Toledo Mud Hens 11, St. Paul Saints 8 (box)
Toledo took the series, 4-3, against the St. Paul Saints on Sunday with an 11-8 win that ended on a walk-off grand slam.
The Mud Hens scored seven runs in the ninth to rally back from a four-run deficit. Ben Malgeri led off with a solo home run, Max Clark walked and Gage Workman hit a double to bring the tying run to the plate. Workman had two home runs earlier in the game — a solo shot in the fourth and a two-run bomb in the fifth — giving him 11 total bases on the day.
Eduardo Valencia singled in Clark and Workman, bringing the go-ahead run to the dish. Jace Jung walked, and Trei Cruz tried to move the runners into scoring position with a bunt. He ended up sending it back to the pitcher, Marco Raya, who got the lead runner at third, but Tomas Nido walked to load the bases.
St. Paul brought in Dan Altavilla to try to stop the bleeding, but Cal Stevenson ended the game with one swing. (Also, the admin who runs the Mud Hens Twitter account was having a blast using Justin Bieber lyrics.)
Outside of the ninth, Toledo was 0-7 with runners in scoring position. Workman’s first homer got the Mud Hens on the board after falling behind 6-0 over the first four innings, and Stevenson grounded into an out for the second run of the fourth. Workman’s second homer came with Malgeri on first in the next frame.
Lael Lockhart got the start for Toledo. Things started fine for him with six outs in a row, but things spiraled in the third for a five-run frame. St. Paul started squaring things up for some hard contact, including three balls that came off the bat over 101 mph. Kyler Fedko homered off him twice, both with a 106-mph exit velocity. His sinker and four-seam were extremely hittable today, but Lockhart had some good numbers with the splitter (54% CSW).
Jack Little relieved Lockhart in the fifth. He got through two innings with little trouble, but Fedko went yard for a third time on the day in the sixth. Sometimes, a guy is just locked in at the plate. Fedko also tripled in the eighth, giving him 15 total bases, five RBIs and four hits on the day. Little didn’t record a strikeout in his outing.
Drew Sommers threw a clean seventh for Toledo. He came back out for the eighth and got two quick outs, but Fedko’s RBI triple knocked him out of the game. Tyler Mattison closed out the inning and worked around two walks in the ninth. Mattison ended up earning the win, thanks to Stevenson’s heroics.
Malgeri: 3-4, HR (1), BB, K
Clark: 0-4, R, BB
Workman: 4-5, 2 HR (3), 2B (4), 3 R, 3 RBI,
Lockhart: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Coming Up Next: Toledo is in Louisville next week. The series starts on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. ET.
Chesapeake Baysox 4, Erie SeaWolves 1 (box)
Erie dropped the final game of the series against Chesapeake, 4-1, on Sunday, finishing the week with a 1-5 record.
It was another five-hit day for the SeaWolves, two of which came in the first inning to score Erie’s only run. Seth Stephenson led off the game with a double down the left-field line, and John Peck singled him. Izaac Pacheco led off the second with a bloop single to left, but he was tagged out at third after taking off on a grounder to the left side.
Erie didn’t record another hit until the sixth, when Peck singled to right with two outs. Sebastian Gongora was really good for the Baysox. He needed just 66 pitches to get through 5 2/3 innings. Erie was chasing his heater and secondary stuff all day. Peck’s second hit came off Eric Torres, but that’s all he’d give up. Stephenson got a single off Jeisson Cabrera in the eighth, but nothing came of it.
Dariel Fregio was effective despite allowing five walks in his second start of the season. He gave up just one hit over 3 1/3 shutout innings. That lone hit was a blooper into left that Justice Bigbie probably could have gotten to with a better jump. It was a windy day, though. Fregio got nicked by a comebacker in the third, but he stayed in the game after a couple of throws to check his mobility.
Trevin Michael took over for Fregio with one out and one on in the fourth. He struck out all five batters he faced. The slider worked really well today, drawing plenty of checked swings that went too far. Luke Taggart was not nearly as good in the sixth. He walked four batters, giving up a free run, and recorded just one out before turning things over to Johan Simon.
