EL1 Akron RubberDucks

Aeros Hold on Late, Win 10th Straight, 4-3

Published on June 10, 2010 under Eastern League (EL1)
Akron RubberDucks News Release


AKRON, OH - The streaking Aeros won yet again Thursday at Canal Park, overcoming a furious late-inning comeback by the New Hampshire Fisher Cats to win for the 10th consecutive game. Akron lefty starter Eric Berger continued his solid pitching of late in front of the 3,133 fans in attendance and even had a no-hitter through 6.1 innings. The Aeros (30-30) moved into a three-way tie for second-place in the Western Division of the Eastern League and are now at .500 for the first time since April 17th. The series sweep was also the first against the EL-leading Fisher Cats (36-25) this season.

The Akron offense pounced on New Hampshire starter and highly touted prospect Kyle Drabek in the very first inning. Hot-hitting designated hitter Lonnie Chisenhall stepped to the plate with two outs and blasted the first offering from Drabek deep into the right field bleachers to give the hosts an early 1-0 lead.

Berger cruised against the Cats throughout as an impressive 3-6-3 double play negated a leadoff walk in the top of the second. First baseman Matt McBride followed his solid defense with a leadoff single down the left field line to start an Aeros rally in the fourth. Right fielder Jerad Head then doubled right to a diving Darrin Mastroianni in center and shortstop Carlos Rivero made it 2-0 by scoring McBride with an RBI groundout.

New Hampshire third baseman Shawn Bowman finally broke up Berger's no-hitter with a one-out double in the sixth and Akron reliever Connor Graham relieved Berger later that frame. He faced major trouble against the Fisher Cats in the eighth inning as a pair of walks, a hit pitch and a costly error led to an unearned run and a 2-1 ball game.

With momentum on their side, New Hampshire substituted reliever Vince Bongiovanni into the game in the bottom of that eighth. He promptly allowed a one-out bunt single to Head who stole second and Rivero followed with a huge RBI triple to dead center to make it a two-run lead. Drennen then delivered a sacrifice fly to provide the final Akron run.

The Fisher Cats then gave the Aeros a mighty scare in the ninth because of back-to-back one-out walks by reliever Omar Aguilar. Manny Mayorson then lined a run-scoring single to left and two batters later, Danny Perales hit a grounder up the middle to cut the deficit to just 4-3. Steven Wright entered the game as another new Akron reliever and finally forced Mastroianni to fly out, ending the comeback and preserving the winning streak.

Berger improved to 3-4 with his solid performance, striking out seven in 6.2 shutout innings while allowing just the single hit and three walks. Drabek (7-5) took the loss and Wright earned his second save. Akron starters delivered 19.2 innings with no earned runs in the series as the ninth inning runs were the first two recorded by New Hampshire.

Chisenhall's homer was his fourth of the season with all cfour oming in the past 12 games since returning from a right shoulder injury on May 28th. Rivero's clutch triple was his first of the season and the Aeros finished just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Akron welcomes the Portland Sea Dogs to Canal Park Friday night at 7:05 p.m. and will attempt to tie the all-time franchise record with an 11th consecutive victory. Left-hander Kelvin De La Cruz (1-3, 6.28 ERA) makes the start on Fireworks Friday presented by Zayo Enterprises against Sea Dogs starter Casey Kelly (1-3, 4.57 ERA). Tomorrow night's game broadcast begins at 6:50 p.m. on Fox Sports 1350 AM and at www.akronaeros.com.

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Eastern League Stories from June 10, 2010


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