The Columbus Clippers (44-39) beat the Toledo Mud Hens (39-44) 4-0 Sunday. Travis Banwart was dominant in the win and the Clippers scored three in the second inning to put away Toledo. The win makes the Clippers 6-4 on the 10-game road trip. The shutout is the eighth in 2014 for Columbus.
Banwart (5-2, 3.12 ERA) was the man Sunday. He didn’t allow any runs and allowed just five hits with two walks in seven innings and struck out six batters. Duane Below (6-2, 3.99 ERA) pitched seven quality innings, but was outdueled Sunday. The Clippers scored three off of him on six hits with three strikeouts.
The decisive inning offensively for the Clippers was the second. Giovanny Urshela led off the frame with his team-leading 16th homer. Carlos Moncrief hit an infield single, but a bad throw to first by Below allowed Urshela to score. Ryan Rohlinger crushed his fifth homer of the season off the foul pole in left and gave Columbus a 3-0 lead.
Columbus has scored first in each of the last seven games. The Clippers are 5-2 in those games. The last game the Clippers didn’t grab the lead first was a 14-2 win at Lehigh Valley June 21.
Danny Salazar (1-5, 5.65 ERA) and the Clippers host Josh Smith (8-1, 4.00 ERA) and the Louisville Bats for two games at Huntington Park for a two-day homestand. First pitch for game one is 7:05 p.m. Monday night.
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