Franco's smoking bat leads Claws to win

In Lakewood, the BlueClaws rode the red hot bat of Maikel Franco to a thrilling come from behind 6-4 win over Delmarva.  Franco, who is hitting over .320 since the All-Star break, had 4 hits including the game winner, a walk off 2-run, 2-out home run in the bottom of the 9th.  It was his 14th home run of the year, and his 3 RBI make a total of 51 in the second half, and a team leading 77 overall.  Willie Carmona added 2 hits, and is hitting the ball much better the last few games, making his adjustments to the pro game.  Lakewood is still 3 games out of first place, with 14 games to play.



In Harrisburg, the Senators defeated Reading, 5-2, but the good news is Darin Ruf hit home run #31, pulling him to within 6 of Ryan Howard's team record of 37 set in 2004.  Austin Hyatt took the loss, going 6 innings and giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and 1 walk, striking out 7.  Colby Shreve threw the final 2 frames, allowing an UNearned run.  The R-Phils stay 1 game behind New Britain, who lost to Portland, 4-3 in 10 innings.



In Durham, Greg Golson (.274) had 2 hits, including a 3-run home run (his 6th) and drove in 4 runs for Charlotte as the Knights beat the Bulls, 9-6............In Fresno, Jesus Merchan (.413) kept up his hot hitting with 2 more knocks and an RBI for Tucson,  to help the Padres to 6-2 win over the Grizzlies.........In Kodak, Brian Schlitter pitched 2 scoreless innings for the Smokies and picked up his 3rd win when Tennessee rallied for 4 run in the bottom of the 8th inning to take a 5-1 victory from Chattanooga........In Midland, the Tulsa Drillers scored 3 in the 9th to take a 6-5 win over the Rock Hounds.  Josh Outman was the starter for Tulsa, and went 6.2 innings, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits and 1 walk, striking out 9 and getting no decision.  Matt Rizzotti (.330) was 0 for 4 for the Hounds........In Springfield, the Corpus Christi Hooks managed just 5 hits in 13 inning, but 2 of them were home runs and enough for a 2-1 win.  Jonathan Singleton (.281)  belted his 19th for the Hooks in the 4th inning.  While he is not quite as hot as Darin Ruf, Singleton has hit 5 home runs in his last 9 games.