The Columbus Clippers finished their latest home stand at 3-4 and fell into a tie with Indianapolis for the International League West Division lead.

A 6-1 loss is how Columbus opened a four game series with the Gwinnett Braves; it was the Clippers third consecutive defeat. Gwinnett got a strong pitching performance from Chien-Ming Wang who won his first game of the season against four losses.

Wang lasted 7.1 innings allowing one run on eight hits and two walks. He struck out two. Cody Martin recorded his first save of the season for the Braves. Toru Murata was the losing pitcher, giving up four runs in six innings of work.

Gwinnett took an early lead, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by Cedric Hunter and a fielding error by third baseman Giovanny Urshela.

The Braves added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning on a Jose Peraza solo home run to left and a bases loaded walk to Mycal Jones. A pair of sacrifice fly’s by Elmer Reyes in the eighth inning and Cedric Hunter in the ninth ended the scoring at six.

Columbus could only muster one run, a Tyler Holt RBI single in the bottom of the eighth that scored Adam Moore.

Columbus snapped a three game losing streak with an 8-4 win in the second game of a four game series with Gwinnett. Michael Roth and Giovanni Soto combined for the win. Roth lasted seven innings and gave up all four runs on eight hits and one walk in earning his fifth win of the season; Soto threw two scoreless innings.

Carlos Moncrief, Jerry Sands and Zach Walters each had two RBI Moncrief’s came on his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast in the first inning. Columbus scored six runs in the bottom of the first on five hits, four singles and Moncrief’s homer.

The Clippers added single runs in the fourth and sixth innings, while the Braves scored their four runs in the same innings, one, four and six.

Gwinnett banged out eleven hits and scored six runs on their way to a 6-1 victory in game three of their series in Columbus.

Four Braves pitchers worked the four hit, one run game, striking out ten Columbus batters. David Carpenter won his first game of the season for Gwinnett.

Columbus used five pitchers in the game; Jordan Cooper was tagged with the loss, dropping his record to 2-2.

Gwinnett jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a pair of doubles by Eury Perez and Cedric Hunter. They added a second run in the top of the third on a Eury Perez solo home run.

The Braves broke the game wide open in the fourth inning as the plated four runs to take a 6-0 lead. Four singles, a sacrifice fly and a pair of walks put the game out of reach.

Columbus added a meaningless run in the bottom of the fifth inning as Michael Martinez scored when Jesus Aguilar was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Jhoulys Chacin pitched eight scoreless innings in 4-0 Clipper win against Gwinnett, the win gave the Clippers a spilt in the series. Chacin gave up three hits and one walk with three strike outs.

The Clippers went up 1-0 in the third inning on a Michael Martinez double that scored Tyler Holt who was hit by a pitch, they added a second run in the fourth on a fielder’s choice  that scored Jerry Sands.

James Ramsey and Carlos Moncrief each added an RBI in the sixth inning to put the Clippers up 4-0, that’s how the game would end.

Columbus hits the road for seven games, four in Charlotte and three in Gwinnett.

Game 1 Boxscore Provided by MiLB.com

Game 2 Boxscore Provided by MiLB.com

Game 3 Boxscore Provided by MiLB.com

Game 4 Boxscore Provided by MiLB.com

By Mike Tanchevski