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| Photo: Tony Lastoria |
The Akron Aeros brought 10 men to the plate in the top of the seventh inning and scored seven times as they went on to win game two of a three-game series against the New Britain Rock Cats 10-0 Wednesday at New Britain Stadium.
Left-hander Kelvin De La Cruz recorded the win for the Aeros tossing six scoreless innings, giving up just one hit, walking three and striking out three.
Right-handed pitcher Steve Hirschfeld suffered the loss for the Rock Cats pitching six innings, giving up one earned run on six hits, walking five and striking out one.
Wednesday’s game was cut short due to rain with Akron batting in the top of the ninth inning.
The Aeros (28-32) broke a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth inning on a Beau Mills solo home run to right field.
Akron erupted for seven runs in the top of the seventh inning off Rock Cats reliever Blake Martin. Cristo Arnal led off with a single and Tim Fedroff followed with a bunt single. The runners stole second and third and Juan Diaz drove in Arnal on an RBI single to make it 2-0. Mills walked to load the bases and Chun Chen drove in Fedroff on a sacrifice fly to give the Aeros a 3-0 lead. Following a walk, Matt McBride drove in Diaz on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0. Later in the frame, the Aeros took a 5-0 lead on a Daniel Rohlfing passed ball. Karexon Sanchez followed with a two-RBI single that made the lead 7-0. Sanchez scored on Arnal’s second single of the inning to make it 8-0.
The Aeros scored twice in the top of eighth inning and went on to the win.
The Aeros and Rock Cats (31-26) will play the rubber match of this three-game set Thursday morning. Akron will give the ball to right-handed pitcher Joe Gardner, who is 3-4 with a 3.92 ERA in 2011. He will face fellow righty Liam Hendriks, who is 5-2 with a 2.75 ERA this season. First pitch is at 10:35 a.m.
Huff, Clippers stop Rochester again
Behind a solid pitching performance by David Huff, the Clippers beat the Rochester Red Wings at Huntington Park 3-1.
Columbus got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Chad Huffman went yard to left-center field to give the Clippers a 1-0 lead.
The lead would not last long for Columbus. In the top of the fifth, Jeff Bailey singled on a line drive to center field to drive home Mike Hollimon and tie the game 1-1.
With game tied, the Clippers went to work to get the lead back in the bottom half of the inning. Paul Philips led off the inning with a double to left field. After Phillips advanced to third on a Ezequiel Carrera groundout to first, he came home on a Jason Kipnis sacrifice fly to right field to help the Clippers retake the lead 2-1.
The Clippers would again get some offense going in the bottom the sixth. Shelley Duncan reached on a fielding error by Red Wings third baseman Chase Lambin. Nick Johnson followed that up with a single to right field.
After a Chad Huffman strikeout, Luis Valbuena stroked a double down the right field line that knocked in Duncan to increase the Clippers advantage to 3-1. Jared Goedert was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out.
Unfortunately, the Clippers would not do anything more offensively as Phillips flew out to right field and Carrera struck out swinging to end the inning. Joe Martinez and Zach Putnam would then come on to shut the door on Rochester.
Huff (4-2) went 7 innings, giving up one earned run on five hits while striking out three and walking two. Kyle Gibson dropped to 3-5 for Rochester. Zach Putnam picked up his seventh save of the season.
It'll be a pair of lefthanders facing off in an afternoon game in the Arena district. Scot Barnes (3-1) will take the ball for Columbus while Rochester will start Scott Diamond (3-5). First Pitch is at 12:05 pm.
Kinston Beats the Blue Rocks 9-1
The K-Tribe guaranteed at least a series split with the Blue Rocks thanks to a 9-1 victory Wednesday night in Wilmington, Delaware. Kinston totaled double digit hits for the third straight night and for the fifth time in the last seven games. Kinston (30-28) has not lost back-to-back games since May 15th and 16th.
