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Akron, Ohio —
Akron lefthander Giovanni Soto threw a nine-inning, no-hit game Sunday afternoon, blanking the Altoona Curve, 2-1, before 3,572 fans at Canal Park in Akron.
Soto, a 21-year-old southpaw from Carolina, Puerto Rico, became the first Akron Aeros pitcher to throw a solo no-hitter at Canal Park, which opened on April 10, 1997. It is only the second solo no-hitter in Aeros franchise history. The other gem came on May 21, 2009, when Jeanmar Gomez tossed a perfect game in a 3-0 win at Trenton.
On Sunday, Soto needed only 104 pitches and one hour and 58 minutes to subdue the Curve (44-48). He threw 64 strikes. Soto (6-6) worked around three walks and struck out six batters. Although no highlight-reel defensive plays took place, the Aeros turned two timely double plays behind Soto.
The Aeros (54-39) staked Soto to a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first inning off starter Phil Irwin. They extended the lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Irwin (1-7) hit Thomas Neal to lead off the inning. Neal advanced to third on Ryan Rohlinger’s single to right, and scored on an infield hit by Aeros catcher Michel Hernandez.
The Curve notched an unearned run off Soto in the sixth following a lead-off walk to Jarek Cunningham. Cunningham advanced to third when Curve catcher Ramon Cabrera flied out to centerfield. Attempting to throw behind Cunningham, who had slipped between first and second, Aeros centerfielder Tyler Holt skipped a throw past first base into the Curve dugout moving Cunningham to third. The next hitter, Kelson Brown, grounded to second and Cunningham scored.
Soto, who came to the Indians organization from Detroit in a trade for Jhonny Peralta on July 29, 2010, retired the side in order six times. The Aeros turned double plays in the second and seventh to erase runners who had walked. Because of those double plays, Soto faced just one over the minimum number of hitters (28).
With the suspense building, Soto retired the final seven batters he faced. In the eighth, he had to leap to stab a chopper over the mound hit by Quincy Latimore. Soto came down with the ball, fumbled it briefly, and then threw to first to nip Latimore by a half-step.
In the ninth, He retired Cabrera on a grounder to short, Brown on a fly ball to right, and finally, Robbie Grossman on a fly ball to Holt in center.
In his fourth pro season since signing with the Tigers in 2008, Soto snapped a personal four-game losing streak. He picked up his first win since June 5th, when he beat New Britain, 6-2. He had gone eight starts without a victory prior to Sunday’s no-no.
Akron lefthander Giovanni Soto threw a nine-inning, no-hit game Sunday afternoon, blanking the Altoona Curve, 2-1, before 3,572 fans at Canal Park in Akron.
Soto, a 21-year-old southpaw from Carolina, Puerto Rico, became the first Akron Aeros pitcher to throw a solo no-hitter at Canal Park, which opened on April 10, 1997. It is only the second solo no-hitter in Aeros franchise history. The other gem came on May 21, 2009, when Jeanmar Gomez tossed a perfect game in a 3-0 win at Trenton.
On Sunday, Soto needed only 104 pitches and one hour and 58 minutes to subdue the Curve (44-48). He threw 64 strikes. Soto (6-6) worked around three walks and struck out six batters. Although no highlight-reel defensive plays took place, the Aeros turned two timely double plays behind Soto.
The Aeros (54-39) staked Soto to a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first inning off starter Phil Irwin. They extended the lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Irwin (1-7) hit Thomas Neal to lead off the inning. Neal advanced to third on Ryan Rohlinger’s single to right, and scored on an infield hit by Aeros catcher Michel Hernandez.
The Curve notched an unearned run off Soto in the sixth following a lead-off walk to Jarek Cunningham. Cunningham advanced to third when Curve catcher Ramon Cabrera flied out to centerfield. Attempting to throw behind Cunningham, who had slipped between first and second, Aeros centerfielder Tyler Holt skipped a throw past first base into the Curve dugout moving Cunningham to third. The next hitter, Kelson Brown, grounded to second and Cunningham scored.
Soto, who came to the Indians organization from Detroit in a trade for Jhonny Peralta on July 29, 2010, retired the side in order six times. The Aeros turned double plays in the second and seventh to erase runners who had walked. Because of those double plays, Soto faced just one over the minimum number of hitters (28).
With the suspense building, Soto retired the final seven batters he faced. In the eighth, he had to leap to stab a chopper over the mound hit by Quincy Latimore. Soto came down with the ball, fumbled it briefly, and then threw to first to nip Latimore by a half-step.
In the ninth, He retired Cabrera on a grounder to short, Brown on a fly ball to right, and finally, Robbie Grossman on a fly ball to Holt in center.
In his fourth pro season since signing with the Tigers in 2008, Soto snapped a personal four-game losing streak. He picked up his first win since June 5th, when he beat New Britain, 6-2. He had gone eight starts without a victory prior to Sunday’s no-no.
The no-hitter was Soto’s second complete game of the season. He also pitched a seven-inning complete-game in a losing effort at Reading in the first game of a double-header on June 16th. Sunday’s performance was the fourth complete game of his career, and his third career shutout.
Irwin went the distance for the Curve, but came away with the loss despite holding the Aeros to five hits, with no walks. The Aeros won the final three games of the series.
Aeors pitchers have combined on two previous no-hitters at Canal Park, both occurring during the 2003 season. Fernando Cabrera, Aaron Myette and Jose Vargas combined to blank Harrisburg, 15-0, on April 8, 2003, and Chad Durbin and Oscar Alvarez no-hit Bowie on July 7, 2003.
The Aeros will welcome in the Harrisburg Senators for the first of a three-game series on Monday night at 7:05. RHP Trevor Holder (0-1, 37.80) will start for Harrisburg against RHP Paolo Espino (3-2, 3.41) for the Aeros. All Aeros games are broadcast on Fox Sports 1350 AM and online at www.akronaeros.com.
