Marcus Jacobs
Herald Sports Writer
July 22, 2008 10:44 am
—
CLINTON — The Clinton LumberKings ended their nine game homestand with an 8-4 loss to Dayton Dragons on Monday.
The LumberKings went 4-5 while taking two of three from the River Bandits and could only snag one win from the Fort Wayne Wizards.
Clinton is now 14-17 overall.
After playing 24 innings in the past two days the LumberKings were short handed in the bullpen as well as the starting pitching, with Michael Main skipping a start due to a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand.
Keisuke Ueno made the start in a pinch as he went four innings. Ueno didn’t have a great game as he gave up four earned runs and two home runs.
With two out in the second, Dayton’s catcher, Devin Mesoraco, pounded a home run to left to give Dayton the early 1-0 lead.
Dayton saw their lead grow in the fourth as Zach Cozart led off with a single to left.
Neftali Soto hit his second home run of the season to left field to give the Dragons a 3-0 lead.
Brandon Waring walked after the home run and Ueno uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Waring to move to second.
Denis Phipps flew out to right and Waring tagged from second to put him 90 feet away from the plate.
Mesoraco struck again as he singled to left to score Waring. After the inning was over the Dragons had a 4-0 lead.
The LumberKings cut into the lead in the sixth when lead-off hitter Davis Stoneburner connected on his first home run with the LumberKings to left field.
Ryan Tatusko, who pitched a gem on Saturday night against these same Dragons, came on in the seventh.
Tatusko got Mesoraco to go down swinging for the first out. Angel Cabrera got hit by a pitch to put a runner on first.
Michael McKennon doubled to right to move Cabrera to third. A throwing error by catcher Carlos Dominguez who attempted to pick off Cabrera at third went into right field to score one runner. Brandon Menchaca walked to put runners on the corners.
Justin Reed struck out swinging for the second out, but Cozart got his 12th double of the season to score both McKennon and Menchaca.
The LumberKings tagged a run on in the seventh when Dominguez flew out to left as Mitch Moreland scored. Cutting the lead to 7-2.
The Dragons got the run right back in the top of the eighth Mesoraco got his second home run of the night to left field. Mesoraco ended up the evening 3-for-4 with two runs scored and had three RBIs.
Davis Stoneburner started off the eighth with a double to left.
Engel Beltre put down a bunt for a single but a wild throw by Derrick Conaster not only scored Stoneburner but got Beltre to third on the error. Matt Lawson grounded out to second to score Beltre and that would be the last of the LumberKing scoring.
Tonight, the LumberKings used six pitchers including starters Michael Kirkman and Tatusko.
“Yesterday we didn’t have a legitimate starter and today with Main being out, the release of Romero and the other three guys we have with the bullpen being short 15 innings. Yesterday we threw five guys plus Moreland. We used to have guys on their side day throw in the game where it’s competitive we wanted to do it and they wanted to do it and that’s why we did it” said pitching coordinator, Rick Adair.
The LumberKings hit the road starting Wednesday night.
The next home game will be July 29th when the Clinton will host the South Bend Silver Hawks starting at 7 p.m.
DRAGONS 8, LUMBERKINGS 4
DAYTON CLINTON
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Reed cf 5 0 1 0 Beltre cf 4 1 1 0
Cozart ss 4 1 2 2 Lawson 2b 3 0 0 1
Soto 3b 4 1 1 2 Smith 1b 4 0 1 0
Waring dh 3 1 0 0 Moreland dh 2 1 1 0
Phipps rf 4 0 0 0 Greene 3b 3 0 0 0
Mesoraco c 4 2 3 3 Santana lf 4 0 0 0
Cabrera 2b 3 1 0 0 Dominguez c 3 0 0 1
McKennon 1b 4 1 2 0 Murphy rf 3 0 0 0
Menchaca lf 3 1 0 0 Stonburnr ss 4 2 2 1
Dayton 010 300 310 —8
Clinton 000 001 120 —4
E—Contaster, Dominguez. DP—Dayton 1; Clinton 1. LOB—Dayton 2; Clinton 5. 2B—McKennon, Cozart, Stoneburner. HR—Mesoraco 2, Soto, Stoneburner. SB—Smith. CS—Reed, Lawson. SF—Dominguez.
IP H R ER BB SO
Dayton
Horst L, 5-2 5 1 0 0 1 6
Rhoden 2 1 2 2 3 1
Conaster 2 3 2 1 0 1
Clinton
Ueno L, 3-3 4 5 4 4 1 1
Santana 1 0 0 0 0 0
Kirkman 1 0 0 0 0
Tatusko 1 2 3 3 1 2
Flores 1 1 1 1 0 3
Ortiz 1 1 0 0 0 0
HBP—Murphy, Cabrera. WP—Ueno 2. Time—2:27. Attendance—650.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.