St. Paul Saints 5, Toledo Mud Hens 4 (box)
Jose Urquidy was roughed up in his rehab start, and the Mud Hens offense was pretty quiet overall as they lost their third straight to St. Paul.
Urquidy gave up a run in the first, and two in the third. He recorded just one strikeout, against four hits and a walk allowed. His velocity is back to his usual 92-93 mph, but his command is still a work in progress. Keider Montero handled the fourth, getting a pure relief look in this one for just an inning, but he gave up two hits and a run. So it was
4-0 headed into the bottom of the fourth.
Right about then the rains opened up and there was a delay. That cleared the air and the Hens finally got some offense going when play resumed. Jace Jung singled with one out, and Trei Cruz followed suit. Eduardo Valencia then launched his seventh home run since joining the Hens. 4-3 Fisher Cats.
Sawyer Gipson-Long then took over in the top of the fifth, and he tossed three no-hit frames with three strikeouts against one walk. Seriously, put this guy in the Tigers bullpen, please and thank you.
In the sixth, Justyn-Henry Malloy led off with a single, and then stole second as Jung struck out swinging. A wild pitch got him to third, and Trei Cruz played situational baseball, lifting a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game. That was all they’d get, and the Hens went in order in the seventh and the eighth innings.
Wilkel Hernandez came on in the eighth and got into trouble with a pair of walks before striking out Carson McCusker to end the inning. He wouldn’t get away with it in the top of the ninth. A leadoff single from Aaron Sabato was followed by a Jose Miranda double. Hernandez dug in and didn’t allow another baserunner, but a sacrifice fly gave the Saints a 5-4 lead and that was the difference in this one.
Trei Cruz singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and took second on a wild pitch. But his efforts were wasted as Valencia’s liner to center was caught by Walker Jenkins, and Gage Workman struck out to end it.
Parker Meadows was the DH in this one. He went 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
Cruz: 2-3, R, RBI
Valencia: 1-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, 2 K
Urquidy: 2.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, BB, K
Gipson-Long: 3.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, BB, 3 K
Erie SeaWolves 10, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 2 (box)
The SeaWolves made it three in a row over the Fisher Cats on Thursday, despite the bigger bats being a bit quieter finally in this series. They weren’t too quiet in this one, despite Kevin McGonigle having the day off.
Max Alba got the start, and he leaked a run in the second and the third, while the SeaWolves couldn’t get it going offensively. That changed quickly once the order turned over. Max Clark reached on an error with one out in the third, and Thayron Liranzo singled him to third. A ground rule double the opposite way from Josue Briceño scored Clark, and a Justice Bigbie single plated Liranzo and Briceño. Jake Holton followed by doubling in Bigbie, and while he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple, it was a 4-2 SeaWolves lead after Alba gave up a run in the bottom half.
Danny Serretti cracked a solo shot in the fourth to make it 5-2. In the fifth, Liranzo led off with a double to center field and the Fisher Cats walked Briceño. A Bigbie grounder forced Briceño at second, but Holton came through again with another RBI double to score Liranzo. The Fisher Cats went back to the pen, but John Peck was hit by a pitch and Ben Malgeri singled in Bigbie. At that point, Abel Bastidas grounded into a would-be double play, but the Fisher Cats shortstop, Cade Doughty, threw it away trying to complete the turn. Two more runs scored and it was 9-2.
Lefty Carlos Pena took over from Alba in the fifth and tossed a 1-2-3 frame. He went on to throw four excellent innings, allowing two hits, but no walks and no runs, while punching out six.
In the top of the sixth, Bigbie led off with a single and moved to second on a Peck ground out. A balk got him to third and a Malgeri single made it 10-2. Blair Calvo handled the ninth without issue.
The SeaWolves are now 72-51 on the year, with two more series remaining in the regular season after this road matchup in New Hampshire concludes.
