night at Huntington Park, as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees routed Columbus, 9-2.

The Yankees got to Huff early with three runs in the opening inning. With two outs in the frame, Jesus Montero hit a mile-high pop-up that carried into right field and was initially called a foul ball, but the call was overturned and ruled a home run off of the foul pole. After that, Huff surrendered two singles, hit a batter and then gave up a two-run double, before recording the final out.

The Yankees picked up a single run in the third, added three in the seventh, after Huff had departed, and picked up two more in the eighth on a colossal home run from Juan Miranda that cleared the scoreboard in right-center.

The lone run for the Clippers came in the seventh, when Jose Constanza singled home Matt McBride. The run was charged to Ivan Nova (12-3), who allowed five hits and struck out seven in six-and-two-thirds innings.

Luke Carlin added his third Triple-A home run of the season in the ninth to cap the scoring.

The Columbus loss, coupled with a dramatic grand slam, walk-off win for Louisville, cuts the division lead to a game-and-a-half for the Clippers.

Reading Pulls Out 3-2 Win in 10 Over Aeros

The Aeros took the Phillies into extra innings Wednesday night, but could not pull out the win as they dropped a 3-2 decision on the road. Both starting pitchers allowed two-run home runs, but remained solid otherwise in front of the 6,001 in attendance at FirstEnergy Stadium. Akron fell to 63-59 while Reading improved to 59-62.

The scoring began in the top of the fourth inning when designated hitter Jerad Head extended his hit streak to 16 games with a two-run home run over the left field fence, scoring second baseman Jason Kipnis, who reached on a walk.

The R-Phils tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when Michael Spidale singled to left field and Tagg Bozied hit his third home run of the series to even the score 2-2. After three shutout innings by both teams, Reading scored the deciding run when John Suomi scored after a fielding error by first baseman Beau Mills and a throwing error by Kipnis.

Akron’s starting pitcher Scott Barnes earned a no decision despite limiting the Phillies to just two runs on four hits. He struck out five and walked one over six strong innings. Closer Omar Aguilar (2-5) was tagged with the loss on an unearned run with one out in the 10th.

Reading’s starter J.C. Ramirez also took a no decision in allowing two runs on five hits, while striking out six and walking two over six innings. Jason Anderson (1-5) earned the win in giving up just one hit while fanning one and walking one in an inning of work.

Potomac Takes Down Kinston 9-1

Tyler Moore's first-inning grand slam lifted Potomac to a 9-1 win over Kinston on Wednesday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. It was just the second time in nine tries that Potomac has won in Kinston this season.

K-Tribe starter T.J. McFarland didn't make it out of the first inning as Potomac got off to a hot start. Francisco Soriano singled to left to start the game and Sean Nicol followed with an infield hit. Derek Norris walked to load the bases and Tyler Moore hit a grand slam to left center to give the Nationals a 4-0 lead. It was Moore's Carolina League-leading 25th homer of the season. The next batter, Sean Rooney made it back-to-back homers with a solo shot to left to make it 5-0.

McFarland (10-5) was removed from the game after two-thirds of an inning, giving up five runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out one.

Potomac came back for more in the third inning against Indians reliever David Roberts. With one out, Nick Moresi walked and Dan Lyons was hit by a pitch. Chris Curran then hit a double to the gap in right center to score Moresi. Soriano and Nicol each followed with RBI singles to extend the lead to 8-0. Moore added an RBI single to left to make it 9-0.

Kinston got into the scoring column when Chun Chen led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a monster home run to left field.

There was a bit of drama in the sixth inning when Trevor Holder threw a pitch that went behind Kinston's Chun Chen. Holder was thrown out of the game and Potomac manager Gary Cathcart was also tossed for arguing the decision. Holder (2-2) went 5 2/3 innings for the win. He allowed a run on three hits, walked three and struck out five.

Kinston's bullpen would settle things down when Tyler Sturdevant and Brian Grening combined to throw five innings of two hit ball. Sturdevant struck out four in three frames and Grening struck out five in two innings of work. Kinston infielder Justin Toole, pitched a perfect ninth inning which including a knee buckling called strike three of Potomac hitter Dan Lyons.

Rods' Bortick 3-RBI Night Defeats Captains 6-2

Bowling Green's Tyler Bortnick, a native of Mentor drove in three runs as the Hot Rods defeated the Captains 6-2 on Wednesday night.

Bowling Green kicked off the fifth inning with back to back base hits by Cody Rogers and Bennett Davis. Dustin Biell laid down a sacrifice bunt pushing both runners into scoring position. Bortnick singled past the shortstop Argenis Martinez to drive in Rogers the game's first run. Ty Morrison followed up with a single to score Davis and the Hot Rods lead 2-0.

In the fifth, Bowling Green took advantage of two Lake County errors scoring three more runs. Ryan Wiegand reached on a single and was retired on a fielder's choice by Mark Thomas. Julio Cedeno reached on an error on third baseman Adam Abraham. Then an error by first baseman Jason Smit on a ball hit by Rogers loaded the bases. Davis was hit in the back by a Nick Sarianides pitch bringing in Thomas to make it 3-0. Bortnick collected his second hit of the game with a single to center, scoring Cedeno and Rogers giving the Hot Rods a 5-0 lead.

Bowling Green added a run in the ninth, a one out single by Ty Morrison who scored on an RBI single by Ryan Wiegand to make it 6-0.

It was too little too late for the Captains in the ninth. Tyler Holt walked to lead off the inning. Delvi Cid singled up the middle to put two runners on for Lake County. Adam Abraham singled to leftfield to score Holt, the leftfielder Dustin Biell's error allowed Cid to also score on the play. The Captains cut into the lead making it 6-2.

Hot Rods' starter Kyle Lobstein (8-6) picked up the win tossing seven scoreless innings giving up just four hits, striking out seven. Owen Dew (0-1) suffered the loss in relief pitching 2.1 innings giving up two runs on four hits, walking three and striking out two. Captains' starter Clayton Cook left the game early after working two innings not allowing hit walking two and striking out one.

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