The Columbus Clippers salvaged a 2-2 series-split with a 5-1 victory over the Durham Bulls at Huntington Park on Monday night.
A crowd of 9,271 was in attendance for Dime-a-Dog night at Huntington Park which featured 10-cent Sugardale hot dogs. The total number of hotdogs sold in the park was 24,873, nearly three hot dogs per person.
Monday’s game also featured Ohio State basketball player Mark Titus throwing out the first pitch. Titus has gained recognition for his “Club Trillion” blog.
While there were rain showers throughout the day, game time conditions were fair as the rain stopped and temperatures were in the low 60s.
The game began with four innings of scoreless baseball, which was uncharacteristic of a matchup that featured two teams that led the International League in runs scored and batting average.
Clippers pitcher Mike Gosling pitched 6.1 innings of shutout baseball before being relieved.
Before the game, Gosling announced that this would be his final start as he is retiring to spend more time with his family.
Gosling allowed five hits and one walk, while striking out five. Gosling featured a fastball in the upper 80s and kept the hitters guessing with breaking balls that ranged between 70 and 80 mph.
“I did have a little bit better command of my fastball tonight,” Gosling said. “I knew at the beginning of the game that my velocity was down a little bit, so instead of forcing my way to better velocity, I tried to hit spots and keep them off balance. I was more able to mix in my other stuff. I tried to drop in the slow curve, the difference in velocity helps keep the hitter off the fastball and everything else, so I try to drop that in occasionally and keep them guessing.”
Durham pitcher Richard De Los Santos was equally effective through the first four innings, holding the Clippers to only two hits. De Los Santos had trouble in the fifth inning, though.
Jose Constanza started off the inning with a single. De Los Santos walked Michael Brantley and hit Jason Donald with a pitch to load the bases with no outs. With a full count, Carlos Santana hit a grand slam to right center field that left the ballpark and cleared Nationwide Blvd. to give the Clippers a 4-0 lead.
De Los Santos finished off the fifth inning but was relieved by Brian Baker in the sixth.
Carlos Santana showed more power with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning that left the ballpark once again over the right field fence. The home run was Santana’s ninth of the season. Santana also took the team lead in RBIs from Shelley Duncan with his fifth RBI of the game, making his total 37.
“He hit a couple big ones tonight,” said Clippers manager Mike Sarbaugh. “That first home run was impressive.”
Clippers pitchers Vinnie Pestano and Josh Judy kept the Bulls scoreless through the eighth inning. But the Clippers couldn’t complete their second shutout in a row as the Bulls scored on an RBI double by Ryan Shealy in the ninth.
Clippers infielder Jason Donald was called up to the Cleveland Indians immediately after the game as Asdrubal Cabrera was carted off of the field in the first inning of the Indians’ loss to Tampa Bay. Cabrera suffered a left forearm injury after a collision with third baseman Jhonny Peralta.
The Clippers now leave on an eight-game road trip and will return to Huntington Park on May 27.
