Clippers power past Charlotte 9-7

The Clippers held on for a 9-7 victory of Charlotte on Wednesday. Jeanmar Gomez (3-0) got the win for Columbus and Clippers right-hander Zach Putnam got his 5th save of the season. Brandon Hynick (1-3) was hit with the loss.The Clippers got the bats going in the bottom of the second. Travis Buck doubled down the right field line. Jason Kipnis followed with a single to left center to put runners on the corners with 1 out. The next batter, Wes Hodges hit a line drive to left field to drive in Buck and give the Clippers a 1-0 lead. The offensive onslaught continued when Luke Carlin single to right field to knock in Kipnis for a 2-0 Columbus lead. It would be 3-0 in favor of the Clipper when a wild pitch got away from Charlotte catcher Tyler Flowers that allowed Wes Hodges to score.

A two out power show would then take place in the bottom of the third inning when Jason Kipnis crushed a two-run bomb that landed in the Wendy’s hamburger right field balcony. Just like that, Columbus had a 5-0 lead after 3 innings.

That lead would become 6-0 when Cord Phelps knocked in Ezequiel Carrera on an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth.

Things got a lot tighter in the top of the sixth. After Sean Gallagher and Tyler Flowers singled and Lastings Milledge walked, Jordan Danks hit a grand slam to deep left center to make it 6-4 Clippers.

It would become a one run advantage for the Clippers as Dayan Viciedo, a thorn in the side of Columbus pitching, knocked in Eduardo Escobar with a two out RBI single in the top of the seventh to make it 6-5 Clippers.

With their big lead nearly evaporated, the Clippers got to work to try to cushion their one run lead. Carrera led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to left field. The next batter, Cord Phelps would wallop a pitch out of the ball park onto Nationwide Boulevard to give the Clippers an 8-5 lead.

The Knights would not back down. The next inning, Gookie Dawkins knocked in McPherson on a single to right field to make it 8-6. Immediately following the Dawkins RBI single, Escobar knocked in Danks to again make a one run Clippers advantage. Clippers relief pitcher Josh Judy struck out Alejandro De Aza swinging and got Jim Gallagher to fly out to left field to end the inning.

More runs would cross the plate for the Clippers. Hodges singled to being the inning. Carlin bunted him over to second. A wild pitch while Jered Head was batting allowed Hodges to advance to third. Another wild pitch to the backstop allowed Hodges to score from third to make it 9-7 Clippers.

The Clippers will send Joe Martinez to hill for Thursday’s business special at Huntington Park. He will face Gaby Hernandez, who will be making the start for Charlotte. First pitch is 11:35 AM.