Solo Time @ the Clip Joint

Jason Kipnis

The Clippers put up five runs tonight as they sneaked past the Toledo Mud Hens in the first of a four game home-and-home.  Four of those runs came via the solo home run.  Jason Kipnis played big bopper, launching his 10th and 11th round trippers.  Kip finds the spotlight a bit brighter with top prospects Cord Phelps and Lonnie Chisenhall now traveling with the big club and he seems to like it. Over his past three, Jason (.295) is 6-for-12 with 3 dingers. Also chipping in, Jared Goedert (.202) raised his average above Mendoza with three hits including his own solo shot.  The fourth bomb came off of the bat of Paul Phillips (.229), who is now the only active catcher on the Columbus roster.

Jeanmar Gomez started and pushed his record to 8-2 with the victory.  Gomez (2.49) scattered six hits over the first five before finally allowing Toledo on the board with a three run sixth that sent him to the showers.  Jeanmar has found his groove and finishes June 4-1 with a 2.18.

CC Lee, one of three recent recalls (Tim Fedroff, Matt McBride), pitched a scoreless eighth, fanning a pair.  After posting a 12.71 K/9 with Akron, CC has punched out 4 in his first 2.1 with the Clippers.

David Huff starts tomorrow in a business man's special at 12:05p.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

Someone needs to explain Nick Weglarz to me.  Still an legitimate power prospect, Wegz has lingered at AA Akron after initially joining the club for rehab.  Why has he yet to be promoted?  Well, that would be because he was hitting .163 coming into action tonight.  Now, Nick did single twice to raise his average to .196 and he also walked for the 22nd time in 17 games.  In addition, the one base hits this evening were only his second and third of the season.  All of this boils down to a guy with an average under .200, but an OPS of .850!  In case you are not the stat head that I am, such a thing is nearly unheard of.

In his first start for High-A Kinston, neophyte knuckleballer Steven Wright gave the little Indians eight solid innings, his longest outing at any level in 2011.  Wright, who has pitched for 4 different farm clubs this year, allowed three runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out 7.  Believe it or not, Wright (3-2, 3.38) will be an option for the Indians as early as next spring should he not encounter any setbacks.

LeVon Washington is showing some signs of coming out of the doldrums for Low-A Lake County.  Now sporting a modest six-game hit streak, Washington (.230) has 6 hits in his last 16 AB's.  Tonight, the speedy centerfielder singled, tripled, scored three times and swiped his 9th bag.

Speaking of triples, 2010 third-rounder Tony Wolters socked his 3rd tonight.  Wolters (.310) also singled and drove home a run and has hit in nine of Mahoning Valley's first ten games.

Cheers