Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon

Catfish can't score for McDonald

Columbus righty limits Dogs to one hit over eight innings
August 27, 2006
The Columbus Catfish couldn't ask for more from James McDonald.

McDonald allowed one hit over eight innings on Sunday, but the Charleston RiverDogs scored in the ninth and blanked the Catfish, 1-0, at Golden Park.

After retiring the first 12 batters, McDonald gave up a leadoff single to Ben Jones in the fifth. He also issued a two-out walk to Marcos Vechionacci in the seventh en route to his longest outing of his three-year career.

Drafted by the Dodgers as an outfielder in 2002, McDonald struck out eight, walked one and lowered his ERA to 4.25 in 29 games, including 21 starts. The 21-year-old right-hander is fifth in the South Atlantic League with 136 strikeouts in 133 1/3 innings.

Joey Norrito (2-2) entered in the ninth and gave up a leadoff walk to J.T. Lafountain. Estee Harris sacrificed and Austin Jackson singled before Lafountain scored the game's only run on a groundout by Tim Battle.

David Seccombe (5-4) earned the win for Charleston (36-26) with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Abel Gomez got the last two outs to record his second save.

RiverDogs starter Wilkins Arias almost matched McDonald, limiting the Catfish (31-31) to two hits over seven shutout innings. He walked three and struck out two.

Max Lance is a contributor to MLB.com.