Game Recaps 8/18: Mills slams Clippers to a win

Beau Mills (Photo: IPI)

Mills slam leads Clippers to victory

Beau Mills' eighth inning grand slam lifted the Clippers to a 7-5 victory over Pawtucket.

After putting two men on with nobody out, Pawtucket reliever Scott Atchison almost escaped the inning without damage. However, Mills jumped on a 1-1 Atchison offering and snuck one over the fence in left.

Zach McAllister gave up four runs in the second but got in a groove after the rough inning. McAllister (10-3) went seven innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and struck out five.

Paul Phillips' second inning sac fly gave the Clippers an early lead. They would not score again until Jared Goedert's two-run homer in the fourth.

Josh Judy gave up a leadoff single in the ninth but retired the next three Red Sox hitters to earn his twenty-first save.

The victory moves the Clippers to 80-47 on the year and their magic number to clinch the IL West is four.

The teams complete their four game set Friday at 7:05pm.

Adams punches out nine, but Aeros lose

Right-handed pitcher Austin Adams struck out nine batters, but allowed a Derek Norris three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning that proved to be the difference as the Akron Aeros lost the rubber match of a three-game series against the Harrisburg Senators 4-2 Thursday at Canal Park.

With the loss, the Aeros (64-60) have fallen six games back of the first place Senators and four games back of second place Bowie for the Western Division Wild Card spot with 18 games left to play.

Adams suffered the loss for Akron tossing seven innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits and walking none.

Left-handed pitcher Danny Rosenbaum recorded the win for Harrisburg lasting 6.2 innings, allowing one earned run on six hits, walking three and striking out one. Right-hander Pat Lehman got the last three outs to earn the save.

The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth when the Senators (70-54) took a 1-0 lead on a Kyle Bellows fielding error that allowed Archie Gilbert to score.

The Aeros tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Cristo Arnal scored on a Josh Johnson fielding error.

In the top of the seventh inning, Norris hit a three-run home run to give the Senators a 4-1 lead.

Akron scored a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, but that was as close as they would get as they lost the rubber match.

The Aeros will begin a seven-game road trip with the first of three against the Richmond Flying Squirrels on Friday. Akron will give the ball to left-handed pitcher Matt Packer, who is 6-11 with a 4.41 ERA in 2011. He will face right-handed pitcher Justin Fitzgerald, who is 8-7 with a 3.42 ERA this season. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.

Kinston wins 9-3

The Kinston Indians (29-23, 66-54) defeated the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (25-28, 65-57) on Thursday night. With the victory, Kinston moves into first place by a half game in the Carolina League South Division. Kinston won the game by a score of 9-3.

Kinston took the early lead by scoring 2 runs in the first and 3 runs in the second. In the top of the first inning Jeremie Tice hit his tenth homerun of the season. The two run shot put the K-Tribe up by a pair headed to the second inning. In the Top of the second Jordan Casas was up with the bases juiced. Jordan promptly cleared the bases with a double. The score was 5-1 Kinston headed the to the third inning.

The Pelicans cut the lead down to three when they plated a run in the bottom of the third inning. After a leadoff walk, Andrew Clark doubled him home on a liner down the right field line. The game was a headed to the forth was still within reach for the Pelicans.

In the Fifth Kinston Plated two more runs. With two outs Tyler Cannon singled and then scored on the Casey Frawley double. Frawley then hustled home on the Justin Toole opposite field single. That closed the book on Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ starter Kennil Gomez. Gomez gave up seven runs on the game. The score was 7-2 headed to the sixth inning.

With the score 8-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning the Pelican Catcher Vinny DiFazio circled the bases and got Myrtle Beach one run back as it was DiFazio’s eighth homerun of the season his forth against Kinston.

Roberto Perez answered the DiFazio homer with one of his own in the ninth inning for Kinston. The solo blast was Perez’s second of the season, both have been against Myrtle Beach. The Final Score was 9-3 Kinston.

The winning pitcher was Marty Popham (5-2). The loss went to Kennil Gomez (3-3). Toru Murata extended his scoreless inning streak to 19 straight innings. The game was the opener of a four game set between the clubs. Game two of the series is scheduled for 7:05pm Friday Night.

Captains Stopped by Silver Hawks 5-2

Yazy Arbelo hit his league leading 27th home run of the year to lead the South Bend Silver Hawks to a 5-2 win over the Lake County Captains on Thursday night. The Hawks have taken the first two games of the three game series.

The Silver Hawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Jhoan Pimentel brought home Matt Helm and Gerson Montilla on a two out single. The Captains cut the lead in half when Brian Heere doubled home Ronny Rodriguez in the top of the third inning and the Hawks led 2-1. Arbelo hit his home run in the bottom of the third inning, a two run shot, to up the Silver Hawks lead to 4-1.

The Captains got a run back in the top of the seventh inning when Nick Bartolone tripled and then scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 4-2. The Silver Hawks tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning when a run scored on a Captains fielding error and it was 5-2.

Captains starter Jordan Cooper (2-6) took the loss working five innings and allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits, walking two and striking out one. Kyle Blair pitched two scoreless innings allowing a hit, a walk and striking out three. Luis Encarnacion allowed an unearned run in one inning of work.

Silver Hawks starter Jeff Shields (8-11) got the win pitching five innings allowing one run on two hits, walking three and striking out three. Eury De La Rosa pitched a scoreless ninth inning to register his seventh save.

The Captains and Silver Hawks wrap up the series on Friday at 6:30 PM. The Captains will have RHP Mike Goodnight (5-11, 4.33) on the bump against RHP Bradin Hagins (6-6, 4.52).

Early lead not enough in Scrappers loss to Lake Monsters

The Scrappers built a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning but Vermont came from behind and Mahoning Valley fell, 7-6.

In the first, Lake Monsters starter Tyler Vail walked four straight batters to make it 1-0 Scrappers. Cody Elliott drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Mahoning Valley added a run on an error to take a three-run lead.

Vermont scored one in the first and two in the second to tie it before Alex Lavisky’s two run double in the third put the Scrappers up 5-3. In the fifth, Lake Monsters outfielder Bobby Crocker hit a three-run home run to give Vermont a 6-5 lead. The home run ended Rob Nixon’s night and stopped his winning streak at five straight starts.

Mahoning Valley tied the game in the sixth at 6-6, but Vermont scored a run in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Nate Striz. He picked up the loss to fall to 3-4. In the ninth, the Scrappers put runners on the corners with two outs, but reliever Jeff Urlaub retired Todd Hankins to end the game. Lake Monsters reliever Drew Bailey picked up the win to improve to 4-0. Urlaub earned his fifth save of the season.

Mahoning Valley fell into third place in the division after Auburn’s game at home was rained out and Williamsport won against Tri-City. Mahoning Valley is 1.5 games back in the division and one game back in the Wild Card race. The Scrappers and Lake Monsters conclude their three-game series on Friday 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).

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