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| Casey Frawley (Photo: Lianna Holub) |
In the longest game in the 66 year history of the Carolina League, it took 23 innings for Kinston to walk off with a 3-2 victory Sunday afternoon/evening at Historic Grainger Stadium. Casey Frawley hit the run scoring single to plate Roberto Perez and end the 6 ½ hour affair. Down to their last out, Myrtle Beach tied the score at two, with a hit from Mitch Hilligoss (who was down to last strike) in the top of the ninth inning.
In the 36,601 games played in the Carolina League, no game has surpassed the 21 inning mark. Wilmington beat Danville 3-2 in 21 innings on July 5th 1998. The game featured 15 pitchers, while 27 different players had a plate appearance.
The Pelicans got to Kinston starter Brett Brach in the top of the fourth inning. Ryan Strausborger led off the inning with a walk. A ground out got Strausborger to third base. With two outs in the inning, Strausborger scored on a wild pitch. Carolina League strikeout leader Joe Wieland kept Kinston scoreless through the first four innings, until Roberto Perez led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo home runs. The big shot to left field was his first of the season. The home run tied the score at one.
Both starting pitchers would not figure in the decision as both were pulled after six innings. Brach went six innings, giving up one run on three hits. He walked two and struck out three. Wieland struck out nine batters, giving up one run on four hits. He did not walk a batter.
With Myrtle Beach reliever Kennill Gomez on the mound, Perez played the role of hero again. With two outs in the inning Perez hit a double. Justin Toole then banged a single to center to score Perez and give Kinston a 2-1 lead. Perez is hitting over .435 in his last ten games.
Kinston handed a one run lead to Preston Guilmet in the top of the ninth inning. David Paisano and Santiago Chirino delivered back-to-back singles with one out. After pinch hitter Jared Hoying lined out to right field, Paisano tagged and went to third. Leury Garcia then walked to load the bases. Hilligoss was down to his last strike when he put a grounder through the left side of the infield to plate Paisano and tie the game at two. On the play Tyler Holt threw out Santiago Charino at home to keep the game tied. It was the first blown save in 15 tries for Guilmet.
The next 13 innings provided back and forth drama, with the true heroes being from both bullpens. Jose Flores, Francisco Jimenez, Tyler Sturdevant, Kyle Landis and Chris Jones combined for 14 innings of shutout baseball. The five gave up a total of five hits. Jimenez went a season high five innings, giving up two hits while striking out eight.
In the bottom of the 23rd inning, with Pelicans reliever Kasey Kiker on the mound, Roberto Perez led off with a single. Toole then delivered a sacrifice bunt to advance Perez to second base. After a Chase Burnette ground out got Perez to third base, Frawley delivered the run scoring single. Perez went 3-for-4 on the night with three runs scored.
Chris Jones (2-0) got the win for Kinston, Kiker (1-2) took the loss. Kinston left 21 men on base, Myrtle Beach stranded 16 as the Pelicans went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
The homestand continues as the Salem Sox come to Kinston for four games in three days Monday through Wednesday. The series begins with a double header on Monday. Game time 4:30 pm at Historic Grainger Stadium. Game one pitcher is T.J. House, game two pitcher is Clayton Cook.
Clippers explode past Buffalo
Some instant offense put the Bisons away early as the Columbus Clippers cruised to a 10-4 victory to take a 2-0 series lead Sunday afternoon.
Columbus ended starter Josh Stinson's effort after two innings, scoring six runs (all earned) on six hits with four walks and two strikeouts. Stinson needed 45 pitches to escape the first and 76 overall.
International League steals leader Ezequiel Carrera worked a leadoff walk for the second game in a row before scoring on Jason Kipnis' sixth triple of the season. Kipnis found home on a wild pitch later in the inning.
Shelley Duncan, in his fourth game since being sent to Columbus by the Cleveland Indians, padded the lead with a three-run home run to left in the second.
