Clip Joint Caught A Niner

Nick Weglarz

Yup, nine in a row.  On a rain soaked night in Scranton, Pennsylvania; Zach McAllister was once again robbed of his 8th vicoty, yet the Clippers dominated the Yanks 8-1.  Zach (7-2, 2.96) did not come back out for the 5th, following a lengthy rain delay, and thus did not qualify for the win.  At least the four shutout (2 H, BB, 3 K) that McAllister provided today are official.  That is more than he got for three innings of one run ball in his last outing.

Jason Kipnis (.304) continued his hot hitting, falling a triple short of the cycle and scoring three runs.  Jason racked up the third three hit game of a current six game hitting streak in which he is 14-for-26 (.538) with a mind-boggling 1.740 OPS.  Ezequiel Carrera (.291) added three hits and two RBI of his own.

Lonnie Chisenhall, mired in a 2-for-27 slump that has dropped his season average to .250, sat again and has not played since the 11th.  The word on the street is that the Chiz Kid is getting some time off to clear his head.  I mean that in both the literal and figurative senses.  Lonnie cracked his noggin on third base last Friday and is also getting some mental health time.

SWB and the Columbus tee-off again tomorrow at 7:05p.  Corey Kluber takes the ball.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

The rehabbers certainly came to play tonight for the Aeros. Travis Hafner (.500) singled, doubled and scored in four trips.  Might he be back on the lake tomorrow?  Nick Weglarz did him one better.  No, wait, two.  The outfield prospect jacked a three run homer in the 7th and followed with a solo shot in the 9th.  Weglarz (.222) should be ready for AAA within the week.


On Wednesday, Jason Donald (.227) began his second AA rehab stint of the year with a 1-for-3 effort.  The real story, though, was Joe Gardner.  Joe (4-5, 3.81) shut out New Hampshire for 8 full innings allowing six hits and a walk, while fanning 3.  Gardner is sort of tough to figure.  Over his first 11 starts, he has allowed one earned run or less seven times.  Sounds quality, right?  Well, he has also failed to get out of the fifth inning in six of them and the 3rd in three.  Over his past five, Joe has put up two brilliant eight inning efforts allowing a total of one run.  In the other three outings he pitched a total of 11.2 innings and posted 10.80 ERA and a .421 OBA.  Gardner will have to develop a great deal more consistency to move up to AAA... or head to the bullpen.

Another sterling performance from Drew Pomeranz tonight.  That means seven innings of 1 run, 5 hit ball with a walk and 7 K's.  Pom (2-2, 1.93) responded nicely after looking rather shaky (L, 5 IP, 5 R, 7 H) his last time out.  No word on when he might get the call to Akron, but he does seem completely recovered from an earlier hamstring strain.

St Ed's grad Alex Lavisky made his last game (for the moment) as a Lake County Captain a memorable one.  On Wednesday, Lavisky put together a three hit game, including a double, a homer, two runs and 2 RBI.  He has been reassigned to Mahoning Valley, which opens its season tomorrow night.

Cheers.