First baseman Matt LaPorta has been sent to the minors by the Cleveland Indians.

LaPorta, considered the key part of the blockbuster trade that sent Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers in July of 2007, was sent to Triple-A Columbus yesterday.

Cleveland recalled right-hander Jeanmar Gomez to start the second game of a four-game series against the Oakland Athletics.

LaPorta has been a disappointment in Cleveland. He has spent the entire season with the Indians, hitting .238 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs in 97 games.

Others acquired by Cleveland for Sabathia were outfielder Michael Brantley, currently on the 60-day disabled list with a wrist injury, left-hander Zach Jackson and minor-leagueright-hander Rob Bryson.

Gomez is 0-2 with a 5.70 ERA in five games over two stints earlier this year with Cleveland.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Right-handed pitcher Brett Brach allowed four runs in the top of the second inning as the Akron Aeros lost game two of a four-game series against the Reading Phillies 7-1 Tuesday at Canal Park.

Brach suffered the loss for Akron pitching six innings, giving up six hits and walking four while striking out none.

Right-hander Austin Hyatt recorded the win for Reading tossing six innings, allowing one earned run on seven hits and striking out eight while walking one.

Matt Rizzotti led off the second with a solo home run to give the R-Phils (69-67) a 1-0 lead. Derrick Mitchell followed with a single and advanced to second on a John Suomi walk. Mitchell and Suomi pulled off a double steal to move to second and third. Mitchell scored on a Tuffy Gosewisch double to make it 2-0. Later in the frame, Steve Singleton rapped a two-RBI single to increase the lead to 4-0.

Chun Chen hit a solo home run in the home half of the second to cut the Reading lead to 4-1.

It remained 4-1 until Rizzotti hit his second solo shot of the game in the top of the eighth inning to make it 5-1. Reading added two more runs in the inning and went on to the win.

The Aeros (69-67) and R-Phils play game three of this four-game set on Thursday. Akron will give the ball to right-handed pitcher Steve Wright, who is 2-3 with a 5.66 ERA in 2011. He will face fellow right-hander Tyson Brummett, who is 3-8 with a 4.69 ERA this season.

Wednesday’s game against the Reading Phillies is Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers Night. Former Browns running backs and members of the “Kardiac Kids” Mike Pruitt (’76 – ’84) and Greg Pruitt (’73 – ’81) will be tossing out ceremonial first pitches pre-game and then signing autographs during the game for those fans in attendance. Tickets for tomorrow night’s game are just $6 if you show up at the Canal Park Box Office wearing your favorite NFL team’s jersey.

Indians outfielder Grady Sizemore is scheduled to make a rehab appearance tomorrow night at Canal Park. Sizemore has been on the Indians disabled list since July 18 with a right knee contusion.

It is also a Charity Begins at Home night. The Aeros season-long community outreach program continues. Wednesday night's event raises funds and awareness for Pilots N' Paws.

Carlos Santana and Jack Hannahan hit two-run homers for Cleveland and the scrappy Indians kept pace in the AL Central race by beating the Oakland Athletics 6-2 last night.

Jeanmar Gomez (1-2) allowed one unearned runs over six innings after being recalled from Triple-A Columbus. He took the rotationspot vacated by Josh Tomlin, who is on the Indians' disabled list with a sore right elbow.

Cleveland continues trying to overcome injuries and gain ground in its division, winning four of five.

The Indians entered play a half-game behind the second-place Chicago White Sox and 5.5 behind first-place Detroit. Both the Tigers and White Sox won last night.

Trevor Cahill (9-13) fell to 1-6 in nine starts since the All-Star break. He opened the season 6-0 with a 1.72 ERA through
May 14th, but is 3-13 since.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The University of Akron begins the 2011 college football season this coming Saturday afternoon when they take on the Ohio State Buckeyes at the 'Horseshoe' in Columbus.

The game begins Rob Ianello's second season as head coach at the University of Akron. The Zips are coming off a 1-11 season in 2010.

Ianello says his team had a great summer training camp and are ready to get the season started. Ianello says his team has a great attitude heading into the start of the season.

The Zips will have a new starting quarterback this season. The Coaching Staff has installed Clayton Moore as the starting quarterback, replacing Patrick Nicely.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Moore enrolled at the University in January after spending the 2010 season at Gulf Coast Community College. He hails from Louisville, Miss. (Louisville High School) and originally walked on at Mississippi in 2009. At Gulf Coast, he completed 155-of-257 passes for 2,395 yards and 23 touchdowns, while leading the Bulldogs to the JUCO state championship.

The running game will be led by sophomore tailback Broderick Alexander. The 6-foot-one, 205 pound running back hails from Covington, Georgia. Another running back in the mix is redshirt freshman Jawon Chisolm from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The Zips defense will be led by junior linebacker Bryan Wagner, who played is high school football Springfield Central Catholic High School.

With 30 or so games remaining in the 2011 Major League Baseball season, the Cleveland Indians are still in the race to capture the American League Central Division title.

The Tribe is 66-65, five-and-a-half games out of first place in the Central Division. The Chicago White Sox are a half-game ahead of the Indians and in second place.

Indians Senior Vice-President of Public Relations Bobby DiBiasio says considering how the Tribe has dealt with so many injuries this season, it's amazing that they are still in the race.

Plus, DiBiasio says not enough credit is being given to second-year pitching coach Tim Belcher.

Belcher has worked to keep both the Indians' starting rotation and the bullpen at or near the top of American League pitching statistics this season.

Following the Oakland series, the Indians have games against Central Division opponents Kansas City (away), Detroit (home) and Chicago (away).

