Louisville Bats 9, Toledo Mud Hens 5 (box)
Lefties Bryan Sammons and Sean Guenther both got rocked in this one and the Hens couldn’t overcome the deficit.
Things started out in pretty promising fashion, as Corey Julks mashed his third home run of the year in the second inning for a 1-0 lead.
Sammons was cruising early on, and in the top of the fourth, Gage Workman led off with a walk and stole second base. Jace Jung drew a walk, and Tomas Nido got the sacrifice bunt down to advance them both. Tyler Gentry, formerly of the Royals but signed
at the end of camp by the Tigers on a minor league deal, doubled in both runs. Welcome to the team, Tyler. 3-0 Hens.
Sammons cruised through the fourth, still looking good, but he ran into a buzzsaw in the fifth. The Bats had a parade of hits capped by a three-run homer from Hector Rodriguez, and just like that Sammons had five runs dropped on him. 5-3 Louisville.
Sean Guenther handled the sixth, but in the seventh he too was blown up, with a three-run shot from Michael Chavis capping a four-run inning.
Trei Cruz led off with a single to start the eighth, and Hao-Yu Lee smoked an opposite field homer to make it 9-5, but that was as close as the Hens would get as they fall to 0-2 in this road series.
Max Clark had the night off.
Gentry: 2-3, 2 RBI, 2B, BB
Cruz: 2-4, R
Lee: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, HR
Sammons (L, 0-2): 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Thursday evening.
Erie SeaWolves vs. Harrisburg Senators (postponed)
They’ll play two in Erie starting at 5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday after being rained out on Wednesday, like much of the Great Lakes region.
West Michigan Whitecaps 7, Lansing Lugnuts 5 (box)
Hayden Minton got knocked around early in this one, but the Whitecaps just kept tacking on runs all game long to outlast the Lugnuts in Lansing.
Jackson Strong led off the game with a single, and eventually scored on a Ricardo Hurtado double. Minton leaked a run on a Dylan Fien solo shot in the bottom half so it was a 1-1 game, but Minton was tagged for two more runs in the bottom of the third.
In the top of the fourth, Samuel Gil was hit by a pitch and would eventually have to leave the game between innings. Andrew Sojka drew a walk. Clayton Campbell singled in Gil and then Campbell and Sojka pulled off a double steal to get themselves both into scoring position. Cristian Santana struck out for the second out of the inning, but Strong drew a walk and Patrick Lee was hit by a pitch to force in a run and tie things up 3-3. Hurtado made a bid to add on with a line drive to left but it was caught.
The Whitecaps got singles from Junior Tilien and Sojka in the fifth but couldn’t capitalize. Meanwhile, Minton was done after four innings, and Carlos Lequerica took over with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth.
In the sixth, Santana led off with a solo shot, his first of the year, to break the deadlock. 4-3 ‘Caps. In the seventh, Tilien and Sojka both walked, and a Campbell single drive in Tilien. Santana walked to load the bases, and another run scored on a Strong ground out. 6-3 ‘Caps.
Logan Berrier surrendered two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the Whitecaps came right back. Hurtado led off the eighth with a walk. Garrett Pennington moved him to second with a ground out and Tilien flew out. However, Sojka took a wild hack and drove a ball to right field for an RBI double to make it 7-5.
Inohan Paniagua took over from Berrier in the bottom of the ninth. He gave up a one out single, but got a pair of pretty routine fly balls to wrap this one up and earn the save.
Sojka: 2-3, 2 R, RBI, 2B, 2 BB, K, SB
Strong: 1-4, R, RBI, 2 BB, K, SB
Santana: 1-4, R, RBI, HR, BB, K
Minton: 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 K
Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps have a 2-0 lead in the series headed into Thursday night’s 6:05 p.m. ET start.
The Flying Tigers started a rehabbing Troy Watson in this one, and he collected the first four outs before turning things over to RHP Yendy Gomez, the Tigers Rule 5 AAA phase selection back in December. Gomez is rehabbing as well and he collected five outs without much issue.
LHP Ben Jacobs took over from there and was electric once again, making his third straight strong appearance for the Flying Tigers. Working on his normal start day, Jacobs allowed a run in the sixth, wild pitching a runner in from third, but he punched out seven hitters, allowing two hits and two walks.
That run Jacobs allowed was the first of the game, as the Flying Tigers struggled with RHP James Ellwanger of the Mighty Mussels. He no-hit them for 4 2/3 innings with three walks allowed against six strikeouts.
Finally, in the top of the seventh, the Flying Tigers broke through against the Mussels’ bullpen. Jesus Pinto singled with one out, and two batters later center fielder Zach MacDonald smoked a 113.5 mph rocket to left for a two-run shot and a 2-1 lead. The blast was MacDonald’s third of the year, and he is showing off a crazy upgrade in batspeed and power early on.
Unfortunately, a rehabbing Tyler Owens got in some trouble in the bottom of the eighth. He loaded the bases with two outs, and Pedro Garcia took over, walking in a run before getting out of the inning with the game tied up at 2-2.
MacDonald singled in the top of the ninth and then stole second, advancing to third base on an errant throw from the catcher. Nolan McCarthy struck out to strand MacDonald at third. Garcia handled the bottom of the ninth, so it was on to extra innings.
With McCarthy on second, Javier Osorio moved the runner to third with a ground out, and Jude Warwick walked. Bryce Rainer lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score McCarthy for a 3-2 lead. That was all they’d get as Jack Goodman struck out to send us to the bottom half.
Garcia took the mound, and quickly surrendered a two-run, walkoff homer to Eduardo Beltre, and that was that.
MacDonald: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, K, SB
Jacobs: 4.0 IP, ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K
Watson: 1.1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: The series is tied 1-1 heading into a 7:05 p.m. ET first pitch on Thursday.
