Thunder get four home runs, top Harrisburg

Jul 03, 2010

By: norris

By JAY DUNN
Staff Writer
TRENTON — Thunder manager Tony Franklin knows what holiday we’re celebrating today.
“It’s not December,” he said last night after his team defeated Harrisburg, 6-4. “But I’m happy about Christmas.”
Ho, ho, ho.
The Thunder got four homers, none from players who have ever been accused of being power hitters. And he got a brilliant relief effort from lefty Wilkins Arias, who entered the game with none out in the seventh and the potential tying run at third — and managed to leave it stranded there.
“We just got bonuses all night,” Franklin said, with a little bit of amazement on his face.
As big as the homers were, Arias’ pitching might have been bigger.
The visitors had opened the seventh with a single and triple (a single misplayed into a triple by an overly aggressive outfielder) and had closed the gap to 5-4. Arias came on in relief of starter D.J. Mitchell and promptly fanned Michael Martinez and pinch hitter Adam Fox before getting Danny Espinosa on an infield grounder.
“I wasn’t looking for the strike out. I just wanted to get those guys out, no matter how,” Arias said through interpreter Jose Gil.
“The strike outs were a bonus,” Franklin said. “I was just hoping he could get batters out. If they scored the run, we were still tied.”
With 6,458 fans looking forward to a postgame fireworks show, the Thunder batters put on their own pyrotechnical display.
Gil, who has feasted on left-handed pitching lately, started it with a two-run shot in the second inning that might have left a dent on an advertising sign. He hit off southpaw Aaron Thompson, who had the dubious distinction of becoming the Eastern League’s first 10-game loser.
“During all my career I’ve hit good against left-handers,” Gil said.
An inning later Austin Romine produced a two-run blast that snapped a 2-2 tie. He picked a different advertising sign, but otherwise his clout was similar to Gil’s.
Before the night was over, Daniel Brewer and Luis Nunez each authored solo homers.
That was enough margin for Tim Norton, who pitched the last two innings for the save.
Then it was time for more fireworks.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 at 11:13 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.