The Aeros defeated the New Britain Rock Cats 10-6 in a slugfest Saturday night, jumping back to their winning ways the night after snapping a season-high six-game losing streak. Third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall homered twice in the final three innings as Akron overcame a rough Double-A debut from left-hander T.J. McFarland in front of 6,489 fans at New Britain Stadium. With the win, the Aeros (58-54) are now 3.5 games behind the Western Division wild card and the Rock Cats fell to 33-81.
Akron started with a bang in the top of the second against New Britain starting pitcher Deolis Guerra. First baseman Beau Mills led off the second with a double and shortstop Carlos Rivero created an early 1-0 advantage with an RBI single to right field.
The lead did not last long as the Rock Cats responded against McFarland in the bottom half of the frame. Erik Lis smashed a two-run homer to right field while a double-steal, double-error play plated two more to create a three-run deficit for the Aeros.
New catcher Juan Apodaca promptly led another rally in the top of the third with a single before back-to-back singles from left fielder Cristo Arnal and center fielder Jordan Henry loaded the bases. A wild pitch scored Apodaca and Akron reclaimed a 6-4 lead on two-run singles from second baseman Jason Kipnis and right fielder John Drennen.
New Britain tied the game in the bottom of that frame on four singles and a run-scoring walk but the visitors re-claimed the edge for good in the fourth. Designated hitter Tim Fedroff started with a double and later scored on Guerra’s third wild pitch of the game.
Reliever Steven Wright led the charge for the Aeros bullpen after that inning and Chisenhall helped the team add to the lead in the seventh. He homered to left-center with one-out in the frame before Drennen recorded another RBI double, and in the ninth, Chisenhall provided for the final margin on yet another blast to right with a full count.
Wright (1-1) earned the victory by recording a pair of shutout innings of relief with three strikeouts and a lone walk. Guerra (2-8) struggled mightily in taking the loss, permitting seven runs on nine hits in just four innings pitched. McFarland allowed six runs (five earned) on nine hits with two walks and five strikeouts in four frames after earning the promotion from Class A Kinston earlier in the day. Akron’s bullpen followed with five innings of one-hit shutout baseball led by performances from Wright and Bryan Price.
Chisenhall finished 3-for-5 on the night with his two homers and three runs scored, now ranking second on the team with 14 home runs this year. Mills, Fedroff, Apodaca and Drennen each collected two hits as well and the latter delivered a game-high three RBI.
The Aeros conclude their weeklong road trip Sunday afternoon at New Britain Stadium with a 1:35 p.m. first pitch time in the series finale against the Rock Cats. Akron ace right-hander Alex White (6-5, 1.84 ERA) hopes to complete the three-game sweep against New Britain’s Kyle Gibson (6-5, 3.61 ERA).
Columbus drops third in a row at Buffalo
The Clippers' struggles continued Saturday night in Buffalo, as Columbus fell to the Bisons, 6-2 for their seventh loss in their last eight games. Columbus was out-hit by Buffalo, 10 to five, as the Clippers only managed one extra-base hit, a double by Jerad Head.
The Bisons quickly jumped on Clippers' starter, Carlos Carrasco, as Kirk Nieuwenhuis led off the game with a single to right field and later scored on a Russ Adams RBI double. The Bisons then chased Carrasco in the sixth as Buffalo tallied three in the frame, highlighted by a Nick Evans two-run home run. Carrasco went 5.2 innings giving up three earned runs on five hits in the losing effort.
The Clippers would get a run in the fifth off the bat of Jose Constanza, as he dropped a single into shallow left field, driving in Argenis Reyes. The Clippers last tally occurred in the seventh when Damaso Espino scored Head on a sacrifice fly to right field.
The Clippers and Bisons will play their last regular season meeting tomorrow, beginning at 1:05 p.m. at Coca-Cola Field. Paolo Espino (0-0, 2.57) gets the start for Columbus against Tobi Stoner (5-9, 6.04) for Buffalo.
Kinston Beats Lynchburg 9-2
Kinston's offense came to life for nine runs on 14 hits in a 9-2 win over Lynchburg on Saturday night at Grainger Stadium. Eight K-Tribe starters reached safely with a hit, led by Bo Greenwell’s 4-for-5 performance. All nine K-Tribe runs were scored with two outs. Kinston starting pitching was great again tonight, as Marty Popham struck out a career high ten batters in five innings of work.
The K-Tribe started the hit parade in the second inning against Hillcats starter Chase Ware. Kyle Bellows singled, Jeremie Tice walked and Donnie Webb was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ronald Rivas then drove a double to the gap in left center field that cleared the bases and gave the Indians a 3-0 lead. Bo Greenwell followed with an RBI single to right to make it 4-0.
Kinston came back for more in the fourth inning. Tice led off the inning with a single and Bo Greenwell blooped a double down the left field line to score Tice and extend the lead to 5-0.
In the fifth, the K-Tribe used an RBI single by Juan Diaz and RBI double by Donnie Webb to make it 7-0.
Popham (2-4) was fantastic, shutting out the Hillcats on three hits in five innings. He struck out a career high ten batters, which also matched Kinston's season high for an individual pitcher.
The Hillcats got on the board in the sixth inning against reliever Tyler Sturdevant. He surrendered a two-run homer to left to Chris Richburg to cut the lead to 7-2.
The K-Tribe addead a run in the sixth on a Kyle Bellows ground rule double. Greenwell's RBI infield single in the sixth capped the scoring for the Indians. Kinston hit a season-high six doubles in the contest. Bo Greenwell matched a team season high with four hits and also had three RBI. Tice went 3-for-3 with three runs scored Kinston’s Matt Langwell through a perfect ninth inning to finish the game.
The series and homestand finale will be Sunday at 2 pm at Historic Grainger Stadium. Joey Mahalic will start for the K-Tribe.
Hawks Blank Captains 2-0
The Silver Hawks Ramon Castillo broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the eighth inning with a two out RBI single to score David Nick. South Bend took the first game of the four game series over the Captains 2-0.
The Hawks were not finished in the eighth inning. After Nick Sarianides came into relieve Clayton Cook Errol Hollinger grounded to short and reached on an Argenis Martinez error loading the bases. David Narodowski drew a walk to drive in a run scoring Matt Davidson to make it 2-0.
Brian Budrow (4-2) picked up the win tossing two scoreless innings giving up two hits and striking out two. Cook (5-7) suffered the loss going 7.2 allowing two runs, one of them earned, walking three and striking out five. Hawks’ starter Andrew Walcott was solid in a no-decision throwing seven scoreless on three hits striking out four.
Lake County and South Bend will continue their four games series from Coveleski Stadium on Sunday afternoon at 2:00PM. Throwing for the Captains in game two will be LHP Vidal Nuno (5-4) against the Hawks’ RHP Scottie Allen (3-4).
Scrappers pummel IronBird pitching
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers won game one of a three-game series against the Aberdeen IronBirds 9-2 Saturday night at Eastwood Field. Giovanny Urshela, Carlos Moncrief and Jesus Aguilar hit home runs to lead the Scrappers offensively.
Tyler Sexton gave up all three of those home runs and picked up the loss for the IronBirds lasting 4.2 innings, giving up seven runs on five hits and walking three. Takafumi Nakamura came in from the bullpen to pick up his third win of the season pitching two shutout innings and striking out two. Nick Kirk recorded his team high sixth save pitching 1.2 innings and striking out three.
The Scrappers will play game two of this three-game series on Sunday night. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Lianna Holub
Everything on this site is free, but for those interested in making any monetary contributions to help support the stability and growth of this site please click on the "Donate" button below.
0 comments:
Post a Comment