For the past few days, the talk has been about the Clippers holding of Buffalo to earn the wild card spot in the International League playoffs. Now they'll have a chance to hold off Louisville for the West Division title.
Columbus got a great start from Paolo Espino and timely hits from Cord Phelps and Jared Goedert, winning their third straight against the Indianapolis Indians, 5-2. Coupled with Louisville's loss to Toledo, the Clippers regained the division lead by a half-a-game.
Espino struck out seven in seven innings. Two of the three hits he allowed came in Indy's two-run third, on Brandon Moss' double. Espino set the final 13 batters he faced down in order. Jess Todd and Vinnie Pestano shut the door in the final innings, with Pestano picking up his 14th save .
Phelps doubled in the fourth and later scored on Goedert's team-leading 20th home run of the season, tying the game at 2. Phelps then broke the tie in the fifth, doubling home Josh Rodriguez with a big two-out hit.
Matt McBride, who replaced Phelps as a pinch-hitter, added some insurance with an RBI-double in the top of the ninth, scoring the newly-minted IL Postseason All-Star, Jose Constanza. Wes Hodges then singled home McBride, giving Pestano a comfortable cushion.
It wasn't all good news for the Clippers, however, as ace Carlos Carrasco, who was scheduled to pitch on Wednesday, will instead take his talents to Cleveland (with Major League rosters set to expand).
As a result, the Clippers will play Indy for the final time on Wednesday, with newcomer Corey Kluber on the mound. Kluber, a right-hander who was acquired by the Cleveland organization from San Diego, as part of the Jake Westbrook trade, will be promoted from Akron to take on righty Joe Martinez (1-2, 6.17).
Aeros Light Up Thunder 10-4
The Aeros were triumphant over Trenton 10-4 as Akron scored in each of its first five innings and had seven batters with multiple hits Tuesday night at Waterfront Park. Akron improves to 70-66 and gains a game in the wild card race while the Thunder falls to 79-57.
Akron started hot as second baseman Jason Kipnis sparked the first inning with a triple to right field. After a walk by third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall, designated hitter Jerad Head hit an RBI single to score Kipnis. First baseman Beau Mills then highlighted the inning with a three-run home run to right field. Trenton cut the Aeros lead to 4-2 after a pair of RBI singles by Austin Romine and Marcos Vechionacci in the bottom of the first.
The Aeros added to their advantage in the next two frames. A Kipnis double allowed right fielder Lucas Montero to score from second in the second and Mills scored on a sacrifice bunt by catcher Juan Apodaca in the third. However, the Thunder responded once again on another pair of RBI singles by Daniel Brewer and Romine to make the score 6-4.
It was the closest Trenton would get as Akron broke the game open in the following couple of innings. Head hit an RBI-double to score center fielder Jordan Henry and Chisenhall in the fourth and Montero followed with a two-RBI single through the hole at second base to plate shortstop Cristo Arnal and Apodaca in the fifth for a 10-4 Aeros lead.
Both teams remained scoreless from there on out. Right-handed reliever Steven Wright earned the win improved to 2-1. The Torrance, Calif. native gave up four hits and struck out three during his time in the middle three innings. Cory Arbiso took the loss to fall to 5-4 after giving up 10 runs (nine earned) on 13 hits with three walks and three strikeouts in four innings of work.
With the win, Akron gains a game in the Western Division wild card chase as Harrisburg fell 1-0 to New Hampshire in extra innings and Altoona defeated Bowie 9-1. The Aeros are now 2.5 back of the second-place Senators and two games behind the Baysox with six pivotal games remaining in the regular season.
The Aeros will attempt to gain another game on their wild card rivals Wednesday against Trenton’s Andrew Brackman (3-7, 3.23 ERA). Because of right-handed starter Corey Kluber’s promotion to Class AAA Columbus, a starter for Wednesday has yet to be determined.
Kinston Wins Their Seventh Straight Game
The K-Tribe rallied with nine unanswered runs to beat Frederick 9-2 in their series opener on Tuesday night in Maryland. Kinston has won a season-high seven straight contests and 12 of 15 overall, and now has a magic number of six to clinch a playoff spot.
Frederick struck first with a couple of unearned runs off of Kinston starter Marty Popham in the second inning. With one-out in the inning, Kinston shortstop Juan Diaz was charged with an error on a ground ball from LJ Hoes. With two outs in the inning, the Keys would make the Indians pay when Tyler Townsend delivered a two-run home run. Popham gave up only one other hit after the home run, allowing two unearned runs in six innings of work. Popham (4-4) gets the win, striking out two and walking one.
