EL1 Akron RubberDucks

Gomez Leads Aeros to 7-4 Victory over Erie

Published on July 28, 2009 under Eastern League (EL1)
Akron RubberDucks News Release


AKRON, OH - Jeanmar Gomez was efficient yet again at Canal Park as the Aeros won their second game in a row against the second-place Erie SeaWolves, taking Tuesday night's affair 7-4 in front of 3,489 fans. It was an offensive outburst for the second night in a row for Akron, as four extra-base hits led the Aeros to just their fifth win in 17 tries against Erie this season. With the victory, Akron improved to 63-41 while their lead in the Southern Division is back to five games over the SeaWolves (57-45).

Jerad Head opened the scoring in the bottom of the second for the Aeros, booming a solo home run to left off Erie starter Pat Stanley. Gomez cruised through three innings and struck out five in the process, but made a location mistake in the fourth and surrendered a solo bomb to Alex Avila to tie the game at 1-1. The Aeros came back and manufactured a run in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead, as Mickey Hall led off with a walk and stole second before a wild pitch advanced him to third base. Jose Constanza then scored him with a sacrifice fly to left, giving Akron another one-run lead.

The narrow margin would not stand for long as the SeaWolves tied it at 2-2 with a solo home run by Casper Wells in the top of the sixth inning. A crazy bottom of the sixth then gave the Aeros the advantage again, as a trio of Akron All-Stars ignited a monster frame. Nick Weglarz led off with a four-pitch walk, and white-hot Carlos Santana lined a single to right to put two men on with nobody out. Beau Mills then put down a surprise bunt that Stanley threw away down the right field line to score Weglarz, and second baseman Shawn Roof (who was backing up the throw at first) continued the madness by sailing a throw to second into left field as Santana trotted home and Mills advanced to second. Hall would cement the inning three batters later with an RBI single to left, making it 5-2.

Santana helped Akron take a four-run advantage in the bottom of the seventh, giving Gomez plenty of run support, as Jesus Merchan started things with a broken-bat double down the third base line. Santana then scored Merchan with an RBI double to left, but the SeaWolves struck back with two outs in the eighth. Deik Scram reached second on an error by Weglarz, Brennan Boesch smacked a RBI double to left-center, and Wells scored him with a single to cut the deficit to two at 6-4. Akron would finalize the scoring in their half of the eighth however, as Head tripled to right and avoided the tag of Avila at the plate on a run-scoring fielder's choice by Hall.

Gomez (8-3) earned the win with seven exceptional innings and made only two mistakes on the two solo home runs, collecting his eighth quality start and bringing his ERA to 2.05 at home this year. The 21-year-old limited Erie to just two runs on four hits, and collected a season-high tying eight strikeouts. Stanley (4-4) took the loss in permitting five runs (four earned), five hits and four walks in six innings. Santana and Head each finished 2-4 to extend their personal hitting streaks to six and seven games, respectively, and Hall gathered two walks, drove in a pair of runs, and swiped his fourth base of the season.

This four-game series continues Wednesday evening at Canal Park starting at 7:05 p.m. for another Family Pack Wednesday. Fans of all ages can buy four tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and four bags of chips for just $48. The Aeros have yet to announce their starter while Erie will send Jonah Nickerson (7-7, 5.12 ERA) to the mound. The game broadcast begins at 6:50 p.m. on SportsRadio 1350 AM and online at www.akronaeros.com. For more information, please call the Aeros at (330) 253-5151.

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Eastern League Stories from July 28, 2009


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