Simon couldn’t hold the 1-1 tie through the seventh. He was on his way to working around a pair of singles, but a balk with a man on third gave Chesapeake the lead. Wandisson Charles gave up two runs in the eighth before ending the inning with a double play.
Stephenson: 2-4, 2B (3), R, K
Peck: 2-4, RBI, 2 K
Michael: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Coming Up Next: Erie is back at home next week for a series with Harrisburg, starting on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. ET.
West Michigan Whitecaps 4, Great Lakes Loons 3 (box)
West Michigan finished the six-game series against Great Lakes with a victory, holding off a ninth-inning rally to win 4-3. The Loons took the series 4-2.
The Whitecaps were outhit 9-6, but both teams went 2-6 with runners in scoring position. West Michigan scored three in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead and added a very important insurance run in the following frame.
Five of the nine Whitecaps baserunners on the day reached in the fourth. Roberto Campos, Garrett Pennington and Andrew Sojka singled, with Sojka driving in the other runners. Ricardo Hurtado walked and scored on a balk, and Cristian Santana walked as well.
Woody Hadeen led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and scored on a throwing error after Jackson Strong legged out a single. Hurtado was hit by a pitch later in the inning, and Campos walked in the seventh. It wasn’t a strong day for the offense, but it was enough.
Gabriel Reyes got the start for West Michigan, giving up one run on six hits and a walk over three innings. He got double plays to end the first two frames, but three consecutive singles in the second gave Great Lakes a brief lead.
Seth Chavez earned the win, taking over for Reyes in the fourth. He threw two innings of one-hit ball, but nothing was too exciting there. Ryan Harvey held the lead over the next two frames. He didn’t give up any hits and walked just one batter while striking out three.
Zack Lee closed out the win over the final two frames, but there was some trouble in the ninth. A leadoff error led to a run being doubled in, and a one-out single made it a one-run game. Lee finished things off, though, striking out four along the way.
Kind of a boring game, but it’s a good win to send the crowd home happy.
Sojka: 1-4, 2 RBI, 2 K
Hadeen: 1-4, 2B (2), R, 2 K
Reyes: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, BB, 2 K
Harvey (H, 1): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: West Michigan is in Lansing next week. The series starts at 6:05 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
Daytona Tortugas 14, Lakeland Flying Tigers 0 (box)
Lakeland lost its second game of the season on Sunday, and this one was much uglier than the first day before. The Dayton Tortugas shut out the Flying Tigers, 14-0. Woof. Lakeland still won the series, however, 4-2.
Cincinnati’s No. 10 prospect, Sheng-En Lin, threw five no-hit innings for the Tortugas, and the bullpen allowed just one hit. Jack Goodman was the only one who saw the ball well for Lakeland. He had three hard-hit balls (95 mph exit velocity or higher), including the lone Flying Tigers hit of the day, a single to right.
Alistair Tanner got the start after impressing through 3 2/3 innings last week. He only recorded two outs this time around. The mid-90s fastball still drew five whiffs on 11 swings (45%), but he left in the first inning after hitting 35 pitches. It was a bit odd to see him get pulled with two outs and a full count, but that’s Single-A ball (I guess).
Xiomer Guacache didn’t help Tanner out. He threw a ball to give Tanner a walk and an earned run. Guacache walked in another run before getting out of the inning. A leadoff walk in the second got the bullpen active, and Jatnk Diaz took over with one out.
Diaz pitched through the fourth, but he gave up four runs on six hits while striking out just one batter. His stuff wasn’t particularly good, and Daytona put a lot of balls in play. Yendy Gomez was next. He was solid, going two scoreless innings with just one hit allowed. The sinker-slider combo worked well.
Andrew Pogue got the seventh and started the eighth. It didn’t go well. He gave up six runs (four earned) on six hits, two walks and an error. Five straight batters reached off him in the eighth, including four consecutive hits. Outfielder Nolan McCarthy finished up the game, as it was already 14-0. McCarthy didn’t give up a hit, though!
Rainer: 0-3, 2 K
Goodman: 1-4, HR (2), R, 2 RBI, 2 K
Gomez: 2.0 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
McCarthy: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, K (POSTION PLAYER PITCHING!)
Coming Up Next: Lakeland is in Fort Myers next week, starting on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. ET.
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