MWL1 Clinton LumberKings

Walker, 'Pen Combine to Strike Out 18 Kernels

Published on July 7, 2011 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Clinton LumberKings News Release


Clinton, IA - Clinton LumberKings' right-hander Taijuan Walker came into Thursday night's action at Alliant Energy Field having failed to win over six starts dating back to his last time facing Cedar Rapids on May 26. He revisited his dominance over the Kernels over 6.0 innings, tying a career-high with 11 strikeouts and allowing just one hit as the LumberKings won, 3-0.

Walker (W, 3-4) struck out the side around a walk in the first inning, struck out two of the three he faced in the second inning and fanned two more in the third before allowing his only hit of the night, a liner to right from Chris Giovinazzo that just cleared the mitt of second-baseman Carlos Ramirez. He settled in after that, retiring the final 10 batters he faced, four on strikeouts. His fifth-inning-ending strikeout of Kernels' catcher Marcus Nidiffer was his 11th and final K, matching his career-high accomplished twice this year (May 15 at Wisconsin, June 17 at Kane County).

The LumberKings grabbed him a lead in the fourth inning off stingy Kernels' lefty Max Russell. Stefen Romero singled out of the reach of third-baseman Ricky Alvarez, then advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Kalian Sams, who had been 0-for-26 heading into the at-bat, singled to left with the hit-and-run on to score Romero.

In the sixth, Clinton raised the lead to 2-0 against Russell as Ramirez walked, moved to second on a walk drawn by Mickey Wiswall and later scored on a one-out single to left by Romero. Russell (L, 4-9) fell despite just two runs, one earned, on four hits over 6.0 innings while striking out nine batters himself.

The lead grew to 3-0 as the Kings scratched out a run off right-hander Beau Brooks in the seventh. Sams rolled a spinning baseball off the leg of second-baseman Jean Almanzar to reach on an error, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Tim Morris's single just inside the first-base bag.

Right-hander Tyler Blandford (H, 1) worked around a walk and struck out two in the seventh inning, and right-hander Jonathan Arias (S, 3) struck out five more batters over the final two innings to earn the save. Arias saw the 3-0 lead threatened on singles by Brandon Decker and Almanzar in the eighth but struck out both Giovinazzo and Gomez to escape the jam.

The 18 total strikeouts logged by Clinton pitching set a new single-game high for the season. The previous record was 15 strikeouts, accomplished against Quad Cities on June 16 at Alliant Energy Field. Current Jackson left-hander James Paxton recorded 13 of the strikeouts that evening.

Romero went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Sams and Morris each went 1-for-3 with an RBI for the LumberKings. No Kernel had a multi-hit game as every batter in the Cedar Rapids order struck out at least once.

The LumberKings (8-6, 32-52) close the series and homestand with the rubber match against the Kernels (6-8, 38-46) tomorrow night at Alliant Energy Field, first pitch scheduled for 7:00 PM. Left-hander Tony Butler (0-0, 0.00) gets the start for Clinton as Cedar Rapids counters with right-hander Brian Diemer (7-5, 3.09). Listen to the game on AM 1390 KCLN in Clinton or live on the web at 1390kcln.com.

Check out the Clinton LumberKings Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Midwest League Stories from July 7, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central