Kip’s Homer not Enough as the Ducks Fall
Akron, Ohio
On a Beautiful Wednesday Night, The Akron Rubberducks hosted the Hartford Yardgoats in game 2 of their three game series. In Game one, the Rubberducks would win 5-2, pushing their record to 52-54. On this night, Lefthander Matt Whitehouse would start for the Ducks, who going into the game was 6-5 with a 4.22 ERA. He was opposed by Konner Wade a Right Hander for the Yardgoats, who was 5-6 with a 4.36 ERA. The Big news for this game going into it was that Jason Kipnis who is still recovering from a hamstring injury, was playing and starting at second for his second rehab start, his first starting at second though.
It didn’t take long for the Yardgoats to get on the board. Two batters in they had a 1-0 lead after a walk to the leadoff hitter then Shortstop Brendan Rodgers hit a double to right center scoring the runner from first. After two strike outs from Whitehouse, he would hit the number 5 batter and the next batter Josh Fuentes doubled right over the third base bag bringing in the second run of the game. Whitehouse would get out of the jam with a strike out on the next batter he faced. In the Rubberducks half inning, it was a quick three up three down, as Kipnis would ground to second in his first at bat of the night.
After a very quite second inning from both teams, Brendan Rodgers lead off the third inning with a Homerun to left field. Giving the Yardgoats a 3-0 lead. Then after a bunt single by Drew Weeks, he would then be thrown out by catcher Francisco Mejia trying to steal second base. After a fielder choice to get the second out of the inning, Josh Fuentes would strike again with an RBI single to push the lead to 4-0. In the bottom of the third, Akron finally got on the board after a Luigi Rodriguez double and a Greg Allen Sac fly to bring him home. Then Jason Kipnis would cut the lead in half with a big solo homerun to right field. Making the score 4-2.
Whitehouse’s rough night counited in the top of the fourth as the first batter Stephen Cardullo hit a homerun to left field giving Horford he 5-2 lead. After a double and single by the Yardgoats, Whitehouse struck out Rodgers then a run came in after a ground out to Yu Chang at short. Making it 6-2 Hartford. Akron would respond though in the bottom of the fourth. Bobby Bradley would lead off with a walk then Chang would hit a triple into the left field corner. Then on the next pitch Mike Papi would single home Chang making the score 6-4 in favor of Hartford. After a hit by Rodriguez putting runners at the corners, Joe Sever hit a bullet off the leg of the Pitcher Wade driving in Rodriguez and making the score 6-5.
As the game headed to the fifth, Whitehouses’s night was over. He went 4 innings giving up 6 runs on 8 hits while striking out 6 and hitting 2 batters. He was relieved by Right Hander D.J Brown. And Brown would have a 1-2-3 inning. Striking out one in the process, keeping the score at 6-5. In the bottom of the fifth, Kipnis opened up the inning with a ground out to second baseman. Mejia and Bradley would follow with two quick outs for themselves. Keeping the score at 6-5.
After inning 7, not much had happened after the 5th inning, Kipnis would come out of the game after going 1-4 with a Homerun and the score the same Hartford leading 6-5. In the top of the seventh, new pitcher Jacob Lee gave up three straight hits to open up the inning allowing Fuentes to score who doubled pushing Hartford’s lead to 7-5. After Lee loaded the bases with a walk, Ashley Graeter Tripled to deep center, clearing the bases and Horford really opened up their lead to 10-5. That lead would hld for the last 2 innings of play.
For Akron, Jason Kipnis finish 1-4 with a Homerun. Luigi Rodriguez finished 2-4 with a double. And Francisco Mejia went 0-4. The lose puts Arkon at 52-55 for the season.