Kinston started the scoring in the top of the fourth inning when Adam Abraham singled and Jeremie Tice hit an opposite field home run. The big shot over both sets of billboards at Frawley Stadium, was his third round tripper of the season. His three home runs have come in just 15 games. The homer came off of Wilmington starter Justin Marks and gave Kinston a 2-0 lead.
Kinston starter T.J. House, coming off of his best start of the season, had a no-hitter going through three innings. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Wilmington broke through with back-to-back single from Whit Merrifield and Yem Prades. After Rey Navarro lined out, Nick Francis put Wilmington on the board with a run scoring ground-out. The score would stay 2-1 Kinston when Tim Ferguson lined out to end the inning. That would be the only run scored and the only hits of the game for the Blue Rocks.
The K-Tribe added to their lead in the fifth inning. Delvi Cid hit a one-out double to the wall in left field. Tyler Holt got him home with a double of his own. After Justin Toole singled and stole second base, Holt scored on a single from Abraham. The RBI hit put Kinston up 4-1. Kinston added to the advantage with a pair of bases loaded hits in the eighth inning. With the bases juiced, Chase Burnette dropped an RBI single in to left field. Roberto Perez iced Kinston's victory cake with a bases clearing triple that rolled to the wall in right-center field. Perez did make it home on a wild pitch from Blue Rocks reliever Brendan Lafferty.
Kinston starting pitcher T.J. House was removed after recording two quick outs in the seventh and walking the last batter he faced. House worked 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits. The K-Tribe starting pitcher walked four and picked up the win, his third of the season. House (3-6) rebounded from a tough luck loss in his last outing, in which House turned in a career high 7 1/3 inning performance. Chris Jones needed only one pitch to force a pop out and end the seventh inning. Jones was stellar in relief, allowing just one hit and striking out one. Closer Preston Guilmet worked a perfect ninth inning in a non-save situation.
Kinston was one short of a season high with 16 hits on the night. Every K-Triber in the starting lineup had a hit tonight. Every starter but one scored a run. Six starters had multiple hits for Kinston. Tice was 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Holt, Abraham, Cannon Burnette and Perez each had two hits for Kinston.
Former K-Tribe second baseman Cord Phelps made his Major League Debut today for Cleveland. The former Carolina League All-Star played in Kinston for the entire 2008 season.
The four game series will end with the finale Thursday at 7:05 pm in Wilmington. Clayton Cook will get the start on the mound for Kinston.
Rattlers Crush Captains 14-2
Wisconsin pounded out 14 runs on twenty hits, in a 14-2 crushing of Lake County on Wednesday afternoon. The TimberRattlers evened the series with the win.
Wisconsin batted around on Steven Wright in the first inning. Greg Hopkins drove in a pair of runs with a triple to start the scoring. Tony Pecheck singled in a run with a single to right to make it 4-0. Robbie Gravey capped off the six run inning with a two run single to right for a Rattlers 6-0 lead.
TJ Mittelstaedt who went 4-for-5 on the day hit a solo homerun to lead off the second inning making it 7-0 Wisconsin.
Wisconsin added four more runs all charged to Wright in the fourth inning. It was highlighted by a three run homerun by Cody Hawn pushing lead out to 11-0.
LeVon Washington provided the only highlight of the day for the Captains. Washington hit his first homerun of the season a two run shot making 11-2 in the fifth.
The TimberRattlers came right back in the bottom half of the fifth with a two run homerun to right by Nick Shaw for a 13-2 lead.
Wisconsin connected on their fourth homerun of the game in the eighth. A solo homerun by Chris Dennis finished off the scoring at 14-2.
Jameson Dunn (2-0) picked up the win going five innings allowing two runs on six hits, walking one and striking out four. Steven Wright (1-2) suffered the loss allowing eleven runs, eight earned on twelve hits, walking two and striking out two.
Wisconsin and Lake County will wrap the series on Thursday night at 8:05PM. The Captains will start RHP Kyle Blair 3-3 against a TBA for the Rattlers.
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