EL1 Akron RubberDucks

Aeros Notes

Published on August 5, 2010 under Eastern League (EL1)
Akron RubberDucks News Release


Game #110 . Thursday, August 5, 2010 . 7:00 P.M.

Road Game #53 . Blair County Ballpark . Altoona, PA

Akron Aeros (56-53) at Altoona Curve (64-46)

Cleveland Indians Pittsburgh Pirates

Today's Starters - Akron - LHP Kelvin De La Cruz (4-5, 4.73 ERA)

Altoona - LHP Tony Watson (3-1, 2.90 ERA)

Upcoming Probables:

Friday, August 6: AKR LHP Scott Barnes (5-8, 5.16 ERA) at NBR RHP Chris Province (5-3, 4.91 ERA)

Saturday, August 7: AKR TBA at NBR RHP Deolis Guerra (2-7, 5.32 ERA)

Sunday, August 8: AKR TBA at NBR RHP Kyle Gibson (6-5, 3.61 ERA)

Monday, August 9: OFF DAY

The Book on Kelvin De La Cruz.

. High Strikeouts - 7, set three times, last 7/30 vs. REA . Most Hits Allowed - 9, set 5/21 vs. HAR and 6/5 at HAR

. Longest Outing - 6.0 IP, set three times, last 7/30 vs. REA . Most Walks Allowed - 5, set four times, last 6/17 at New Hampshire

. Shortest Outing - 3.1 IP, set 7/8 vs. Trenton . HR Allowed (Season) - 9

. Has three wins in last three starts for second time in career after not earning a win in 10 straight starts from May 21st to July 15th

. Made six starts for Class A Kinston before May 10th promotion; limited to only five games in 2009 due to elbow ligament injury

. Named seventh-best prospect in Cleveland Indians system prior to 2009 season and placed on 40-man roster in November 2009

. Aeros are 8-7 when De La Cruz starts; Kinston was 2-4

. Last time out: Earned a WIN in a 6-0 victory vs. Reading 7/30 (6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 WP)

Aeros 2010 Regular Season Breakdown.

CURRENT STREAK: L5 AUGUST RECORD: 0-4

LAST 5 GAMES: 0-5 LONGEST WINNING STREAK: 12 (5/31 - 6/12)

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

HOME RECORD: 30-27 BEST RECORD: 56-48 (July 30th)

ROAD RECORD: 26-26 WORST RECORD: 20-30 (May 30th)

SEASON vs. ALTOONA: 6-12 SEASON vs. WESTERN DIVISION: 31-27

Aeros Stat of the Day:

. The Akron Aeros offense has collected just 40 runs and 80 hits in the last 10 games after leading the EL with a .290 batting average and ranking second with 33 home runs in July.

Aerodynamics.

. Altoona Blues. Akron's losing streak continued Wednesday night at the hands of the first-place Altoona Curve who earned a 5-1 victory at Blair County Ballpark. Lefty starter Rudy Owens limited the Aeros to a single hit through his six frames, with the only blast being a one-out solo home run by second baseman Jason Kipnis in the top of the first inning. The Curve responded with a run-scoring error in the second followed by two hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly in the third. Akron starter Corey Kluber left the game after another run scoring on an RBI single from Matt Hague in the fourth while Altoona scored the final run of the game against reliever Rob Bryson in the bottom of the seventh. Owens (9-6) earned the victory with his dominating performance, Kluber (0-1) took the loss and Tom Boleska recorded his second save of the season with a shutout final three frames.

. Rocky Start. Wednesday marked Kluber's Cleveland Indians organizational debut following his trade deadline arrival from the San Diego Padres system. The 24-year-old right-hander struggled against the Curve however, permitting four runs (three earned) on eight hits in only four innings with five walks and four strikeouts. Upon the time of the three-way trade that sent Jake Westbrook to St. Louis, Kluber lead the Double-A Texas League with 136 strikeouts and was 6-6 with a 3.45 ERA in 22 games for the San Antonio Missions. He was San Diego's fourth-round selection in the June 2007 Draft out of Stetson University.

. Wildcat Wonder. The only player to collect a hit Wednesday for Akron was Kipnis as he homered in the first inning and tripled in the seventh. Cleveland's second-round pick in the June 2009 Draft out of Arizona State, he earned the promotion from Class A Kinston on June 10th and combined, is batting .318 with 25 doubles, 13 home runs, 73 runs scored and 55 RBI in 100 games. He leads the EL with his .425 batting average, .725 slugging percentage, 31 hits, and 52 total bases since the All-Star Break.

. Moving On Up. Catcher Damaso Espino earned the promotion today to the Class AAA Columbus Clippers. The 27-year-old veteran joins his cousin Paolo in Columbus, as the right-handed pitcher earned the promotion Tuesday as well. Damaso was batting .250 in 59 games played in Akron this season and had a 34-25 record as a starting catcher. He also played in 21 contests last year in Double-A with the Aeros and the Indians acquired him via a mid-season trade in 2008 with the Kansas City Royals.

. Juan Gone. In a corresponding roster move, Cleveland traded for catcher Juan Apodaca and activated him on the Akron roster. Apodaca had a .239 batting average in 55 games for Portland and Pawtucket in the Boston Red Sox system this year.

. Four Score. With Wednesday's loss, the Aeros are 8-38 this season when scoring three runs or less in a game this season. Akron also has an 8-27 record when collecting seven hits or less and thus, has a 48-15 record when scoring at least four runs.

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