Game Recaps 7/24: A Sterling debut for Lake County

Felix Sterling (Photo: Lianna Holub)

Captains win with a Sterling performance

Felix Sterling made his Lake County Captains debut a memorable one as he picked up the win and all but one Captains hitter reached base as the Captains defeated the Cedar Rapids Kernels 6-1 Sunday.

Travis Witherspoon led off the game with a solo home run off of Sterling to give the Kernels an early 1-0 lead. The Captains countered with two runs in bottom of the second inning when Brian Heere’s sacrifice fly scored Jesus Aguilar and Moises Montero followed with a RBI single to plate Ronny Rodriguez and the Captains led 2-1.

The Captains added four more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning sending men to the plate and getting RBI’s from Aguilar, Giovanny Urshela, Rodriguez and Heere to up the lead to 6-1.

Sterling (1-0) got the win working six innings allowing one run on three hits, walking three and striking out two. Kyle Petter came on in the seventh inning and threw two scoreless innings and struck out three. Clayton Ehlert pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

Kernels Starter Max Russell (5-10) took the loss lasting 4.2 innings allowing six runs, five earned on seven hits, walking two and striking out four.

The Captains and Kernels wrap up the three game series on Monday at 7:00 PM with the Captains RHP Cole Cook (4-10, 4.55) taking the mound against RHP Heath Nichols (6-6, 4.05).

IronPigs shutout Clippers

Where, oh where, did the offense go? Columbus was shut down by the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 4-0 as the Clippers managed only two hits on offense.

Like last night, the Clippers fell behind early to Lehigh Valley. Rich Thompson led off the bottom half of the first with a single. While Pete Orr was batting, Thompson stole second base and was able to advance all the way to third on an errant throw by Clippers catcher Paul Phillips. Orr grounded out to first, but it was enough for Thompson to score as the Iron Pigs took an early 1-0 lead. Delwyn Young followed that up with a single, but Clippers starter Joe Martinez struck out Brandon Moss and got Kevin Frandsen to fly out to right field to end the inning.

The IronPigs would get another run in the bottom of the second in the form of a solo home run by former Clipper Josh Barfield. Barfield's 6th long ball of the season made it 2-0 in favor of Lehigh Valley at that point.

In the bottom of the 4th, the Pigs would play more long ball. Brandon Moss crushed a solo shot to left field, making 3-0 Iron Pigs.

Another run would cross the plate for Lehigh Valley in the bottom of the seventh when Brian Bocock scored on a Delwyn Young RBI single up the middle, augmenting the IronPigs lead to 4-0.

It was not a good day for the Columbus bats as they were only able to muster two hits for the entire ballgame. To put tonight's offensive struggles for Columbus in perspective, Clippers leadoff hitter Tim Fedroff did a good job getting on base, reaching four times on a hit and three walks. Unfortunately, the rest of the Clippers batting order only managed one hit and four walks.

Columbus will wrap up its four game series with IronPigs on Monday night. Corey Kluber (4-6) will start for the Clippers and will face Lehigh Valley starter Nate Bump (2-6). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm.

Aeros slip late, lose on walkoff homer

The Akron Aeros scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to take a late lead, but right-handed pitcher Cory Burns allowed a Deik Scram two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Erie SeaWolves a 4-3 walk-off win as they avoided the sweep on Sunday.

Burns suffered the loss for the Aeros recording just one out before allowing the Scram home run. Left-handed pitcher Matt Packer got the start for Akron tossing seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits, walking three and striking out five.

Left-hander Austin Wood recorded the win for Erie logging two innings of relief, giving up three earned runs on three hits and striking out one while walking none.

The SeaWolves (47-54) got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Francisco Martinez doubled to open the frame and Bryan Pounds walked to put runners on first and second. The runners moved up to second and third on a Packer wild pitch. Martinez came across to score on an Audy Ciriaco ground out to make it 1-0.

It remained that way until the bottom of the sixth inning when Jamie Johnson scored on a force out to give Erie a 2-0 lead.

