Minor Issues: Regular Season Ends, Clippers, K-Tribe, Caps Gear up for Playoffs

What's the News?

There are three endings... The ending of the minor league season, the end of the major league season, and then the end of the playoffs. Ending one has come and gone. Sort of.. Luckily we have three playoff teams to follow, but this is how our teams finished out this regular season.

Here is your playoff schedule.

Columbus: Vs Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (WED 6:35, THUR 6:35), @ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (FRI 6:05, SAT 12:05*, SUN 12:05*) Wednesday's Probable: David Huff

Kinston: @ Winston-Salem (WED 7:00, THUR 7:00), Vs Winston-Salem (FRI 7:00, SAT 7:00*), @ Winston-Salem (SUN 5:00*) Probable: T.J.McFarland

Lake County: @ West Michigan (WED 7:00), Vs West Michigan (THUR 6:30, FRI 6:30*) Wednesday's Probable: Brett Brach

*If Necessary

COLUMBUS

There will be no International League division title celebration for the Clippers, but they are headed to the playoffs either way after their 5-2 loss to Toledo.

Corey Kluber went five innings and gave up three runs off six hits and four walks with four strikeouts. Saul Rivera gave up two more runs in two innings.

Both runs were knocked in by Zeke Carrera who had two hits on the night, a two-run home run, his first as a Clipper and the season.

AKRON

Akron finished the season with a win and a .500 record after they downed Erie 9-2, just like they've done most of the time this season.

Jordan Henry, Jason Kipnis, and Lonnie Chisenhall led the charge. Henry stole his 15th base, scored twice and had two hits, while Kipnis hit a solo home run, had three hits, scored twice and knocked in three runs. Chisenhall also had two hits and three RBI.

Juan Apodada hit a three run home run and Ron Rivas, the spectacular one, not only had two hits, but he didn't commit an error.

The win went to Alex Kaminsky, up from Mahoning Valley to help provide arms with Rob Bryson starting. Bryson finished off his Akron season with 3.2 innings, one run off two hits and five strikeouts. Kaminsky went three scoreless and struck out two.

KINSTON

Despite scoring five runs to rocket past Potomac in the top of the ninth, Kinston fell short of finishing the regular season off with a win.

Kinston was down 5-1 going into the eighth inning. After a run in the eighth and five more in the ninth, the K-Tribe was up 6-5. With Cory Burns not available, Kinston's Matt Langwell and Tyler Sturdevant gave up the lead. Brian Grening was hit big with four runs off four hits and three walks in three innings. Dave Roberts got the start and went four innings, giving up one run off four hits.

Bo Greenwell was finally stopped, going 0-for-5, but Kyle Bellows had three hits, Jeremie Tice had two and a RBI. Karexon Sanchez, JT Toole and Donnie Webb also knocked in runs, with Webb scoring twice and collecting three hits.


Oh and how about that no hitter?

LAKE COUNTY

Not the greatest of endings for the Captains on Monday as they were splattered against the windshield by the Lugnuts, 11-0.

Trey Haley gave up three runs off three walks and two hits in the first, not being able to record the final out. Mike Rayl gave up four runs in three and a third and the bullpen just kind of continued on from there.

Hopefully the Caps don't make that a bad habit for the playoffs.

Minor Issues: Greenwell, Abreu lead K-Tribe Charge

What's the News?

The Minor League season is coming to an end here in a few days and the playoffs will start. This year we've got a reversal of fortunes. Lake County, Kinston, and Columbus were all left out of the playoffs last year, where was this year, they're all in and Akron and Mahoning Valley are not.

Check out Tony Lastoria's Arizona League Season in Review over at IPI.

AFL Teams are out, sort of. The Indians will be sending Eric Berger, Cord Phelps, Scott Barnes, Jason Kipnis, and CC Lee to play for Triple-A Manager Mike Sarbaugh's Peoria Javelinas.

Cord Phelps is being sent with the idea of him playing some third base, especially since Kipnis is going. Berger and Barnes will definitely benefit from the extra work after their roller coaster seasons and it will give CC Lee a nice opportunity to showcase himself.

The Indians will send two more, and one can be a player below the Double-A level and or foreign, which means the Indians are trying to get Chun Chen onto the squad.

COLUMBUS

The Clips remain a half game ahead of Louisville for the division lead despite losing 6-4 to Toledo.

Yohan Pino went five innings and gave up five earned off 11 hits. Zach Putnam, Aaron Laffey, and Saul Rivera settled things down with three scoreless innings, no hits or walks and two strikeouts combined.

Jose Constanza had three hits and stole his 34th base of the season. He's hitting .321 on the season now and likely to finish second or third in the race for the IL batting title, trailing Gwinett's Barbaro Canizares by .020 points.

Jared Goedert knocked in two runs and Luke Carlin hit a solo home run.

AKRON

Things are skidding to a halt with Akron as they fall to Erie, yet again in extra innings. After scoring two in the top of the tenth, Erie walked off with three in the bottom of the frame for their sixth loss in seven games.

Erie hit two home runs in the tenth, a solo home run and then Brent Wyatt's two-run shot to send their fans home happy. Omar Aguilar couldn't record an out and took his seventh loss and second blown save.

Eric Berger was great, going five innings and giving up two runs off one hit and four walks with nine strikeouts.

CC Lee and Connor Graham continue to be the dynamic duo with two scoreless frames each.

John Drennen had three hits and two doubles while Lucas Montero knocked in a pair of runs off two hits.

KINSTON

Kinston will begin their playoff series with Winston-Salem on Wednesday, playing two games away before coming home to Historic Grainger Stadium for at least one game on Friday.

The K-Tribe played two games last night, losing 0-2 in the first contest, but rallying back for a 7-5 win in the second.

In the loss, Joe Gardner made his final regular season start, going 5.1 innings and giving up one earned off two hits and four walks. He'll finish at 12-6 with a 2.65 ERA. He's likely to be the leadoff starter for the K-Tribe in their playoff series.

In the win, Austin Adams improved to 6-1 with five innings and one run off four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. Cory Burns saved his 29th game despite giving up a run.

The outfield led the Indians in the offense with Bo Greenwell hitting his second home run, a three run shot and a triple. He had four hits and his average is about to tip over .300. Abner Abreu had two hits and also tripled, knocking in three runs himself.

LAKE COUNTY

The field at Classic Park was all torn up, so the Caps and Lugnuts will play a double header today starting at 1:00 PM. They play the third game tomorrow before the Captains travel to a yet to be determined location for the playoffs.

MAHONING VALLEY

The Scrappers are one game away from finishing off their season. They lost last night 6-4 to Jamestown.

Tony Dischler made his second start and went three innings, giving up an unearned run off two hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Ryan Gardner was pounded for three earned, five total runs off four hits and two walks.

James Reichenbach gave up just two hits and two walks in three scoreless frames.

Brian Heere had three hits and two runs scored while Jesus Aguilar had two hits and two RBI.

Notes and Quotes: Thee Detlef Schrempf?

You know as the season winds down, I can't help but wonder where it all went. It's friggin September. It seems at this point last year, we were waiting for this season to come and now we can't wait for 2011 to get here. Well at least that's the way I feel. I know not many people are positive about the next season and beyond, but a new season is always welcomed... Especially since it means there is a whole year of baseball left to play.

I love the season of fall, but I want to rewind my life and go back to May. Back when I was doing two things.

Going to work and watching the Indians. YUP! That's the life my friends. Now fifteen assignments due next week in only the third week of the semester, I'm ready to cut my hands off for a legitimate excuse as to why I wasn't able to complete my work.

Don't get me wrong, I love when my annual fantasy football draft rolls around and the start of the college football season. But there is nothing better than summer baseball. August is done and in a way, so is baseball. Frown.

[MOLDY TOMLIN]

I don't know if Indians pitchers just don't want to throw strikes, or they just cant... But it seems pretty clear what they have to do if they want to stay on Manny Acta's good side. Josh Tomlin and Jeanmar Gomez have seemingly figured it out in just a few starts, so you have to wonder why someone like David Huff can't get the picture.

"He continues to help himself with the fact that he throws strikes," Acta said after the victory. "And that's something that we're trying to do here. We're trying to get back to where we were a couple of years ago, where our pitching staff was among the top strike-throwers. ... So he fits that mold." 

Tomlin has been good. Has he been spectacular? No, but do you expect a rookie to be spectacular? Tomlin may have hit his ceiling, but that isn't a bad ceiling because point blank, he gets the job done. Both Tomlin and Gomez are giving themselves a leg up on pitchers like David Huff because of not just the numbers they are putting up, but the way they are following what the Indians have blueprinted for their pitching staff.

As for the Branyan home run. Wow what a friggin shot by the Rusticle on that one. Rusty wasn't showing anyone up either when he stood there and watched it, he was just trying to see if it went foul or not, I think that was obvious.


[GOODBYE JENSEN?]

I make no bones about it, I'm a Jensen Lewis fan, always have been, always will be.

I can't say I'm pleased with his tweeting as of late though. He's shown a lot of angst in terms of I-77 Shuttle and while it isn't fair in one bit to Jensen, he has to remain professional.

Not saying he hasn't been a professional. He's gone out there and pitched regardless of the situation handed to him, but he hasn't exactly kept completely quiet during this process and that is something I believe everyone should do. Voice your displeasure with the organization all you want in a private matter, but don't go tweeting crypitc comments that are easy to guess in terms of what they pertain to about how it's been a long year and you can't wait for it to end.

It is unfortunate because I think Lewis is a major league caliber reliever.. But it is hard to judge that of someone when he's constantly being thrown back and forth.. Something Lewis is perfectly allowed to address at a time like this.

"You try and get comfortable in a situation, get in a rhythm, and to be honest, I haven't been in a rhythm all year," said Lewis, who averaged 49 games with the Indians in each of the last two seasons before being shuttled around all year in 2010.

"You're constantly looking over your back," Lewis said of his experiences this season. 

And there are quotes like these that seem perfectly reasonable at a spot like this. Lewis is unsure of his future, so what can he say other than the following?

"I'm out of options at the end of this year, and I can say that it feels like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders knowing that. So I'm just going to take the last 30 days here and get better and get some momentum going into the offseason, and we'll see where everything stands at the end of the year." 

 There are tweets like this one that just kind of strike me as being ones you shouldn't say.

In one way it isn't bad, but in another, it gives me the impression that he doesn't want to be around. Now I know that is not the case as Lewis has tweeted nothing but great things about Columbus and most of what he says is based off frustration of a season in which he's been... to put it honestly, screwed in more ways than one.

He's out of options, so the Indians will have to make a decision with him in spring training, or even before then. Do they designate him to clear 40-man space for someone they can protect int he rule five draft? What if he clears and has to return to the organization, making it all the more likely he starts the season in Columbus unless he wins a roster spot in spring (which would be tough to do)?

It will be interesting to see how this works out. Again, I'm a big Lewis fan. I wish he was tighter in terms of his comments in terms of being shuttled back and forth, just to say he didn't make a peep when the Indians were abusing him, but he hasn't exactly been a disruptor, so you can't really say anything too bad about how the process has worked out.


[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

Boy did the former Mariners come back to bite Seattle last night? We're no strangers to seeing former Tribesmen come back and kill Cleveland, so it's nice to see Choo and Cabs rock their former club.

I don't think any other random notes need to be addressed today because there is only one important note that is out there. Okay so LaPorta isn't being rushed back, but who cares.

Manny Acta's favorite player of all time in the NBA? DETLEF SCHREMPF!

THEE DETLEF SCHREMPF?

Yes!

Minor Issues: Carolina League Pitchers, Clippers Clinch Playoff Spot

What's the News?

Congratulations go out to the Kinston Indians as they swept the Carolina League pitching awards. Joe Gardner and Cory Burns were named to the Carolina League Year-End All-Star team, taking up both pitching spots on the team.

COLUMBUS

The Clippers railroaded the Toledo Mud Hens yesterday to clinch a spot in the playoffs. It will be the first time since 2004 that the Clippers will be in the playoffs. Louisville lost, which means the Clippers are a game and a half up on them, but with all the other divisions pretty much out of reach, Louisville and Columbus are both headed to the playoffs.

David Huff threw seven scoreless innings to improve to 8-2 on the season. He gave up five hits and one walk and struck out four. Aaron Laffey and Jess Todd finished the shutout.

Zeke Carrera stole his ninth base, scored a run and had two hits. Wes Hodges and Damaso Espino knocked in two runs each while Josh Rodriguez had three hits, including two doubles, and a RBI.

AKRON

The Aeros finished out their series with Trenton losing three of four after the bullpen blew a 2-1 lead late in the game.

Connor Graham gave up a solo home run to tie the game and then eventually surrendered the lead in the eighth. It ruined a seven inning masterpiece for Matt Packer who went seven innings, giving up just one run off five hits and a walk and striking out eight hitters yet again.

Jordan Henry had two hits and a walk and Miguel Perez had two hits and a run scored. Perez and Johnnie Drennen scored the two runs on an error in the fourth inning.

Ron Rivas committed an error, nothing new there.

KINSTON

The magic number is down to one for Kinston as they defeated Frederick in ten innings last night. The club will advance to the Carolina League playoffs with a win or a Salem loss. They are still a game back of Winston-Salem, who doesn't seem to want to lose either, but they will claim a playoff spot with a win tonight.

The K-Tribe scored three in the top of the tenth. Jeremie Tice coaxed a bases loaded walk to untie the game and Kyle Bellows knocked in two more with a bases loaded single. Jeremie Tice homered again, hitting his fifth and knocking in three runs. Bo Greenwell continues to get it done, two hits and two walks leading to two runs and a stolen base.

LAKE COUNTY

The Captains fell to the Loons in what could be a possible playoff matchup if things fall the right way. Vidal Nuno gave up five runs off five hits and a walk in 5.2 innings of work.

Adam Abraham had two hits and scored both runs for the Captains.

MAHONING VALLEY

The Valley lost 9-5 to Williamsport yesterday, with Jordan Cooper getting shelled for seven runs in just an inning and one third.

Kirk Wetmore went 4.2 innings and gave up four runs and Kyle Smith pitched two innings of shutout ball.

Gio Urshela had two RBI while Diego Seastrunk scored a run had had two hits, including a double.

Minor Issues: Clippers, K-Tribe near the Playoffs

What's the News?

With Akron all but out of the playoff race, there are good Aeros going to Columbus, good Captains going to Kinston, good Scrappers going to Lake County, Mediocre Clippers going to Cleveland, and bad K-Tribers going to Akron.

Got all that? Good.

COLUMBUS

Corey Kluber made his Columbus Clippers debut and it was a win for the suddenly hot Clips as they maintain their half game lead over Louisville in the International League.

Jose Constanza, an International League end of the year All-Star, had two hits, but it was Josh Rodriguez's 4-4 night with a run scored, a double, a triple, and two RBI that paced the club. Cord Phelps had two hits and Matt McBride hit his third Clipper HR, a solo shot in the third inning off Brad Lincoln.

Kluber went six innings and gave up just one run off four hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Zach Putnam and Carlton Smith threw two scoreless frames and Saul Rivera returned to the closer's role to secure his fifth despite walking a pair.

The Clippers are now done with Indianapolis and will return home for their final two regular season home games against Toledo before making a trip up North to continue the series for three more games.

Louisville had just played the Mud Hens and will travel to Indianapolis for the same sort of finish, playing three in Indy before returning home for two against the Indians.

AKRON

The Aeros fell to Trenton again last night, all but ending their playoff hopes. The club is 3.5 back of second place Harrisburg with five games left on the slate. It is all but over.

Trenton scored two in the first two innings of Rob Bryson, who started a bullpen game for the Aeros. He went three innings and gave up just one earned off one hit.

Every reliever gave up a run, with CC Lee going three as well and striking out four and Brian Grening returning to the Aeros with two innings.

The Mascot Jordan Henry had two hits and a run scored and his 14th stolen base of the season. Lonnie Chisenhall and Beau Mills knocked in the only runs for the Aeros.

Alex White has been shut down due to his innings limit being reached. It was a great season for the Indians first round pick last year. More on him when we do our season wrap-ups.

KINSTON

The Magic Number for the K-Tribe is now at three with six games to play after another win for Kinston, 7-4 over Frederick.

The K-Tribe scored three in the fourth to help power themselves to a win. Bo Greenwell is suddenly hitting like a madman with two more hits last night including two RBI and a run scored. Kyle Bellows also knocked in two runs and Juan Diaz, Karexon Sanchez, and Jeremie Tice all had two hits with Sanchez and Diaz knocking in a run each.

Great effort from T.J. McFarland who had been struggling as he goes six scoreless giving up just two hits and three walks to earn his 11th win of the season. Chris Jones gave up all four runs and Cory Burns saved game number 27.

The K-Tribe is on the road from here on out, finishing up with two games in Frederick before traveling to Potomac for four games in three days. The K-Tribe is 4.5 up on Salem and one game behind Winston-Salem but will qualify for the playoffs by finishing second.

LAKE COUNTY

The already playoff bound Captains fell to the team that is likely to win the Eastern division this half, Great Lakes, who have been unstoppable at home.

The Loons scored two in the bottom of the tenth in walk off fashion to defeat the Caps after Lake County had scored in the top of the tenth of a tie game. Takafumi Nakamura in for his second inning of relief gave up a two-run double to take the loss.

Casey Frawley hit his 12th home run in the second inning, a two-run shot that was the only runs for the Captains in the first nine innings Frawley came back to knock in the third run and Tyler Holt scored a run off two hits, a walk, and a triple.

Trey Haley had a nice start, going five innings and giving up two runs off seven hits and two walks. Three scoreless frames for Preston Guilmet who struck out seven hitters.

MAHONING VALLEY

With one of the most.. errr, bad lineups you'll ever see the Scrappers trot out, the Valley managed to score six runs in route to their 6-1 victory over Williamsport.

Jesus Aguilar was 4-5 with two runs batted in and Diego Seastrunk and Kevin Rucker had two hits each for the Scrappers.

Alex Kaminsky picked up his sixth win in what was his final start for The Valley. He went six scoreless and struck out six. Ryan Gardner made his debut wit two scoreless frames.

Notes and Quotes: And We Shout, DRUBES!

I have this headache that just won't go away right now. It's annoying when you wake up on a day when you have a lot to do and this is bugging you. I want it to go away. I took something, so it better, or else I'll stab my head.

Tomorrow class resumes after my three day weekend (which I have every week, thank you very much) and while I've completed some of my work, I still have more to do today and I would really like to get it done without this headache making it an issue.

[DRUBES]

How long have we been calling him 'Drubes?

It only took Al Tv (Al Pawlowski) one game of calling him that for Asdrubal Cabrera to hit a walk-off home run.

Cabrera was looking for the fastball and his reaction to it should have given you a clue to that. Cabs says he isn't at 100 percent thanks to surgery to the broken arm, but he's been quietly putting his numbers in the past few weeks.

Drubes has gotten lost in the shuffle lately with all the talk about Santana and Choo, but he's equally important to this club both for his glove and his bat. I said that before I even read Manny Acta's quote about him. Acta feels as if Cabrera is one of this team's leaders because of his qualities.

"He's a key for our club offensively and defensively," said Acta. "He's got big-time character. To me, he's probably not 100 percent strength-wise from that surgery from the left side, but he's a gamer.

"He's very quiet in English, but he's not quiet in Spanish," said Acta. "He's got the energy. He wants to play every day. He's not afraid [to say something]. He's got a lot of the qualities you look for and he's been on this club just about as long as anybody. He was here when the Indians were in the postseason in 2007." 

He's hitting second in the order, he's one of the better average guys we have. We need to see him to produce and last night he not only hit the home run, but he dropped down a bunt early.

"A guy like him, we give him the freedom to get them over any way he can," Acta said. "He laid down the bunt. When you're facing a guy like [Zack] Greinke, the runs aren't going to come very often. Might as well jump ahead, and that's what we did in that first inning."

[GO GO GOMEZ]

Jeanmar Gomez is starting to make an impression on this team. So much so, I think we devise a nickname for him. PronksShoulder on twitter suggested J-Go, which isn't bad, but it lacks the flare a name like Jeanmar provides.

While Gomez's performance warrants a nickname from us, it actually might warrant a closer look in 2011 from Acta and the staff. You can tell by how Manny talks about him that he may be in this thing for the long haul now and that he's certainly made more good impressions on the club than David Huff has.

Gomez was coming off perhaps his roughest start and the test from that was how he'd bounce back. Consider the test passed after Acta said the night belonged to him.

"This was going to be a test for him," Acta said. "It was nice to see he attacked the strike zone. He wasn't running away from contact because he got knocked around last time." 

 In a way, he out-pitched a Cy Young winner for nearly six innings. That's a pretty good bounce back.

Taking nicknames though. Go-J, Jeanie, J-Go. We're trying here.

[RANDOM RUNDOWN]

I think Chris Giminez is auditioning for a roster spot right now. Lou Marson needs to do something here to prove he can backup Carlos Santana next year and so far, so blah. Gimenez meanwhile has versatility that you like and let me bring something up that I think people forget.

He can play third base. I think it is Nix's job to basically lose, but don't forget that when you are thinking of next season's bench.

No plan yet in place for Aaron Laffey who is rehabbing in Columbus. The plan is for him to return to the bullpen, if he does return. He could be just shutdown from here on out, but with rosters expanding in September, activating him wouldn't necessarily involve shipping someone out. Acta said his arm is fine and he's just finishing rehab, so why shut him down? Yeah I think we'll see Laffey back here when September's roster expansion hits.

