Clark, Robinson Too Much for Royals

  Brad Clark won back-to-back starts for the first time this season, as he and the Rangers knocked off the Kettering Royals 7-3 on Sunday at Athletes in Action’s Sports Complex. Clark scattered four hits over 8 innings to pick up the win and even his season record at 4-4.

      The Rangers got on the board first when James Robinson blasted a double to deep centerfield scoring Matt Hood from first base. The Royals answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the second inning. Third baseman Jason Griffith tattooed a Clark fastball to right-centerfield for a leadoff triple. Ben Ailes singled in Griff to tie the game at 1-1.

      Jelani Arnold led off the top of the third for the Rangers with a single to left. After stealing second and moving to third on an errant throw, Jacob Robinson singled to right field to give the Rangers a one-run lead. After Royals pitcher Brian Duffy picked off Robinson at first, one of three pickoffs on the day, Clint Wolf tripled for the seventh time this season. Jonmarc Lippincott singled up the middle to drive in Wolf. The Rangers scored another in the fourth when Arnold drove in Reis Pearson, who doubled earlier, for a 4-1 advantage.

      The Royals made a game of it in the bottom of the eighth after Clark walked the first two batters and hit the third to load the bases with no outs. Clark then got Kyle Ubinger to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Eric Jameson scored from third, and Brian Duffy, hustling on the play, came around and scored from second to cut the lead to 4-3.

      But the Rangers received some much-needed insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning. Steve Marshall led off with an infield single. Jacob Robinson followed suit with an infield single. Then first baseman Joe Staten came up huge with a double to the left-center gap that scored Robinson and Marshall. Staten, hustling back to second base after a throw back to the infield, forced an errant throw from the third baseman into right field, allowing Staten to huff and puff his way across home plate. The Rangers led 7-3 going into the bottom of the ninth.

      Ben Ailes started the ninth for the Royals with an infield hit to third. But after a walk to Shawn Rudegeair, Rangers coach Jonmarc Lippincott summoned the bullpen and brought in Jacob Robinson to try and stop the bleeding. Jake’s first batter, Chad Campbell, bunted the ball back to the mound and attempted to get the lead runner at third, but to no avail. With the bases juiced and nobody out, Jake settled in to induce a comebacker to the mound and set up 1-2-3 double play. Jake picked up his second save on the season with a third groundball comebacker as Eric Jameson grounded out to end the threat.

      The Rangers have won four of their last five games and have vaulted themselves past the Royals into second place in the MVABL standings.

Defensive performances of note: Jacob Robinson finished July 2007 with a miniscule 0.43 ERA in 21 innings of work, thereby setting a new Rangers record with best ERA for any month (minimum 10 innings pitched). Robinson’s mark bested Joe Staten’s 0.60 ERA in May of 2001.

Offensive performances of note: Clint hit his 7^th triple of the season and 33^rd of his career. Jacob Robinson, Jonmarc Lippincott, and Reis Pearson had two hits. Jelani Arnold was 3-for-4 with a run, RBI, and SB.