The Aeros (54-48) rallied in the top of the eighth inning. With one out, Juan Diaz singled and advanced to third on a Matt McBride double. Chun Chen followed with a three-run home run to give the Aeros a 3-2 lead.

Erie won on the Scram two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Aeros begin a seven-game homestand Monday with three against the Trenton Thunder. Akron will give the ball to left-handed pitcher Drew Pomeranz, who is 0-1 with a 1.86 ERA in 2011. He will face right-handed pitcher Cory Arbiso, who is 4-4 with a 5.15 ERA this season. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

Kinston comes back again on Wilmington

Kinston scored their fourth straight comeback win, with a 7-5 victory over Wilmington Sunday afternoon at Historic Grainger Stadium. With the win the first place K-Tribe (18-10, 56-41) sweeps Wilmington. Kinston overcame deficits of six, three and three runs in the three wins over the Blue Rocks. The Indians are now a season high 15 games over .500.

Kinston trailed 5-4 going into the bottom of the seventh inning. With two-outs in the frame, the comeback began again. Abner Abreu singled. Chase Burnette drove a ball into the gap for an RBI single, tying the game at five. Tyler Cannon drove in the winning run with an RBI double of his own. Kinston would add another run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning to cement the win. Cannon went 3-for-3 on the afternoon. Delvi Cid had two hits for the K-Tribe.

The Blue Rocks managed a run in each of the first two innings against K-Tribe starter Steve Wright. Down 2-0 going into the bottom of the second inning, Kinston tied the score on a wacky play. Chase Burnette walked with one out. Cannon then hit a towering drive that hit off the very top of the wall in center field. Burnette scored easily and Cannon was headed to third base when Wilmington left fielder Whit Merrifield gathered the ball in the outfield. Merrifield's attempted throw into the infield slipped out of his hand and ended up in right field. Cannon came home, officially awarded a triple and scoring on the error by Merrifield.

Wilmington would continue to take advantage of Wright, however, scoring a run in the third inning and two more in the fourth frame. Down 5-2 going into the bottom of the fourth inning, Kinston would again cut into the lead. The bottom of the fourth started with a Cannon single. With one out in the inning, Argenis Martinez was hit by a pitch from Wilmington starter Tim Melville. Delvi Cid then delivered a single to score Cannon. Casey Frawley was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Anthony Gallas was then walked to cut the Wilmington lead to one. Melville pitched 3 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on five hits. He struck out four and walked four. Wright went six innings, giving up eight hits and four earned runs. Wright walked four and struck out three.

Wright exited with runners at the corners and nobody out in the top of the seventh inning, Kyle Landis was then very big from the pen. The K-Tribe reliever got the next three batters out, without allowing a run. Landis (5-0, 1.03) picked up his fifth win of the season. Preston Guilmet would finish things off with a four-out save. Guilmet struck out two while gathering his 26th save of the season.

Kinston hits the road for the next seven days, then returns home on August 2nd for their third to last homestand of the season. The roadtrip begins Monday night in Winston-Salem. The 7pm start features Clayton Cook on the mound for Kinston.

Scrapper bats stymied in loss to Renegades

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers were held to three hits and shut out for the first time this season in a 6-0 loss to the Hudson Valley Renegades on Sunday. Mahoning Valley was unable to solve starter Parker Markel and two relievers, striking out 10 times against the trio of Renegades pitchers. Markel threw five innings of scoreless baseball to improve to 3-0 and lower his ERA to 0.50.

Scrappers starter Will Roberts allowed five runs in the first inning, including the 11th home run of the season for Renegades first baseman Jeff Malm. Roberts pitched four innings and allowed the five runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out three, and picked up the loss to fall to 0-1.

Jordan Smith, Alex Lavisky, and Evan Frazar collected the only three hits on the night for the Scrappers.

Mahoning Valley had won its three previous games by a combined score of 34-11. The Scrappers and Renegades will conclude their three-game series on Monday night at 7:05 pm.

Follow Tony and the Indians Prospect Insider on Twitter @TonyIPI. Also, his latest book the 2011 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects & More is available for purchase for $20.95 to customers in the US (shipping and handling extra).

Posted in: