Kinston swept a doubleheader, beating Frederick 4-3 and 1-0 thanks to two bottom of the eighth inning walk offs Wednesday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. With the wins, the K-Tribe is just ½ game behind Myrtle Beach for the final playoff spot in the Southern Division. Kinston improves to 12-4 in doubleheader games this season.
Bo Greenwell's walk-off sac fly in the bottom of the eighth gave the K-Tribe a 4-3 win over Frederick in game one of Wednesday night's doubleheader at Grainger Stadium.
Kinston got on the board in the first inning against Frederick starter Zach Clark. Bo Greenwell hit a lead-off double off the wall in right. Karexon Sanchez put down a sacrifice bunt but Clark threw low to first, with Greenwell scoring on the error. Sanchez moved to second on a groundout and scored on Chun Chen's RBI single to center to make it 2-0. In the third inning Kinston took a 3-0 lead thanks to a bases loaded, infield single from Doug Pickens.
In the third, Jermie Tice singled and Kyle Bellows walked. Juan Diaz reached on an error to load the bases with two out. Doug Pickens sent a dribbler down the third base line that stayed fair for an infield hit and gave the K-Tribe a 3-0 lead.
Frederick would tie the score in the top of the fourth inning when Tyler Townsend took a Marty Popham pitch over the right field wall for a three-run home run.
Clark exited after five innings for the Keys, giving up three runs, just one earned on five hits. He walked three and struck out six.
Popham conceded three runs on four hits in six innings in a no-decision. He walked two and struck out five.
The game went to extra innings, and it was Kinston that won in the eighth. Juan Diaz singled, Doug Pickens was intentionally walked and Donnie Webb was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Greenwell lifted a fly ball to center field to score Diaz and give the K-Tribe the game one victory. Chris Jones (3-3) picked up the win for Kinston in game one. Jones did not give up a run and struck out three in two innings of work.
In game two, It was a pitcher's duel early as starters T.J. McFarland and Ryan O'Shea kept both offenses off the scoreboard. Kinston's McFarland threw five scoreless innings giving up three hits while striking out seven in the no decision. McFarland's ERA drops to 3.28. Frederick starter Ryan O'Shea was equally potent, giving up just three hits through his first five innings of work.
The K-Tribe had a golden opportunity to score the games first run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Karexon Sanchez reached second base when two Keys outfielders collided trying to field a pop up. The error was given to left fielder Bobby Stevens. Sanchez then advanced to second when Keys catcher Brian Ward sent a pick-off attempt into centerfield for the second error of the inning. Jeremie Tice then grounded out to third base, keeping Sanchez at the hot corner. After a Chun Chen strikeout, Kyle Bellows walked. Abner Abreu grounded out to first to end the inning, keeping the game in a scoreless tie. O'Shea went six innings, giving up three hits and no runs. He walked three and struck out four.
In the eighth inning, Sanchez doubled down the right field line to begin the frame. After a sacrifice bunt by Tice, Chen drew a walk. Bellows was then intentionally walked to load the bases. Abreu was then hit by a pitch for the painful walk-off RBI, scoring Sanchez. John Mariotti (3-5) takes the loss for Frederick. Cory Burns (1-2) gest the win, giving up one hit and striking out one in the top of the eighth. Matt Langwell pitched two innings of one hit ball for Kinston.
The K-Tribe finishes the series with Frederick Thursday night at Historic Grainger Stadium. Joey Mahalic takes the mound for the Indians.
Aeros Take Series At Bowie With 8-1 Win
The Aeros did their part to stay in the wild card hunt, winning their last regular season game against Bowie 8-1. Akron received an excellent effort from left-handed starter Eric Berger in his first start after returning to the team as they improved to 66-64 while the Baysox fell to 68-62.
Berger limited the Baysox batters to just one hit while striking out two and walking two in his first appearance since returning to Akron on Aug. 22. The southpaw earned the win to improve to 5-5 on the year with the Aeros.
