COLUMBUS, OH - On a beautiful September evening in Ohio's capital city, the Columbus Clippers demolished the visiting Iowa Cubs, 10-5. Three Columbus sluggers crushed key home runs along the way as the Clippers had a field day hitting against the Cubs pitching staff.
Catcher Cooper Ingle provided Columbus with an early 1-0 lead when he deposited a 91-mph fastball onto the center field lawn for his 19th home run of the year.
Iowa tied things up in the 2nd, then took a brief 2-1 lead in the top of the 5th. Ingle's RBI single in the bottom-half of the 5th evened the score once again.
The 6th inning was when Columbus broke the game wide open. The big blast came courtesy of Kahlil Watson, who came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit one deep into the Columbus night.
Watson's dramatic 18th round-tripper of the season capped a seven-run rally that left Columbus ahead 9-2.
Milan Tolentino got in on the act when he hit his 20th home run of the year in the 7th inning, making it a 10-2 rout at that point.
Right-hander Trenton Denholm (10-5) allowed two runs over 6.0 innings, striking out four. He becomes the first International League pitcher to win ten games.
The victory gives Columbus a record of 73-61 for the season, while Iowa falls to 57-77. Now with a second half record of 32-28, the Clippers remain in the thick of the playoff hunt in the wild-but-true twenty-team International League free-for-all.
The Clippers and Cubs wrap up the series on Sunday at 1:05pm. It's the final Signature Sunday of the season. Kids can get autographs from two Clippers players between noon and 12:20pm at AAA Guest Services. Stick around for the postgame Fun Run around the bases (weather permitting). Get Clippers tickets with lower online fees than ever at ClippersBaseball.com.