With two men on base, the Bisons threatened to cut the lead but Columbus third baseman Josh Rodriguez made a diving catch to end the inning on a hard liner by Mike Nickeas. Nickeas hit doubles in his next two at-bats, scoring in the ninth as part of a three-run rally. Figueroa, Michael Fisher and Fernando Martinez collected consecutive two-out RBI hits before Clippers reliever Justin Germano ended the game with a Pascucci strikeout.
Columbus starter Jeanmar Gomez earned the win, his fourth consecutive start allowing one earned run.
Jared Goedert and Luke Carlin tacked four more runs on back-to-back home runs in the ninth to seal a victory.
Aeros Break Out Brooms, Sweep Senators
The Akron Aeros completed a three-game series sweep of the Harrisburg Senators Sunday winning the finale 5-4 at Metro Bank Park.
The three-game sweep was the first of the Aeros season and first since Akron took three straight from the New Britain Rock Cats August 13-15, 2010 at Canal Park.
Right-hander Paolo Espino made a spot start for the Aeros and recorded the win tossing six innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits and striking out four while walking just one. Right-handed pitcher Cory Burns worked a scoreless bottom of the ninth inning to earn his 16th save of 2011. Burns struck out two of the three batters he faced.
Righty Brad Peacock suffered the loss for Harrisburg pitching 6.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and striking out 10 while walking just one.
The Senators (34-27) got on the board in the bottom of the first inning on a Tyler Moore RBI sacrifice fly.
The Aeros (31-33) answered in the top of the second inning. Chun Chen led off with a single and advanced to third on a Nick Weglarz double. Matt McBride followed with a sacrifice fly scoring Chen and tying the game 1-1. With one out, Karexon Sanchez singled home Weglarz to give the Aeros a 2-1 lead.
The Senators tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the second inning on a Jonathan Tucker RBI single.
The game remained tied until the Aeros half of the seventh inning. With one out, Kyle Bellows reached on a fielding error and advanced to third on a Tim Fedroff single. Juan Diaz and Beau Mills followed with back-to-back RBI singles to give Akron a 4-2 lead. Following a pitching change, Chen doubled home Diaz to give the Aeros a 5-2 lead.
The Senators rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, but drew no closer as Akron went on to the sweep.
The Aeros are off Monday and will begin a six-game homestand Tuesday as they host the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Akron will give the ball to left-handed pitcher Kelvin De La Cruz, who is 4-3 with a 3.42 ERA in 2011. He will face right-handed pitcher Joel Carreno, who is 4-4 with a 3.38 ERA this season. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
Captains Fall 7-2, Swept by Beloit
Lake County lost 7-2 on Sunday afternoon to Beloit as the Snappers completed the three game sweep of the Captains. Lake County finished the road trip with a 1-5 record.
Beloit scored their first three runs of the game over the first two innings with just one hit off Captains’ starter Mike Goodnight. Wang-Wei Lin singled in a pair of runs in the second inning giving the Snappers a 3-0 lead.
In the fifth, Nate Striz walked a pair of Beloit hitters. Jairo Perez hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Nate Roberts. Lance Ray doubled in Daniel Ortiz giving the Snappers a 5-0 advantage.
Michael Gonzales hit his eighth homerun of the season with a solo homerun off Captain reliever Rob Bryson in the seventh inning as Beloit went up 6-0.
The made it 7-0 in the eighth inning scoring on run of three Lake County errors. Lin reached on a Argenis Martinez throwing error and scored on a ball hit through the legs of Nick Barlolone.
The Captains for the second straight day avoided being shutout in the ninth inning. Jesus Aguilar recorded his second hit of the afternoon with a double to right field. Ronny Rodriguez unloaded on a two-run bomb to leftfield for his fourth homerun of the season making it 7-2.
A.J. Achter (1-1) picks up the win for Beloit tossing six scoreless innings on just three hits, walking two and striking out six. Mike Goodnight (5-4) takes the loss allowing three runs on two hits in three innings of work, walking four and striking out two, while hitting two batters.
Lake County returns to Eastlake to take on Great Lakes on Tuesday night at Classic Park with first pitch scheduled at 7:00PM. The Captains will start RHP Kyle Blair (3-4) against a TBA for the Loons.
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