Akron started the scoring early with two runs in the first inning. Second baseman Jason Kipnis reached safely on a single to left field and eventually scored the first run after a wild pitch by Bowie starter Eddie Gamboa. Designated hitter Jerad Head then hit a sacrifice fly that allowed third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall cross home plate and made the score 2-0. Right fielder John Drennen and left fielder Tim Fedroff paired up for a third run in the second when Drennen hit a double to left-center field before Fedroff brought him home on a single to right-center.
The Aeros doubled their lead with three runs in the fifth. Fedroff put the wheels in motion with a walk to start the inning. Kipnis pushed him to third on a double to center field, and Chisenhall followed up with an RBI-single that scored Fedroff. Kipnis scored shortly after when he took advantage of a fielding error by Carlos Rojas.
In the seventh, Head crossed home plate after Drennen hit a bases-loaded RBI-single. Catcher Juan Apodaca followed with a groundout that allowed Mills to score from third and give the Aeros a commanding 8-0 lead. Bowie’s only offense also came in the seventh when Joel Guzman his league-leading 29th home run.
Right-handed reliever Steven Wright came on in the seventh for the remainder of the game to record his fifth save of the season, allowing one run on four hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
The Aeros remain 3.5 games behind Harrisburg for the wild card, but are now just two games behind Bowie with 12 games to play. Overall, the Aeros are 10.5 games behind division-leading Altoona.
Clippers fall in 12 innings, 5-4
The Clippers had a chance to make up a game on the Louisville Bats Wednesday, but fell in 12 innings to Toledo on a wild play with Justin Henry scoring from second on Scott Sizemore's infield single. The Mud Hens took four of five from Columbus, winning the final game of the series, 5-4.
Toledo took an early lead, scoring three runs in the second inning, but the Clippers clawed back by scoring single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Ezequiel Carrera scored on a wild pitch after a two-out triple in the third. Wes Hodges hit his 12th home run of the season in the fourth. And Josh Rodriguez came home on an error in the fifth, to tie the game at 3-all.
After the Hens scored a run to retake the lead in the bottom of the fifth, Columbus tied it again in the sixth, when Luke Carlin's sacrifice fly plated Jordan Brown. The Clippers had a chance to take the lead in that same frame, but Drew Sutton was called out at the plate trying to score from second on a Rodriguez single.
So, the score stayed knotted into extra innings. The Clippers nearly won it in the 12th, when Cord Phelps hit a ball off the top of the wall. He ended up with a triple and was stranded at third base.
In the bottom of that same inning, Toledo scored the game-winner, getting a single and a hit batsmen to set the stage for Scott Sizemore, who brought home Henry on some heads-up baserunning.
Scrappers drop game two to Spikes, 3-1
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers put the tying runners on first and second base with no body out in the bottom of the ninth inning, but stranded them against reliever Jason Townsend to drop game two of a three-game series against the State College Spikes 3-1 tonight at Eastwood Field.
Townsend got out of the jam to pick up his sixth save of the season for the Spikes. Kevin Decker came in from the bullpen to get the win for State College pitching four innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out two.
Despite losing game two, the Scrappers got solid pitching form three members of their staff. Starter Michael Goodnight and relievers Kirk Wetmore and Takafumi Nakamura combined to allow only five hits, but the Scrappers offense could only muster one run against Spikes pitching.
Goodnight suffered the loss pitching 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on two hits and walking four.
Adalberto Santos greeted Goodnight rudely in the top of the first inning with a leadoff triple to center field. He later scored on a Matt Curry ground ball that Kevin Fontanez couldn't handle to make it 1-0.
Santos was on at third base in the top of the third inning and again Curry stepped to plate. He singled to chase home Santos and give the Spikes a 2-0 lead.
State College added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning on a Cole White sacrifice fly that made it 3-0.
The Scrappers answered back in the bottom of the frame. Brian Heere singled with one out of Decker and later scored on a Fontanez RBI triple.
Mahoning Valley rallied in the bottom of the ninth with a Diego Seastrunk walk and a Heere single to start the inning. Tyler Cannon laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with one out, but the Scrappers couldn't score and the Spikes held on to win game two.
Note: The Captains won 3-1.
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1 comments:
Rivera and Kipnis turned a ridiculous double play in the 8th inning. One of the best I've ever seen live.
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