The Wadsworth Grizzlies started off the 2011 High School football season with an impressive victory over Ashland 45-16 last Friday night.

Big things are expected from the Grizzlies this season. Wadsworth head coach Greg Dennison has 23 seniors on his roster this season. The offensive backfield has three seniors: tailback Jack Snowball, fullback Bret Baughman and quarterback Jon Kuss.

Both Snowball and Kuss had over 100 yards rushing in last Friday's game. Snowball and Baughman each scored two touchdowns against the Arrows. Plus, the Wadsworth defense forced three Ashland turnovers in the game.

Another advantage for the Grizzlies this year is the offensive line. Dennison said Wadsworth lost only one of their five offensive linemen from last season.

Dennison said he was happy to come away with a victory against Ashland because 'that team is going to win a lot of games this year'.

This week, the Grizzlies will face the Generals of Wooster High School at Art Wright Memorial Stadium on Friday night. Dennison says Wooster 'will spread us out like Ashland, but they will run a bit more than Ashland. They have a ton of speed everywhere'.

There are perks to being teammates with Peyton Hillis, Madden cover boy.

The Browns' battering back has passed out advance copies of Madden 12, the popular football video game, in Cleveland's locker room. Hillis appears on the cover of the latest edition, which will be released today.

Hillis dished out the videos to the Browns aswell as first-year coach Pat Shurmur.

Shurmur has never played the game, but said his son, Kyle, is ``somewhat of an expert.'' Shurmur joked that his son is interested``to see what I look like on the game, too.''

Hillis earned the Madden cover in a fan vote, beating out Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick in the final.

Not all the Browns were excited about getting the video early. Quarterback Colt McCoy said he wasn't ``much of a gamer,'' but planned to get Hillis to sign his copy.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Carlos Santana homered and David Huff and four relievers combined to limit the Oakland Athletics to five hits in the Cleveland Indians' 2-1 win last night.

Huff (2-2) gave up three hits over six scoreless innings to win for the first time in six starts, since beating Minnesota in hisseason debut on July 18th.

Chris Perez worked a perfect ninth for his 30th save in 34 chances for Cleveland, which has won three of four.

Santana hit his 20th homer to give Cleveland a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning against Brandon McCarthy (7-7), who lost for the
second time in nine starts since July 15th. It was only the eighth homer allowed by the right-hander and seventh without a runner on
base.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The Akron Aeros brought nine men to the plate and scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning to erase a three-run deficit as they went on to win game one of a four-game series against the Reading Phillies 6-4 Monday at Canal Park.

Left-handed pitcher Matt Packer recorded the win for Akron tossing eight plus innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits, walking two and striking out four. Right-handed pitcher Cory Burns got out of a jam in the top of the ninth inning to earn his league best 34th save of 2011.

Right-hander Joseph Esposito allowed all five runs in the top of the first inning and suffered the loss for Reading retiring just three batters, giving up six hits and striking out one while walking none.

The R-Phils (68-67) took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a Matt Rizzotti RBI ground out and a Derrick Mitchell two-RBI single.

After the three-run first inning, Packer retired 18 straight batters from the second inning through the seventh and allowed just one more run.

The Aeros (69-66) answered in the bottom of the frame. Jordan Henry and Cristo Arnal opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Juan Diaz tripled them home to cut the Reading lead to 3-2. Chun Chen followed with an RBI single to tie the game 3-3. Following a Michel Hernandez single and a Kyle Bellows ground out, Raul Padron rapped a two RBI single to right field to break the tie and give the Aeros a 5-3 lead.

Padron doubled home Bellows in his next at bat in the bottom of the third inning to increase the lead to 6-3.

Reading scored a run in the top of the ninth inning, but Burns shut the door to give Akron the win.

The Aeros and R-Phils will continue their four-game series on Tuesday. Akron will give the ball to right-handed pitcher Brett Brach, who is 1-1 with a 3.31 ERA in 2011. He will face fellow right-hander Austin Hyatt, who is 11-6 with a 3.87 ERA this season. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.

It is also KRAFT Singles Tuesday Night Tickets. Buy 1 Ticket, Get 1 Free from KRAFT Singles with purchase. Bring your package wrapper to an Aeros game on Tuesday for a steal of a deal! Visit kraftsingles.com for more info! Exclusions apply.

Akron striker Darren Mattocks was named to the National Teams of the Week by College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer Monday after helping lead The University of Akron men's soccer team to a 5-0 victory over Cleveland State Saturday.

Mattocks was a factor all match long, scoring a pair of a goals and assisting another as the Zips set an NCAA record by extending its home unbeaten streak to 40 games in front of a record-setting crowd of 5,241 fans at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field.

The Jamaican set the tone early with a goal in the game's seventh minute when freshman Wil Trapp sprung him with a long lob near midfield. Mattocks collected the pass in the near right flank and fired across the goal past the keeper to give UA a 1-0 advantage.

Mattocks' pressure led to Akron's third goal of the night in the 22nd minute. After slipping through the Vikings' back four, the sophomore fired a rocket from straight on that was deflected by the keeper, but teammate Scott Caldwell was there to redirect the second ball into the net.

Mattocks, a Soccer America Preseason All-American, then landed a brace before halftime, finding the net again in the 31st minute, to further fuel the rout.

After opening the season at home for the first time since 2007, the Zips will next head west for the Cal State Northridge Labor Day Classic. There, UA will face Cal State Fullerton Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (ET) and the host Matadors Saturday at 10 p.m. (ET).