COLUMBUS, OH - The Columbus Clippers closed out their series against the visiting St. Paul Saints with a win on Sunday, 8-5. Well over 8,100 fans turned out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Huntington Park to cheer on the Clippers as they earned a split in the six-game set.
Right-hander Justin Campbell made his long-awaited Triple-A debut and looked great over 2.0 scoreless innings. Campbell allowed just one hit with a walk and a strikeout. He was followed by Austin Peterson (4-8) who earned the win on the strength of 4.2 innings of solid relief work, allowing three runs and striking out seven.
The white-hot Ralphy Velazquez singled in the game's first run to ignite a five-run 1st inning Clippers rally. Kody Huff followed with a RBI double, and then George Valera launched a three-run home run down the right-field line.
Valera doubled home another run in the 6th inning to give Columbus a 6-2 edge, but St. Paul responded with a pair of runs in the top of the 7th to narrow the gap to two.
In the bottom of the 7th, the Clippers pulled away thanks to a RBI single by Kyle Manzardo and a sacrifice fly by Velazquez. Columbus led 8-4 after the 7th inning. In the words of a wise man known simply as Flounder... "Oh boy, is this great!"
Columbus split the six-game series with the schmucks from St. Paul with the win Sunday, which gives the Clippers an overall mark of 66-57, while St. Paul leaves town with a record of 72-53.
The Clippers are on the road for the final week of August in Indianapolis. Columbus returns home for the season's biggest week of promotions from September 1-6 against the Iowa Cubs. The series kicks off with Tansky Tuesday Dime-A-Dog Night. Get Clippers tickets with lower online fees than ever at ClippersBaseball.com.
