Toledo Mud Hens at Iowa Cubs (postponed)
They’ll play two on Friday starting at 5:38 p.m. ET after they were rained out on Thursday.
Erie SeaWolves 5, Richmond Flying Squirrels 1 (b0x)
Carlos Peña and the SeaWolves bullpen pitched a gem while their power at the plate produced enough runs to provide a nice cushion.
Peña fired four one-hit innings without a walk, striking out six. The lefty was never in any trouble, and the SeaWolves built a lead in the top of the second inning.
Andrew Jenkins led off with a walk. He moved to second on a Justice Bigbie ground out, and Chris Meyers doubled to score Jenkins. Izaac Pacheco jumped on a 1-0 pitch right in his go-zone and crushed his seventh homer of the season. 3-0 Erie.
In the fifth, Greg Farone left the game with an injury, and Shane Rademacher took over for Richmond. E.J. Exposito greeted him with a solo shot to left field for a 4-0 lead. Pacheco added a solo shot the opposite way in the sixth.
Tanner Kohlhepp fired two perfect innings of relief work with three strikeouts. Moises Rodriguez gave up a solo shot in the seventh, but he locked down the eighth and Trevin Michael closed it out.
Pacheco: 3-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR
Exposito: 1-3, R, RBI, HR, BB, 2 K
Peña: 4.0 IP, 0 R, H, 0 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves carry a 2-1 lead in the series into a 7:05 p.m. ET matchup in Richmond on Friday night.
Dayton Dragons 4, West Michigan Whitecaps 3 (b0x)
It was a night of trading home runs, but the Whitecaps came up a little short as Dayton got to Lucas Elissalt early and held off a late surge from the home team to win.
Elissalt threw a very good game overall. He gave up a solo home run in the second and the third innings, but was otherwise strong. He allowed two other hits and two walks, striking out six over five innings of work. He just didn’t get any run support.
The Whitecaps loaded the bases in the bottom of the first, but couldn’t get the hit they needed. They continued to have baserunners in just about every inning without being able to drive them in. Finally in the bottom of the sixth, Andrew Sojka hit his fourth home run to make it a 2-1 Dayton lead.
Unfortunately, Luke Stofel allowed a two-run shot to Kien Vu in the eighth that made it 4-1. In the bottom half, Bryce Rainer drilled a screaming line drive over the left field wall for his third homer with the Whitecaps. Ricardo Hurtado followed with an opposite field shot to right field, and it was suddenly 4-3 Dayton.
Unfortunately, a one-out single from Samuel Gil later in the inning was erased on a Junior Tilien double play ball. The Whitecaps got a one-out walk from Woody Hadeen, a two-out single from Garrett Pennington, and then a walk to Rainer on four straight pitches to load the bases. Hurtado struck out swinging to end it.
Hurtado: 2-4, R, RBI, HR, BB, K
Gil: 3-4, K, CS
Rainer: 1-4, R, RBI, HR, BB, 2 K
Elissalt (L, 0-4): 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: Down 2-1 in the series, the Whitecaps will look to even things up at 6:35 p.m. ET on Friday night.
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 11, Lakeland Flying Tigers 0 (box)
Malachi Witherspoon posted another rough outing and Jatnk Diaz was mauled in relief on a night where Fort Myers pitching dominated.
Witherspoon was wild and couldn’t even get out of the first inning. He walked three straight hitters with one out in the first and then hit a batter to push across a run. Already over 30 pitches, he was lifted for pitch restriction reasons and Diaz took over, allowing two more runs to score.
In the second, Diaz tried to move off his fastball and pitch backwards and it went horribly as the Mussels teed off on changeups and curveballs left well up in the zone. When the smoke cleared, they’d scored seven runs off of his and it was 10-0. Win Scott finally took over and fired 3.2 scoreless innings to calm things down.
A pair of brutal innings to start things off took the wind out of the lineup. They managed just two hits and two walks. Infielder Newremberg Rondon gave up a late run to complete the scoring. Scrub this one from memory and try again tomorrow.
Witherspoon (L, 2-2): 0.1 IP, 3 ER, 0 H, 3 BB, K, HBP
Diaz: 1.0 IP, 7 ER, 9 H, BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start on Friday.
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