Toledo Mud Hens 12, Louisville Bats 4 (box)
Lael Lockhart ran into trouble at the end of his 4.2 innings on Friday night, but the Toledo Mud Hens did enough scoring early on to ensure a comfortable, 12-4, win.
Louisville struck first in the top of the second, scoring on a Ryan Vilade double. Lockhart didn’t have a ton of command, and things could have been a lot worse in this inning. The scoring runner reached on a 106-mph single off the left field wall, and Vilade got caught trying to stretch out a triple.
Toledo responded almost immediately.
Jace Jung led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single — Vilade made a nice diving play to stop the ball in the dirt, but he threw it away as the pitcher made it to first at the same time as Jung. Gage Workman extended his hit streak to nine games with a game-double off the wall in left-center.
Brian Serven gave the Mud Hens the lead with an RBI single, scoring Max Anderson, with two outs in the inning.
Jung kept things going in the third. He doubled home Akil Baddoo (walk) and Justyn-Henry Malloy (single) on a fly ball off the base of the wall in right-center. The centerfielder had a chance to make a play, but he couldn’t find the ball coming down over his shoulder. Even with the runners holding, Baddoo scored easily, and Malloy beat the tag, which trickled away from home anyway.
Anderson traded a groundout to bring Jung home, and three consecutive singles (Riley Unroes, Trei Cruz and Serven) brought the score to 6-1, Toledo, with six left to play.
Lockhart never really found his fastball command, so Louisville opted to sit on his breaking/off-speed stuff in the fourth. It opened the door for a Bats comeback, but Lockhart limited the damage to two runs, keeping a three-run lead intact.
A pair of singles to open the fifth got Toledo’s bullpen active, and Lockhart was pulled after getting two outs. In fairness to Lockhart, the second base hit came on a playable ball up the middle shaded toward shortstop. Cruz had a play, but a bobble led to him just holding the ball.
It wasn’t technically an error, but the bobble cost Lockhart a critical out. One more and he’s in line for the win rather than a no-decision. Matt Seelinger took over for the final out of the fifth.
Matt Vierling started his rehab assignment in Toledo. He went 0-3 with a strikeout before Kevin Newman pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the fifth. Earlier in the same inning, Serven collected his third RBI of the day on a sacrifice fly. 7-3, Toledo.
Woo-Suk Go threw a 1-2-3 sixth for the Hens on just nine pitches. Things didn’t go as well in the seventh, though. The first two batters reached, and Brant Hurter started getting loose. By the time Go recorded his first out, Hurter was ready to come in. A run scored on the first pitch he threw, but it wasn’t Hurter’s fault. Serven threw the ball away on a bunt, moving everyone up a base. Escaping the inning still leading 7-4 seemed miraculous.
Even though Toledo had led by three runs or more for most of the game, things didn’t feel wrapped up until another three-spot came in the seventh. Cruz had the big hit, a two-run triple, bringing Anderson and Unroe in. Baddoo traded an out at second for run No. 10 later on.
After Hurter went 1-2-3 in the top of the eighth, Workman hit a two-run homer in the bottom half. Maybe this was a bit much, considering Louisville brought in a position player to pitch, but the Bats did pitch in to Serven in the eighth, which ignited some tensions between both dugouts. Sometimes, bully ball can be fun. 🙂
Tyler Mattison closed the game out for Toledo.
Jung: 4-5, 2 2B (25), 3 R, 2 RBI
Workman: 2-5, 2B (17), HR (14), 2 R< 2 RBI, 3 K
Serven: 2-4, 3 RBI
Lockhart: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 K; 80 pitches (55 strikes)
Erie SeaWolves 8, Altoona Curve 4 (box)
Games where Josue Briceno, Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle combine to go 2-for-10 with one RBI don’t usually end in Erie’s favor, but the bottom of the SeaWolves’ lineup led them to an 8-4 victory over the Altoona Curve on Friday.
Just like in the Toledo game, Erie fell behind early. Altoona scored two in the second off starter Max Alba, who also had some fastball command issues. Nothing too bad, but the Curve had the right approach against him, which directly resulted in a couple of hard-hit balls. Funny enough, the first run came off a sacrifice bunt.
Eliezer Alfonzo got the SeaWolves on the board in the bottom of the second. He doubled in Ben Malgieri, but Erie still came up short overall, stranding the bases loaded.
Alba was on his way to a 1-2-3 third, but he caught an Altoona player on the hands, and a double moved both runners into scoring position. Alba walked the bases full, but he escaped the jam by inducing a groundout to Briceno at first.
Then, the momentum fully shifted in favor of Erie. McGonigle crushed a leadoff game-tying homer to spark a five-run outburst.
Justice Bigbie, Malgieri and Alfonzo hit consecutive singles to take the lead.
Then, Roberton Campos hit a missile over the left-center wall — his first home run since July 1 — bringing things to 6-2, Erie.
Alba was charged with another run in the fourth, although it was Carlos Pena who gave up the hit that scored the run. Not much to say here about the pitching. No standouts, good or bad.
Bigbie got in on the Friday night fireworks with a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth. 8-3, Erie.
Pena faced the minimum through the first 2.1 innings he threw, but Altoona figured him out in the seventh. Or, at least, Duce Gourson did, belting a solo home run to right field. Pena recovered, retiring two of the next three batters to get out of the seventh with an 8-4 lead.
That’s most of the offense for the day. Campos hit another double, but it didn’t lead to any scoring. Richard Guasch closed things out, almost going six up, six down. A two-out double interrupted things, but Guasch still got the job done.
Clark: 0-2, 3 BB, 2 K
McGonigle: 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K
Briceno: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K
Alba: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; 73 pitches (45 strikes)
