NOTE: This will be a short, abbreviated game report.
The Harrisburg Senators fell today on City Island to the Akron Aeros 8-3, allowing Akron to win the 5 game weekend series. The Senators jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning on Dan Dement and Prentice Redman singles (with a Kory Casto groundout allowing Dement to move to 2nd base before Redman's hit). However, Harrisburg starting pitcher Oscar Alvarez gave up four straight 2-out hits in the 2nd inning, giving the Aeros a 3-1 lead. Akron led the rest of the way, extending their lead to 4-1 in the 5th inning on a home run and then scoring 4 more times in the last 3 innings with the assistance of some poor relief pitching and defense. The hosts only other runs of the game came in the 8th inning on a double by Kory Casto and a 2-run homer by Frank Diaz. The homer cut the lead to 7-3 but by that point it was too little, too late for the Senators.
General game notes:
- The Senators committed 4 errors in the game, though none of the runs given up by the pitchers were unearned. Seth Bynum committed 2 errors, and Kory Casto and Greg Thissen each committed 1 error. Bynum actually could have been charged with a third error, as he probably should have stopped Casto's wide throw from left field that allowed an Akron runner to take an extra base after a single.
- Relief pitcher Alex Morales, a recent call-up from Potomac, was very wild, giving up 4 walks and 2 runs, despite not giving up any hits.
Individual player notes:
Kory Casto - officially went 1 for 3 with a double, walk, and a run scored. His batting average is sitting at .291 and his OBP and SLG percentages remain above .400 and .500 respectively. In the field he committed the throwing error mentioned above while playing LF.
Frank Diaz - was 1 for 4 with a 2-run homer, his 7th of the season, in his third game (day) back after returning from injury. He started in CF and made a few nice but unspectacular plays.
Salomon Manriquez - continues to be in a hitting slump, as he went 0 for 3 and saw his average drop to .244. He did draw a walk. He was a bit shaky at times behind the plate and gave up 4 steals, though at least 2 of them were more off the pitcher than him and the umpire appeared to make a bad call on another one of the steals (which saw Manriquez make a perfect throw).
Tim Raines Jr. - was 0 for 3 with 2 walks out of the leadoff spot. He moved over to RF with the return of Frank Diaz.
Prentice Redman - went 1 for 4 with a single and RBI. He was the DH today.
Josh Whitesell - cooled off a bit today, going 0 for 3 with a walk. His batting average is still a respectable .275. He was acceptable at 1st base.
Oscar Alvarez - picked up the loss, going 6 1/3 innings and giving up 5 runs on 9 hits and 1 walk. He also struck out 5 men.
MILB.com box score
