Game Recap 8/5: Soto Solid in Win

Captains Use The Long Ball in 6-1 Win

All but one of the Lake County Captains runs came via the long ball as they defeated the Dayton Dragons 6-1 on Thursday. The Captains hit three home runs in the game.

Roberto Perez hit a two run home run in the bottom of the second inning to give the Captains a 2-0 lead. It was Perez's fifth homer of the year and his second in the series. The Dragons cut the lead in half in the top of the third inning when Ryan LaMarre singled home Jonathan Kaskow and it was 2-1. The Captains got the run right back in the bottom of the inning when Delvi Cid hit is second homerun of the year and the lead was 3-1. The lead went to 5-1 when Jason Smit smacked his seventh home run of the year, a two run shot in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Captains added a run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Smit knocked in Adam Abraham to make it 6-1.

Captains starter Giovanni Soto (8-6) got the win pitching six innings and allowing one run on two hits, walking two and striking out three. Preston Guilmet came on in the seventh inning to pick up his ninth save of the year throwing three scoreless innings allowing two hits and striking out four.

Dayton starter Ricky Bowen (2-6) took the loss working four innings allowing five runs on five hits, walking two while striking out one.

Bullpen can't hold lead, Clippers fall, 11-4

The Columbus Clippers fell to the Buffalo Bisons on Thursday night, 11-4, despite a brilliant pitching performance from Jeremy Sowers. Buffalo pounced on the Clipper bullpen in the seventh and eighth innings, scoring two runs in the seventh and breaking the game open with nine in the eighth.

Justin Turner led off the eighth inning with his seventh home run of the season then later delivered a three-run double to put the game away. Jorge Padilla and Luis Hernandez added to the Bisons' big inning with back-to-back two-run doubles. Carlton Smith gave up seven runs, all earned, on just five hits.

Sowers, making a spot start for Columbus, faced 16 batters, one over the minimum, and only allowed a leadoff single by Hernandez in the third inning. Sowers induced seven ground ball outs while striking out the side in the fourth inning, five total.

Jared Goedert gave Columbus an early lead in the first inning when he drove home Michael Brantley with an RBI single. Richard Martinez continued to make the best of his time in Columbus as he drove home Ezequiel Carrera in the second inning with an RBI double to right field. For Martinez, he has six RBI's in just three games since being called up.

Columbus would tack on two more in the fourth inning as Jose Constanza and Brantley each doubled and scored in the inning. Brantley went 2-for-5 on the night with an RBI and two runs scored and Goedert and Matt McBride also contributed multi-hit games.

Curve Complete Sweep, Defeat Aeros 6-1

Akron matched a season-high with a sixth straight loss Thursday as the Altoona Curve finished a four-game sweep with a 6-1 victory at Blair County Ballpark. Despite just one earned run charged against Aeros pitchers Kelvin De La Cruz and Nick Hagadone in front of the crowd of 4,316 fans, the offense again could not muster enough support. Altoona improved to 65-46 with the win while fourth-place Akron fell to 56-54 on the season, 4.5 games behind the wild card-leading Bowie Baysox.

Lefty starters De La Cruz and Altoona’s Tony Watson combined to retire the first 21 batters of the contest before a big bottom of the fourth inning. Josh Harrison reached base on a one-out hit by pitch, stole second and third base before scoring on an RBI single from Matt Hague. After a throwing error from De La Cruz, two singles, a balk and a walk followed to give the Curve a quick 4-0 advantage.

Right fielder John Drennen recorded the first Aeros hit in the fifth but Watson cruised through his six frames. Reliever Ramon Aguero entered in the seventh and after stranding a runners, Akron rallied in the eighth. Second baseman Jason Kipnis walked with one out with a runner on first and Lonnie Chisenhall singled to center, scoring Cristo Arnal.

Andrew Lambo singled to start the bottom of that eighth while a throwing error by Chisenhall extended the lead to 5-1. Two batters later, Hagadone permitted an RBI infield single to Yung Chi Chen to provide for the final run of the game.

Watson (4-1) allowed just two hits in his six scoreless frames while earning the victory, striking out three batters in his third start of the year. De La Cruz (4-6) took the loss in allowing four runs (one earned) in his five innings, walking one with five strikeouts but his error was the crucial difference. Hagadone then permitted two more unearned runs with two strikeouts in his three innings pitched because of Chisenhall’s error in the eighth.

Drennen and left fielder Tim Fedroff each collected a pair of hits on the night while Akron finished with only seven runs and 24 hits in the series. The Aeros had gone 36-18 in a stretch from May 31st through July 30th, but have struggled thus far in the month of August.

Lynchburg Beats Kinston 5-1

Lynchburg's three-run eighth inning led to a 5-1 victory over Kinston on Thursday night at Historic Grainger Stadium.

Early on, a pitcher's duel broke out at Grainger Stadium for the third consecutive night. Kinston's Joe Gardner and Lynchburg's Curtis Partch each had outstanding outings and kept the game scoreless until the sixth.

Kinston finally broke the tie in the bottom of the sixth inning. Karexon Sanchez reached on an infield single and moved to second on a balk. Jeremie Tice ripped a single to left to score Sanchez and give the K-Tribe a 1-0 lead. Amazingly, Tice is hitting 7-for-13 with 8 RBI with runners in scoring position and two out this season with Kinston.

The Hillcats responded in the top of the seventh. Kyle Day walked to start the frame and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Josh Fellhauer blooped an RBI single to left to tie the game.

Gardner came out after the seventh inning, giving up just a run on four hits. He walked two and struck out three and took a no-decision. The seven innings matched his longest outing of the season.

Lynchburg took the lead in the eighth inning against Indians reliever Travis Turek. Jordan Wideman hit a leadoff double to left and Cody Puckett shot a double just fair down the left field line to score Wideman and make it 2-1. One batter later, Denis Phipps crushed a two-run homer to left to give the Hillcats a 4-1 edge.

Partch (5-8) exited the game after seven innings, allowing a run on seven hits. He walked one and struck out three.

The Hillcats added a run in the ninth on a Shane Carlson double and Jordan Wideman RBI single.

Turek (3-3) took the loss for Kinston, giving up four runs on six hits in two innings. Sanchez, Tice and Diaz each had two hits for Kinston.

Seastrunk's sac fly lifts Scrappers to ninth inning win over ValleyCats

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers beat the Tri-City ValleyCats tonight 3-2 at Eastwood Field on a Diego Seastrunk sacrifice fly and RBI in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Brandt Walker allowed the RBI sacrifice fly to Diego Seastrunk and got the loss for the ValleyCats.

Julio Ramirez picked up the win coming in from the bullpen, pitching two scoreless innings and striking out two.

Chase Burnette continued his hot hitting blasting his third home run in the past two days. He now has a team high seven home runs on the season.

Despite getting a no decision, Alex Kaminsky continued to pitch well lasting five innings, giving up one run on three hits and striking out five.

Posted in: