EL1 Akron RubberDucks

Aeros Notes

Published on July 9, 2010 under Eastern League (EL1)
Akron RubberDucks News Release


Game #87 . Friday, July 9, 2010 . 7:05 P.M.

Home Game #45 . Canal Park . Akron, OH

Akron Aeros (43-43) vs. Erie SeaWolves (36-51)

Cleveland Indians Detroit Tigers

Today's Starters: Akron - RHP Paolo Espino (7-3, 4.16 ERA)

Erie - LHP Ramon Garcia (0-4, 4.91 ERA)

Upcoming Probables:

Saturday, July 10: AKR RHP Alex White (3-4, 1.70 ERA) at ERI LHP Duane Below (3-7, 4.84 ERA)

Sunday, July 11: AKR LHP Scott Barnes (4-8, 5.42 ERA) at ERI LHP Charles Furbush (1-0, 2.57 ERA)

Monday, July 12: AKR LHP Eric Berger (4-4, 4.74 ERA) at ERI RHP Thad Weber (5-9, 4.05 ERA)

Tuesday, July 13: OFF DAY - Eastern League All-Star Break

The Book on Paolo Espino...

. High Strikeouts - 7, set 6/1 vs. ERI and 6/28 at RIC . Most Hits Allowed - 9, set 4/21 vs. Altoona

. Longest Outing - 6.0 IP (start), set 5/22 vs. Harrisburg . Most Walks Allowed - 6, set 5/2 vs. Binghamton

. Shortest Outing - 2.2 IP (relief), set 6/18 at Portland . HR Allowed (Season) - 12

. Named as replacement in Eastern League All-Star Game earlier in week, making only his third start tonight since May 27th

. Served as a piggyback for LHP Nick Hagadone for most of past six weeks, is 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA in six relief appearances

. Led Class A Carolina League with a 2.59 ERA last year and originally selected in 10th round of June 2006 Draft by Cleveland

. Aeros are 6-5 when Espino starts; 9-8 when he appears in a game

. Last time out: Took a NO-DECISION (relief) in a 6-5 (11) defeat at Bowie 7/4 (3.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR)

Aeros 2010 Regular Season Breakdown.

CURRENT STREAK: W2 JULY RECORD: 5-3

LAST 5 GAMES: 2-3 LONGEST WINNING STREAK: 12 (5/31 - 6/12)

LAST 10 GAMES: 7-3 LONGEST LOSING STREAK: 6 (4/27 - 5/3)

HOME RECORD: 20-24 BEST RECORD: 5-1 (April 13th)

ROAD RECORD: 23-19 WORST RECORD: 20-30 (May 30th)

SEASON vs. ERIE: 4-2 SEASON vs. WESTERN DIVISION: 21-21

Aeros Stat of the Night:

. The Akron Aeros bullpen now has a 2.51 ERA with 45 strikeouts in eight games in July, walking only nine and holding opponents to a .178 batting average in 32.1 innings pitched.

Aerodynamics.

. Rubber City Rollercoaster. Akron's bullpen was dominant and a Carlos Rivero walk-off grounder gave the Aeros a 4-3 win in 10 innings over the Trenton Thunder Thursday at Canal Park. A leadoff homer by Trenton's Luis Nunez started the game but Akron scored three in the second highlighted by RBI hits from left fielder Tim Fedroff and center fielder Jordan Henry. Another Thunder solo homer cut the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth and before a run-scoring wild pitch by reliever Connor Graham tied the score in the seventh. Trenton's Kevin Whelan then allowed three straight one-out walks in the 10th before Rivero grounded to second but the throw home was late, scoring Espino for the winning run. Aeros relievers allowed just two base runners total in 6.2 innings pitched as Zach Putnam (4-1) earned the win with two perfect frames while Whelan (1-2) took the loss for Trenton.

. Prince Price. Bryan Price relieved starter Kelvin De La Cruz for the Aeros in the fourth inning Thursday, forcing a crucial inning-ending double play. A product of Rice University, Price finished with 2.2 perfect innings pitched with four strikeouts, giving him a 0.90 ERA in 11 relief appearances spanning 20 innings at Canal Park this season.

. Wolverine Wonder. Putnam then followed Graham Thursday against the Thunder and delivered one of his most impressive outings of the year. He struck out the first five Trenton batters he faced before a groundout ended the top of the 10th inning, as the University of Michigan product now has a 2.40 ERA with 12 strikeouts against two walks in 15 frames as a reliever.

. Thrice is Nice. Akron only scored in two different innings Thursday night but Fedroff had himself yet another productive night. The 23-year-old extended his hitting streak to eight straight games by collecting three singles, a run scored and an RBI. He is now batting .500 (16-32) over these eight contests with six runs scored to raise his batting average for the season by 27 points. The Cleveland Indians selected Fedroff in the seventh round of the June 2008 Draft out of the University of North Carolina.

. Extra, Extra, Read All About It. Akron's win Thursday night was the team's first extra inning victory of the season in five chances. The Aeros previously lost a pair of contests in 10 innings, once in the 11th and another in the second game of a doubleheader that eventually went nine frames. Last night's walk-off victory also marked the first run scored by Akron past the ninth inning of any game in over 10 months dating back to a 5-4 victory on September 5th, 2009 against the Erie SeaWolves.

. Erie Blues. Speaking of Erie, the Aeros begin a four-game weekend series with their closest Eastern League rival starting tonight. The last-place SeaWolves enter the series having lost 35 of their last 48 contests but winners of four straight and these two teams will actually face off eight straight times, solely separated by the two-day Eastern League All-Star Break.

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