Max Clark homers, Kevin McGonigle notches first Double-A hit

Memphis Redbirds 7, Toledo Mud Hens 0 (box)

The Toledo Mud Hens might think it’s still the All-Star Break.

Detroit’s Triple-A affiliate put up a goose (Mud Hen) egg in the first game back from the break, mustering just three hits all night. All of Memphis’ damage came in the first two innings off Sawyer Gipson-Long.

He got to two outs before anyone scored, but back-to-back singles got the Redbirds rolling. A walk and two more singles led to a 5-0 Memphis lead before Toledo even got to the plate. Gipson-Long wasn’t locating his changeup well

and his fastball wasn’t fooling anyone (0% chase and whiff rates). His horizontal stuff (cutter, slider) played much better, but a lot of it was in the zone.

JJ Wetherholt and Nathan Church hit back-to-back doubles off SGL to open the second, the latter scoring a sixth run. Matt Koperniak added another run with a two-bagger of his own later in the inning. A 1-2-3 inning finally came in the third, but Gipson-Long’s day was done after three batters (and two outs) in the fourth. Ryan Miller got the last out of the inning on five pitches.

Eduardo Valencia and Hao-Yu Lee opened consecutive innings with singles, but neither scored. Both came on softly hit balls, but those still count. Tomas Nido grounded into a double play to end Valencia’s third-inning threat, and Lee ended the fourth inning stranded on third base.

Troy Melton took over in the fifth and delivered four innings of scoreless ball in relief. He struck out eight, using all four pitches for strike three. Memphis reached base in all four innings Melton threw, but the only real trouble came in the eighth. Melton worked his way out of a first-and-third situation with back-to-back strikeouts and a flyout. PJ Poulin went 1-2-3 in the ninth.

Troy Melton DEALT today!

4.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K pic.twitter.com/nUlAVVvahM

— Toledo Mud Hens (@MudHens) July 19, 2025

The Detroit Tigers bullpen hasn’t been good for weeks, and Melton should be a second-half call-up.

Trei Cruz had the only other Toledo hit on the day, a fifth-inning single. At least his came off the bat at 98 mph, unlike the other two Mud Hens hits. Ugly stuff.

Lee: 1-4, 0 BB, 2 K

Jung: 0-4, K

Gipson-Long (L, 0-1): 3.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; 77 pitches (50 strikes)

Melton: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, BB, 8 K; 67 pitches (46 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Toledo needs a win on Saturday to keep hopes of a series win alive. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. ET. The Mud Hens do not have a probable starter listed.

(F/10) Chesapeake Bay Sox 8, Erie SeaWolves 6 (box)

If there were ever a game to take a long bathroom break, Erie’s 8-6 loss against Chesapeake Friday was it. Eleven of the 14 runs scored came in the first and 10th innings. Just five hits and four walks came during the middle eight frames.

Still, there’s plenty of action to go over. Thayron Liranzo had two hits, including an RBI double to score Max Clark in the first.

Thayron Liranzo with an RBI double to left center to score Max Clark from 1st (BB). Left his bat at 96 MPH. pic.twitter.com/LPIFapLaE9

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) July 18, 2025

Max Clark hit his second Double-A home run in the third, and it was majestic. Josue Briceno also hit a sacrifice fly in the inning, giving Erie a 3-2 lead until the eighth.

Max Clark DEMOLISHES his 2nd Double-A @erie_seawolves roundtripper, 9th of the year overall

The @tigers' 2023 first-rounder boasts a 1.088 OPS in July: pic.twitter.com/EER0rEOshL

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 18, 2025

Knuckleballer Kenny Serwa got the start, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits and a walk over 4.2 innings. Serwa struck out four and left the game in line for a win. Trevin Michael got the final out of the fifth and worked around a one-out walk in the sixth.

Tyler Mattison ran his fastball around 94 mph in a 1-2-3 seventh, but Yosber Sanchez couldn’t produce another hold in the eighth. Sanchez walked the leadoff man and saw him score on a two-out double from Adam Retzbach. Tie ball game.

Tyler Mattison’s fastball seems to be rounding into form… pic.twitter.com/H39EsE6qdz

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) July 19, 2025

Richard Guasch took the loss after navigating his way around a leadoff double in the ninth. Three walks and two singles in the 10th led to a five-spot, but Erie’s loaded lineup had an answer.

Liranzo drove in Clark again to spark a potential extra-inning comeback rally. Kevin McGonigle followed with his first Double-A hit, a double down the left-field line. Chesapeake traded a run for the first out of the frame, and then a wild pitch allowed McGonigle to score and cut the deficit to two.

Kevin McGonigle drives a double to deep left for his first Double-A extra-base hit. pic.twitter.com/cUJ13U6Zy3

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) July 19, 2025

Briceno walked, bringing the tying run to the plate, but neither Justice Bigbie nor Chris Meyers could get it done. The difference in this one came with runners on base. Erie went 1-for-9 with men in scoring position while Chesapeake went 5-for-15.

Clark: 1-4, HR (2), 3 R, RBI, BB, K

McGonigle: 1-4, 2B (1), R, BB

Briceno: 0-3, RBI, BB

Liranzo: 2-5, 2B (9), 2 R, 2 RBI

Anderson: 0-5, RBI

Serwa: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, ER, BB 4 K; 77 pitches (50 strikes)

Coming up next: Troy Watson gets the start for Erie at 6:05 p.m. ET on Saturday.

West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Lansing Lugnuts 2 (box)

After going down 2-1 in the first inning, the West Michigan Whitecaps took back the lead in the third and cruised to a 5-2 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts Friday night.

It only took six hits to get the job done. The first two were a pair of doubles in the first inning from Peyton Graham and Garret Pennington to take an early 1-0 lead. Lansing responded with a two-run double in the bottom of the inning Joe Miller. Things could have gotten worse, but a double play bailed Miller out.

Miller went 1-2-3 in the second and worked around hits in the next three innings. It was enough to get the win, even if Miller didn’t have his top-shelf stuff.

Izaac Pacheco hit a two-run homer in the third to put West Michigan back in front, but Wei-En Lin shut the Whitecaps down for three innings. Meanwhile, Carlos Lequerica (1 inning) and Dariel Fregio (2) matched Lin with nine straight outs.

Izaac Pacheco is batting in Lansing, so you know what’s coming. He launches a 2-run blast to deep right to give the Whitecaps a 3-2 lead. It’s his 7th home run of the year. pic.twitter.com/SjhADsMCtI

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) July 18, 2025

Seth Stephenson added an insurance run with an RBI single in the seventh, and John Peck homered in the eighth, setting up a 14-pitch save from Micah Ashman in the ninth. Ashman’s ERA is down to 1.60, he’s struck out 46 over 39.1 innings and he’s converted four of five scattered save opportunities. There’s not much left for him to prove.

John Peck continues to swing a hot stick with a solo shot to right center pic.twitter.com/9G48NmoY5U

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) July 19, 2025

Graham: 1-5, 2B (16), 2 R, RBI, K

Pacheco: 1-4, HR (7), R, 2 RBI, K

Peck: 2-4, 2B (18), HR (8), 2 R, RBI, K

Miller (W, 6-2): 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; 77 pitches (44 strikes)

Coming up next: Preston Howey is scheduled to throw for West Michigan on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, Clearwater Threshers 4 (box)

A back-and-forth affair went Lakeland’s way Friday night thanks to a four-run eighth inning from the Flying Tigers.

Luke Stofel gave up four runs on five hits and four walks over six innings. After walking just four through as many starts in June, Stofel has hit that mark in back-to-back starts. The seven earned runs over those two starts doubled his season total, which sat at six through 55 innings.

His ERA has climbed from 0.98 to 1.76 over that period as well. Hopefully, this is just a brief slip in command around the All-Star break and he bounces back to form.

Lakeland scored the first run on a Samuel Gil single in the first, and Clearwater answered with a two-run double in the second. Carson Rucker opened the bottom of the second with an infield single and eventually scored on a balk to tie things at two apiece.

The Threshers retook the lead with an RBI single in the top of the fourth and added an insurance run in the fifth via the same means. Jackson Strong doubled and scored in the sixth to bring the Flying Tigers within one, and Ethan Sloan replaced Stofel on the mound.

Sloan faced the minimum in the seventh, inducing an inning-ending double play to erase a leadoff single. Moises Rodriguez didn’t have his fastest stuff, but he still touched 99 twice in a 1-2-3 eighth inning.

Strong sparked the four-run rally with a leadoff triple. Clearwater walked the bases loaded and hit Stephen Hrustich to bring in the tying run. Catcher interference brought the go-ahead run in, and two more runs scored on a forceplay

Strong: 3-4, 2B (12), 3B (6), 2 R, K

Montilla: 0-4, K

Rucker: 1-3, R, BB, K

Stofel: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; 84 pitches (53 strikes)

Coming up next: Neither team has a probable starter listed for Saturday’s 6 p.m. ET game.

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