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Columbus Clippers 6, �Indianapolis Indians 1 (box)

Too many runners left on base were the downfall of the Indians this afternoon at Victory Field. �Too many times left in scoring position, too many times when the Tribe ran themselves out of the inning. �The Clippers did not have that problem, and they were able to take advantage of the runners they put on, to take the win and split this short 2-game series with the Indians.

Jeremy Powell (photo) made another spot start for the Indians, since Chris Jakubauskas's start was pushed back to Thursday. �Powell worked around runners on base in the 1st and 2nd innings, giving up two singles and a walk.

In the 3rd inning, the Clippers got an unhappy surprise. �With two outs, their star prospect, C Carlos Santana, fouled a 1-0 pitch off his left knee. �Santana fell to the ground at the plate, and remained on the ground for several minutes, eventually needing help to leave the field. �The Columbus back-up catcher, Damaso Espino, came in to finish Santana's at-bat, and he worked a walk. �The next batter, DH Shelley Duncan, hit a towering fly ball well over the left field wall, for a 2-run homer.

Powell finished off the 3rd inning, and then retired the Clippers in order in the 4th.

The Indians had also started the game quietly, as Columbus starter Jeanmar Gomez struck out 6 batters over the first 3 innings. �2B Neil Walker had the Tribe's first hit, a single into right field, and he proceeded to steal second base, but was stranded there on second.

C Erik Kratz walked to lead off the 3rd inning, but he was forced out when LF Jose Tabata grounded to short. �Tabata beat out the relay throw to first base, avoiding the double play. �He advanced to second base when Gomez's pickoff throw to first went wide and ended up over by the Columbus bullpen. �Tabata stole third base, tying him for the league lead in stolen bases with 8. �But another strikeout ended the inning with Tabata still standing on third base.

The Tribe scored one run in the 4th inning. �DH Brian Myrow led off with a double to deep center field, and when the Columbus CF Jose Constanza dropped the ball while transfering it from his glove to his throwing hand, Myrow kept going and slid into third (photo) as the 3B Brian Buscher had to chase after the wide throw. �3B Pedro Alvarez (photo below) took the first pitch he saw into right field, allowing Myrow to score what would by the Indians' only run. �1B Steve Pearce followed with a sharply hit grounder along the third base line, which Buscher could only knock down and keep from getting into left field.

Altoona Curve �9, �Akron Aeros 6 (box)

The Curve swept the 3-game series with the Akron Aeros in their own park with an afternoon win on Wednesday. �DH Jim Negrych continued his hot hitting by going 3-for-4 at the plate, including 2 doubles. �C Kris Watts added a 2-run homer, and SS Chase d'Arnaud and 1B Matt Hague each had 2 hits.

Akron had the early lead. �They scored twice in the 1st inning, with a single and back-to-back doubles off Curve starter Tim Alderson. Another double, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly added a run in the 2nd inning, giving the Aeros a 3-0 lead. �That didn't last long. �The Curve came back with 4 runs in the top of the 3rd. �3B Josh Harrison singled and went to second base on a wild pitch. �He scored on Negrych's double. �Watts walked, then d'Arnaud also doubled, scoring Negrych. �A single from Hague brought in both Watts and d'Arnaud, and the Curve had a 4-3 lead.

The Aeros tied the score at 4-4 in the 4th inning, on a single, a passed ball by Watts, and an RBI single. �Altoona took the lead again in the top of the 5th. �Negrych led off the inning with a single, and Watts' homer gave the Curve a 6-4 lead. �The Aeros fought back and tied the score again in the bottom of the inning. �A walk and a single with two outs chased Tim Alderson from the game. �Tony Watson came on in relief, but he gave up a double, scoring both base runners. �Alderson was responsible for those runs, for a total of 6 (5 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks, plus one strikeout.

Finally, the Curve scored an unanswered run in the top of the 6th. �With one out, RF Alex Presley singled into center field. �Josh Harrison lined a single into right field, but was out at second when he tried to stretch it into a double. �While the Aeros were busy with Harrison, Presley was able to score the go-ahead run. �The Curve then added two insurance runs. �In the 8th, Matt Hague led off with a walk, and 2B Shelby Ford singled, moving Hague to third base. �That gave LF Jose De Los Santos the chance to bring in Hague with a sacrifice fly. �In the 9th, walks to Watts and CF Gorkys Hernandez plus a single by Hague gave Altoona even more insurance.

Tony Watson pitched 3 more innings. �He had a batter reach in the 6th on a throwing error by d'Arnaud, but retired the other 9 batters he faced. �Watson was credited with the win. �Jeff Sues earned his third save with a scoreless 9th inning.

photo: �Neil Walker is congratulated after his second homer in three days.