Frederick’s starter Ryan O’Shea went just three innings because of a pitch count, giving up three hits and no runs. In the top of the fourth inning, Kinston would start a comeback against Keys reliever Nate Nery. The frame started with a one-out double from Chun Chen. Kyle Bellows then hit a two-run home run to even the score. It was Bellows tenth home run of the season, tying him with Karexon Sanchez for the most on the K-Tribe. In the fifth inning, the Indians got it going again starting with a lead-off double from Doug Pickens. The blast barely missed getting over the right field wall. Pickens would finally get home later in the inning with a two-out RBI double from Sanchez. The extra base hit gave Kinston a 3-2 lead.
In the top of the seventh inning, Kinston loaded the bases with one-out, chasing Nery from the game. Reliever John Mariotti then came in from the Keys bullpen and coaxed Jeremie Tice into a tailor made double play ball to third baseman Billy Rowell. Rowell delivered to second base for the first half of the double play, but L.J. Hose threw low to first base. The error bounced into the stands and allowed two runs to score. Nery (5-9) was on the hook for five runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Travis Turek threw two scoreless innings of relief and David Roberts pitched a perfect ninth.
The K-Tribe poured it on with four runs in the top of the ninth. Chen hit a two-run double, Bellows had an RBI double and Pickens hit an RBI single. Six K-Tribers had multiple hits as Kinston belted out 14 hits on the night. Greenwell and Sanchez each had three hits on the night. Bellows hit a home run in his second straight contest, going 2-for-5 with three RBI.
The K-Tribe continues the four games at Frederick with a 7pm game on Wednesday night. T.J. McFarland will be on the hill for Kinston.
Captains’ Sweep Hawks with 1-0 Win
The Captains had Argenis Martinez standing on second with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Delvi Cid hit a chopper to short, Cid’s speed caused a bad throw from Victor Estevez scoring Martinez and giving the Captains a 1-0 win on Tuesday night. Lake County completed the four game sweep of South Bend.
Jose Flores (1-1) picked up his first win the season pitching 1.1 innings to finish the game. Diogenis Rosario (4-9) took the loss giving up a run on two hits striking out two. Captains’ starter Francisco Jimenez was great in his second career start tossing five scoreless innings allowing just three hits and striking out four.
Lake County will make their final road trip of the regular season up in Midland, MI for a three game series with Great Lakes. The Captains will start RHP Trey Haley (5-10) and the Loons will start RHP Matt Magill (7-4).
Scrappers lose late, split series with Doubledays
J.D. Reichenbach allowed a two-run home run to Lance Durham in the top of the ninth that proved to be the difference as the Mahoning Valley Scrappers lost the finale of a two-game series to the Auburn Doubledays 3-1 Tuesday night at Eastwood Field.
The Scrappers rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning loading the bases, but closer Dayton Marze struck out Carlos Moncrief with two outs to end the game and earn the save for the Doubledays.
With the loss, the Scrappers fell to 29-42 on the season, while the Doubledays improved to 32-38.
Reichenbach suffered the loss for the Scrappers pitching two innings and giving up the Durham two-run home run. Michael Kelly pitched two scoreless innings of relief and got the win for the Doubledays.
The Scrappers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when the Doubledays' Yeico Aponte dropped a Moises Montero fly ball in left field allowing Nick Bartolone to score.
The Scrappers held the lead until the top of the sixth inning when Steve McQuail hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Jon Fernandez and tie the game 1-1.
The game remained tied until the top of the ninth inning when Reichenbach walked Carlos Perez and gave up a two-run home run to Durham that gave the Doubledays a 3-1 lead.
Marze came on to close it out in the bottom of the frame and got into trouble. Kevin Rucker and Moises Montero hit back-to-back singles to start the ninth and Aaron Fields bunted them to second and third base with one out. Marze battled back to strike out Trent Baker but walked Nick Bartolone to load the bases for Moncrief. With a 0-1 count, Moncrief just missed doubling home all three runs to win the game fouling a pitch down the left field line. Moncrief couldn't catch up to Marze's next offering and struck out to end the game.
The Scrappers will look to get back to their winning ways as they head to Williamsport to open a two-game series against the Crosscutters Wednesday night. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
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