Yankees take over against Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has been making itself at home at Cooper Stadium.

The Yankees hit two more home runs Friday night in a 5-2 win over the Columbus Clippers to take the first two contests in a four-game series.

Eric Duncan led off the third inning with a home run for the Yankees and Alberto Gonzalez added a solo shot in the sixth. On Thursday night, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre hit three homers in a 7-3 victory.

“(Homers are) something that comes in spurts,” Yankees manger Dave Miley said. “Early in the season, we were relying on speed. But if you look at the homers, the double by Ben Broussard was just as big for us.”

Ben Broussard laced a two-run double to left in the eighth to extend the Yankees lead to three runs.

But a napping baserunner for Columbus may have helped wake up the bat of Duncan, who was 2-for-17 with five strikeouts against the Clippers this season before hitting his eighth homer.

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre third baseman, who was one the receiving end of a pickoff throw to end the third inning, led off the fourth with a solo shot to right field to ignite the Yankees.

With two outs in the third, Ed Rogers was at third base for Columbus and Jorge Padilla at first. With Pokey Reese batting, Padilla broke for an attempted steal of second allowing Yankees catcher Chris Stewart to bluff a throw to second and fire the ball to third to catch a napping Rogers.

“I don’t know if that did anything for my bat, but it was a big play,” said Duncan, who also had a single and scored twice for the Yankees. “(Clippers starter Garrett Mock) threw me an inside fastball and I was able to turn on it.”

Gonzalez hit a solo homer to left with one out in the sixth as Scranton/Wilkes-Barre got to Mock (5-3). The Clippers right-hander entered the inning with seven strikeouts and no walks and surrendering only two hits, but the Yankees stayed patient at the plate drawing two walks to go with three hits.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Ross Ohlendorf (1-0) went a season-high five innings. The right-hander started the season in the bullpen for the New York Yankees and is working toward the endurance needed to be a starting pitcher.

“Ohlendorf came down and did what he was sent here to do — work on all of his pitches,” Miley said.

“My fastball and slider was working for me,” said Ohlendorf, who finished with seven strikeouts and one walk while giving up four hits and one earned run.

Ohlendorf started the sixth inning but loaded the bases by surrendering a single by Rogers, a walk to Ofilio Castro and a single to Padilla before being relieved by Steven Jackson. The Clippers scored on a ground out to second by Reese, but Jackson forced Leonard Davis to pop out to third before walking Alex Escobar and getting Larry Broadway to strike out.

“When Jackson came in with the bases loaded and no outs and held them to one run, that was big,” Miley said.

Yurendell de Caster had a single to lead off the Columbus seventh, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch by Stevens.

Scott Strickland, the fourth Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pitcher, threw a scoreless ninth for his third save.

The Clippers will start left-hander Mike Hinckley, who will be called up from Double-A Harrisburg. He was 5-3 with a 5.12 ERA in 23 games for the Senators this season.

Looking Ahead