The Columbus Clippers entered last Friday's game against the Louisville Bats reeling after two disappointing losses to the Norfolk Tides. The Bats invaded Cooper Stadium as a team on fire, having won seven in a row putting them atop the International League's west division. The last place Clippers cooled the Bats off by sweeping the four game weekend series from Louisville, sending a statement to their divisional foes that Columbus is still a team to be reckoned with.
"We've got two months left to play, it's just a matter of us to continue doing what we've been doing," said Clippers designated hitter/catcher, Ben Davis.
The series opened with a bang on Friday, when Columbus rallied from a 2-1 deficit to prevail 3-2. Playing a large role in the victory was Clippers' right-fielder Terrence Long, who robbed Louisville's Matt Kata of a potential game-winning home run in the ninth inning. With a runner at second and two outs, Kata sent a deep fly ball into right field that Long leaped three feet over the wall to catch to seal the victory for Columbus.
On Saturday, the Clippers used a big second inning to nab a 7-2 victory. Columbus sent 10 batters to the plate in the second, scoring six runs while roughing up Bats' starter Phil Dumatrait for nine hits and seven runs in just three innings of work. Kevin Thompson's two-run homer, Mitch Jones' two-run triple and a two-run double by Davis accounted for the six Columbus runs in the inning.
Sunday afternoon's game ended in dramatic fashion for the Clippers. Columbus took a 2-0 lead into the seventh inning, only to see the bullpen implode, surrendering five runs to the Louisville offense. The big blow was a three-run homer by Louisville's Jesse Gutierrez off Clippers' reliever Colter Bean. The Clippers then fought back as they rallied for a run in the seventh, two more in the ninth and a bases loaded RBI single by catcher Will Nieves in the 11th to complete a 6-5 victory.
On Monday the holiday drew in a crowd of 9,381 people to see the Clippers finish off the sweep. Aaron Small, who was 10-0 with a 3.20 ERA for the New York Yankees last season, started for Columbus. The Bats roughed up the struggling Small for 5 earned runs in 3 and one-third innings of work.
"Aaron Small will be just fine," said Clippers' pitching coach Neil Allen. "If he gets a couple of starts under his belt, gets into a routine, gets into a program and follows this program, he'll be just fine."
Despite Small's struggles, the Clippers found a way to win. After the Bats took a 7-6 lead in the top of the eighth, Columbus rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. A one-out single by first baseman Carlos Pena scored Thompson, giving the Clippers an 8-7 lead they would not relinquish, and finishing off a 6-2 homestand.
Columbus opened a season-long fourteen game road trip on Tuesday, where they have an anemic 11-27 record after Tuesday night's loss at Indianapolis.
"We're not going to think about the road or whether we're at home," Pena said. "We have to go out there and do the best we can as a team, we'll rack up some wins on the road."
Unfortunately for Pena and the Clippers, the road trip started on a sour note. The Indianapolis Indians hit a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to prevail 5-3 over the Clippers.
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