International League wins All-Star Game 6-0

7/12/2006

Durham s Kevin Witt had a two-run homer and an RBI double to lead the International League to a 6-0 victory over the Pacific Coast League in the Triple-A All-Star game tonight at Toledo's Fifth Third Field .

Witt, who leads the IL with 23 homers and 63 RBIs, gave the IL a 3-0 lead with his home run to the picnic tables in right-center field.

Seven pitchers combined on a two-hitter for the IL. Portland s Justin Leone was the first PCL hitter to reach base when he doubled off the left-field wall in the fifth inning.

Rain that fell much of the day ended just before the first pitch at the home of the Mud Hens, Detroit s Triple-A affiliate.

IL starter Charlie Haeger, a knuckleballer from Charlotte who has 10 wins this season, retired the first six batters on 15 pitches. Heath Phillips, also from Charlotte, pitched two innings in relief and picked up the win.

Charlotte s Jorge Velandia singled in the third inning and scored the first run on Ben Hendrickson s wild pitch. Hendrickson, who is 7-2 with Nashville, gave up Witt s homer three batters later. All three runs were unearned.

Witt, who played in Japan last season, played 39 games in Toledo in 2003 before spending the rest of the year in Detroit. Witt, in his 11th season of pro ball, had the run-scoring double in the fifth.

Syracuse s Kevin Barker and Toledo s Ryan Raburn hit back-to-back home runs off Sacramento s Matt Roney in the seventh to make it 6-0.

Nashville s Tony Gwynn Jr. and Tucson s Stephen Drew, brother of Dodgers outfielder J.D. Drew, both went hitless for the PCL. Gwynn was 0-for-3 and hit into an inning-ending double play in the sixth.

The game drew a sellout crowd of 11,300.

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