The Columbus Clippers (66-58) fried the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (58-66) 6-1 Tuesday night. The Clippers scored six runs on six hits and one walk in the fourth inning to create separation. Eight of the starting nine had a hit for Columbus. Going into the fourth the Clippers had scored one run in the previous 22 innings.
Danny Salazar (4-6, 3.71 ERA) was high quality for the Clippers. He allowed one run across seven innings on five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. The nine strikeouts for Salazar tied his Clippers season high which he had done five times previously. Jo-Jo Reyes (1-3, 10.45 ERA) had a rough night. He went four innings and allowed six runs on 10 hits with one walk and one strikeout. All six runs scored on him in the fourth.
The IronPigs got off to a loud start. Freddy Galvis bombed a Salazar fastball to right and gave Lehigh Valley an early lead.
Salazar and the Clippers then took over. A rainbow appeared beyond downtown Columbus in right field before the bottom of the fourth. It was a sign of things to come for the Clippers.
They found their pot of gold with a six-run inning. Carlos Moncrief and Audy Ciriaco singled to start the madness. After James Ramsey put down a sacrifice bunt to move them over Elliot Johnson hit an RBI infield single. Luke Carlin then walked to load the bases.
Michael Bourn picked up his second hit on his most recent rehab stint with a two-run double to left. The next man up was Francisco Lindor. The switch hitting shortstop hit his first right handed home run to cap off the rally. It was Lindor’s third homer with the Clippers.
On the night Bourn was 1-5 with a two-run double and made three plays in center in three chances. He was 0-10 in three games on his rehab assignment with Double-A Akron and is 2-9 in two games with Columbus. Bourn is recovering from a strained left hamstring.
Gabriel Arias (6-2, 3.62 ERA) gets the start Wednesday night against the IronPigs. He will be opposed by Sean O’Sullivan (5-9, 4.57 ERA) at 7:05 p.m.
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