Lots of discussion about the Blake and CC trade acquisitions in the latest Terry Pluto piece. LaPorta is a key, Santana is a important piece to the lineup even when he wasn't hitting, and bouncing back Brantley.

I think the headache is just about gone. This is good.

Minor Issues: Akron inches closer, Kinston create distance

What's the News?

Tony Lastoria talked to first round pick Drew Pomeranz and fourth rounder Kyle Blair, both who are with the Scrappers but simply just along for the ride as they get their stamina up and prepare to pitch in instructional league. Both are going to follow the Alex White model of not pitching and it shouldn't surprise anyone to see either at Kinston to start the season, especially Pomeranz.

Kyle Blair is on twitter and he is following someone named Drew Pomeranz. So I'm going to venture to say Drew is also on twitter. That can't really be confirmed though, so proceed with caution.

Giovanni Soto was placed on the disabled list in Lake County, retroactively to the 22nd of August, which means he is actually eligible to come off whenever needed. Takafumi Nakamura was called up from Mahoning Valley.

COLUMBUS

The Clippers were pounded by Indianapolis last night 8-0 and they now fall a game and a half behind Louisville for International League West Division.

I was not a good night for David Huff who doesn't seem likely to get much of a look in September. Huff gave up eight runs off nine hits and two walks in four innings of work. The bullpen was great, pitching five scoreless innings with Carlton Smith striking out four, but the damage was done to Huff.

The offense didn't really get anything going either with four hits. Jordan Brown doubled.

AKRON

The Aeros meanwhile had a great night, getting ever so closer to the playoffs with a 9-0 drubbing of Erie. It is yet another win over the Tigers affiliate and yet another beat down at that.

Now 2.5 back of a playoff spot, the Aeros got a great effort from Matt Packer, who earned his first Aeros win. He struck out eight and walked just one in six scoreless innings of work. Bryan Price and Rob Bryson completed the shutout.

Jordan Henry scored twice and stole his tenth base off three walks. Jerad Head scored two more runs and had two hits with four RBI. Beau Mills knocked in two runs and Lonnie Chisenhall knocked in one and walked twice.

Cristo Arnal is actually providing some production in place of Carlos Rivero. He stole his seventh base, scored twice off a walk and a hit.

KINSTON

They can't seem to catch Winston-Salem, but with another win over Salem, the K-Tribe is now two games up on the Salem Sox and sitting at 31-30 for the second half.

Kinston won 5-3 as Joe Gardner won his 12th game, going five scoreless innings. He did strike out five, but he also walked five. Matt Langwell picked up his fifth save with a 2.2 innings of relief and four strikeouts.

Jeremie Tice continues to swing the hot bat with his fourth Kinston home run, a two run shot in the first inning. Donnie Webb had two hits including a double and a triple, and he scored two runs on the evening. He also walked and stole his tenth base.

LAKE COUNTY

Specialty in East Lake as the Caps won 2-1 despite a late run from South Bend.

Vidal Nuno was brilliant, giving up one run off five hits and no walks over seven innings of work. He picked up his sixth victory and struck out 11 hitters on the night. Freshly promoted Takafumi Nakamura picked up a save with two scoreless innings of work.

Delvi Cid tripled home a run and stole two more bases to up his total to 68, he'll be at 70 in no time.

Casey Frawley and Argenis Martinez had two hits, with Martinez scoring a run.

MAHONING VALLEY

The Valley fell yet again last night, this time 4-1 to Auburn despite pounding out 13 hits to their 5.

Great effort from Cole Cook, who went four innings and gave up two unearned runs after he recorded two outs in the third inning, but an error opened up the door for Auburn to score a pair. He struck out four and walked three.

Nick Bartolone had three hits and Gio Urshela had two and the one RBI. Tyler Cannon playing second had three hits including a double as did Trent Baker. But again just one run on the night thanks to Urshela.

AZL

The AZL club played their season finale last night and the Rangers pretty much battered their pitching staff. The A-Tribe lost 13-5, but LeVon Washington got another start at DH.

Washington was 1-for-4 with a RBI and a walk. Juan Romero was the everything man as he had three hits and three runs scored, but he smacked two solo home runs in addition to his second stolen base. Anthony Gallas hit his second home run in the fourth inning and Jorge Martinez knocked in his 21st run of the season.

We may see some of these bats get elevated to Mahoning Valley or we may just see their season end until instructs start in mid-September.