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Indianapolis Indians �9, �Columbus Clippers �4 (box)

The Indianapolis Indians exploded for 7 runs in the 4th inning tonight at Victory Field, and that included three home runs -- by CF Jose Tabata, LF Neil Walker, and DH Brian Myrow. The Columbus Clippers could not keep up, as the Indians more than doubled them up on hits.

Donnie Veal (photo) made the start for the Tribe, and he got into trouble right away in the top of the 1st. �Columbus CF Trevor Crowe led off with a single up the middle. �SS Jason Donald tried to bunt Crowe to second, but only succeeded in popping up to Veal for the first out. �DH Carlos Santana smashed a double to the wall in right center field, past the desperate reach of RF Brandon Moss (photo below -- Moss is at the wall, but the ball is in the splash of dirt down to his right, by the feet of his shadow.)�RF Shelley Duncan worked a walk to load the bases, with just one out. �But Veal bore down and struck out 1B Wes Hodges, then got former Indy Indian Brian Bixler to look at strike three, ending the inning with the bases still loaded but no runs in.

Once he got through that inning unscathed, Veal settled in. �He faced the minimum number of batters over the next four innings. �The only base runner he allowed was C Damaso Espino, who walked in the 2nd inning, but was immediately erased with a double play. �It took Veal 28 pitches to work through the first inning, and only about 38 pitches to get through the next four innings.

Columbus starter Hector Rondon did reasonably well against the Indians for his first three innings. �He gave up a lone walk to Brian Myrow in the 1st. �He gave up a single to Brandon Moss in the 2nd inning. �Moss stole second base easily when neither the Columbus SS Jason Donald nor the 2B Anderson Hernandez covered the bag. �Hernandez kept the throw from sailing into the outfield, but that was with a late scramble to catch it well behind the second base bag. �Moss got as far as third base when C Erik Kratz produced a lot of held breaths with his long fly ball to left field -- which was caught up against the wall. �In the 3rd inning, SS Argenis Diaz lined a single in to right field, but he was caught stealing.

It was the 4th inning that did Rondon in and gave the Indians their biggest inning of the season. �Brian Myrow (photo below) began the fun with a solo home run, which rose down the right field line, flew over the wall just inside the foul pole, then hooked around behind the foul pole to land in the picnic section. �The Clippers tried to protest (no video conferencing for the umpires in the minor leagues), but to no avail, and the Indians had a 1-0 lead. �3B Pedro Alvarez lined out to center for the first out. �Then 1B Steve Pearce and Brandon Moss hit back-to-back line drives, Pearce to left-center and Moss to right. �Erik Kratz came to the plate with runners on first and second, and he bounced a little tap back to the mound. �Rondon fielded it cleanly, whirled and prepared to throw to second base -- and then didn't. �He had the ball in his arm, and even moved his arm as if to throw, but did not release the ball. �Unlike in the 2nd inning, both his second baseman and his shortstop were moving towards the bag and would have been there by the time the ball got there, and they and the ball would have all reached the bag well before Moss coming from first base. �It should have been a double play, particularly since Kratz is not the fastest down the line to first base. �But Rondon did not make the throw. �Instead, he again turned, and threw to first base, making the out on Kratz. �Instead of being out of the inning, he had two outs and runners on second and third bases.

2B Brian Friday had the key hit in the 4th inning. �With two outs, he slipped a single up the middle, just between the middle infielders, scoring both Pearce and Moss. �Argenis Diaz continued the inning with a single into right field, and the Tribe again had runners on first and second base with two outs. �Jose Tabata cleared the bases with a 3-run long bomb, a little further inside the right field foul pole than Myrow's had been. �No argument from the Clippers this time. �Then, to cap it off, Neil Walker made it back-to-back home runs, with a blast to mid-right field. �That sent Hector Rondon to the showers, having surrendered 7 runs on 9 hits. �Jess Todd came in from the Columbus bullpen. After a walk to Myrow in his second at-bat in the inning, Todd got Pedro Alvarez to fly out, ending the long inning.

Altoona Curve 2, �Akron Aeros 0 (box)

Starter Jared Hughes dominated the Aeros for 5 innings in Akron on Monday night. �He scattered 4 walks over those innings, but did not allow a hit, while striking out 3 batters on the way to his third win of the season. �Reliever Dustin Molleken took over in the 6th inning and allowed a double, then gave up a walk and a single in the 7th, but still kept the Aeros from crossing the plate. �Danny Moskos earned his second save with a scoreless 9th, giving up another walk, but striking out the other three batters he faced.

The Curve didn't need many runs in this one. �They put up an unearned run in the 1st inning, when SS Chase d'Arnaud reached base on a fielding error, then scored on back-to-back singles by RF Miles Durham and 3B Jordy Mercer. The Curve had runners on base in 6 of the next 8 innings, and in two innings had runners reach as far as third base without scoring. �In the 7th Altoona loaded the bases on a walk by DH Jim Negrych, a single by Durham, and a walk by Mercer. �C Hector Gimenez brought in Negrych with a sacrifice fly, and that was all the scoring required.

The Curve now have a 9-3 record.

(photo: �Jonathan Van Every slides across the plate with the Indians' only run)

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Toledo Mud Hens 10, �Indianapolis Indians 1 (box)

Indians' starting pitcher Brad Lincoln (photo) pitched 6 innings and gave the Indians a solid start, leaving the game behind, but only by two runs -- a game still within reach. �But the two relievers who came in from the bullpen, Vinnie Chulk and Anthony Claggett, completely fell apart in the last two innings of the game, as the Mud Hens overwhelmed the Indians at Victory Field on Monday night.

Lincoln began the game with two scoreless innings, though his command was a little off. �He hit one batter, and threw first-pitch walks to three of the four batters in the 1st inning. �The second inning was a little better -- he hit another batter, but struck out two. �The first Toledo run scored in the 3rd inning, when Lincoln gave up a one-out single to Mud Hens' 2B Will Rhymes. �The single was followed by a walk to SS Brent Dlugach, a single off either the side of the bound or the tip of Lincoln's glove by RF Brennan Boesch, which scored Rhymes, and another walk to 1B Jeff Larish. �That left the bases still loaded, with one out.

C Luke Carlin came to Lincoln's rescue. �He caught Larish napping a bit at first base �while Lincoln was pitching to CF Casper Wells, and Carlin's snap throw down to first base picked Larish off. �That turned out to be a big out. �Wells grounded to short for an easy out to end the inning, leaving two runners in scoring position.

The Indians had scored one run in the 2nd inning off Toledo starter and former Indian and Pirate, Phil Dumatrait. �3B Pedro Alvarez led off with a line drive into right field, and 1B Steve Pearce followed with another line drive, this one into center field. �Alvarez was off and running with the pitch, and easily reached third, sliding in before the throw (photo).

The runners-on-the-corners situation turned into just a runner on third, when Pearce tried to steal second base on a ball that Dumatrait threw into the dirt. �Toledo catcher Mike Rabelo recovered the ball quickly, though, and his throw down to second easily beat Pearce, who slid wide to the outfield side of the bag. �Alvarez was the next runner to be thrown out. �LF Jonathan Van Every tapped back to the mound, and Dumatrait quickly scooped up the ball and threw back to the plate, where Rabelo tagged out Alvarez as he tried to score from third.

That left Van Every on first base. �DH Brandon Moss worked a walk, and C Luke Carlin lined a single into right field, allowing Van Every to race around from second base and score.

Bradenton Marauders 6, �Jupiter Hammerheads 0 (box)

Four Marauders#039; pitchers combined for a one-hitter against the Jupiter Hammerheads on Monday night in Bradenton. � Starter Brian Leach made the start and got the win. �He pitched 5 innings and it was he who gave up the only hit, a one-out single in the 3rd. �That base runner was promptly thrown out trying to steal second base. �Leach walked a batter in the 2nd inning and another in the 4th, and one more runner reached base on a missed catch error by 1B Calvin Anderson in the 5th. �Mike Colla also walked a batter in the 6th, but he pitched two hitless, scoreless innings. �Tom Boleska and Noah Krol each pitched a perfect inning to finish the game for the Power. �The four pitchers struck out a total of 9 batters -- 4 for Leach, 2 each for Colla and Boleska, and one for Krol.

The Bradenton batters posted 10 hits on their way to 6 runs. �LF Quincy Latimore, 1B Calvin Anderson, and 2B Greg Picart had two hits each, and Latimore collected 2 RBI. �RF Austin McClune scored the first run in the bottom of the 1st, when he singled, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on DH Tony Sanchez's RBI double. �The Marauders had a big 3rd inning, scoring 4 runs. �Picart got things started with a lead-off single, though he was forced out at second base on SS Brock Holt's grounder. �Another grounder by McClune moved Holt to second base. �CF Starling Marte plated Holt with an RBI single. �A walk to Sanchez and a double by Latimore brought in two more runs, and 3B Jeremy Farrell's double brought in Latimore with the fourth run. �A single by Latimore and a double by Anderson added one more run in the 6th inning.