Liranzo: 2-5, 2 R, 2B, 2 K
Bigbie: 2-5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 K
Malgeri: 3-5, 2 RBI
Clark: 2-5, R, K
Briceno: 1-3, R, RBI, 2B, 2 BB, K
Pena: 4.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 6 K
West Michigan Whitecaps 2, Great Lakes Loons 1 (F/10)(box)
The Whitecaps pitching staff did a great job in a low scoring contest, and the Whitecaps came through in 10 innings to run their record to 86-36 on the year.
This was a well pitched game all around. The Whitecaps had four hits, the Loons six in regulation. The Whitecaps got on the board in the top of the first when Woody Hadeen walked with one out, stole second, and scored on an Izaac Pacheco single to cetner field.
Hayden Minton got the start for the ‘Caps and he was pretty good. The young right-hander allowed a run in the first, but locked things down from there. He only went four innings, but he struck out six to one walk allowed.
So it was 1-1 after an inning, and that’s where things would stay until extra innings. The Whitecaps got a two out double from Hadeen in the top of the third, and Peyton Graham followed with a walk. Pacheco struck out to end the inning. In the fifth, Patrick Lee led off with a single and stole second base. A wild pitch got him to third with one out, but Jack Penney lined out to shortstop and Lee was doubled off third base to end the inning. They never threatened again.
Once Minton’s day was done, Joe Adametz and Colin Fields each tossed a scoreless inning. Marco Jimenez handled the seventh and the eighth in perfect form with two strikeouts. Moises Rodriguez allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth, but kept the score deadlocked with a pair of strikeouts while Bennett Lee threw out the baserunner trying to steal second. So, it was on to the 10th inning.
Things started off poorly. Alex Makarewich took over on the mound for the Loons, with Andrew Jenkins starting the inning on second base. Austin Murr singled, but was cut down trying to stretch it into a double. That got Jenkins to third, but Garrett Pennington grounded out to first base, and Jenkins couldn’t score. Fortunately, Patrick Lee was there and ripped an RBI single the opposite way for a 2-1 lead before Bennett Lee struck out to send it to the bottom of the 10th.
So it was up to the hard-throwing Moises Rodriguez to lock this thing down on a chilly night in Midland. Rodriguez got a grounder to Pacheco at third, and he looked the runner back to second before firing to first. Unfortunately, Rodriguez nearly took the next hitter Cameron Decker’s head off with a wild sinker that got the runner to third anyway. Rodriguez walked Decker, and the Loons pinch-hit with Joe Vetrano. Rodriguez settled down and got ahead in the count, with the home plate umpire missing at least one strike, and the count went full. Rodriguez then fired 97 right down the middle and Vetrano took it for strike three. The Loons were down to their final out, and a line drive that clipped Rodriguez was picked by shortstop Peyton Graham to convert the out at second, and the Whitecaps were winners again.
Hadeen: 1-2, R, 2B, 2 BB, 2 SB
Patrick Lee: 2-4, RBI, 2 K, SB
Minton: 4.0 IP, ER, 4 H, BB, 6 K
Rodriguez (W, 3-0): 2.0 IP, 0 R, H, BB, 3 K
St. Lucie Mets 3, Lakeland Flying Tigers 0 (F/5)(box)
The Mets took a 2-1 series lead in a rain shortened contest in St. Lucie on Thursday. Neither team did much at the plate, but the Mets did damage and that was all the difference.
Carlos Marcono got the start as he continues his rehab work. It didn’t go that well. Marcano did punch out six hitters in four innings of work, with two hits and a walk allowed, but the first of those hits was a soft leadoff single in the second inning. The second was a two-run shot from AJ Salgado.
The Flying Tigers got a leadoff single from Zach MacDonald to start the game. Samuel Gil struck out, but Junior Tilien doubled to left to put runners on second and third with one out. Ricardo Hurtado pulled a line drive to the third baseman, and Juan Hernandez flew out to end the inning. They never threatened again, collecting just three hits and a walk over five innings.
So it was 2-0 St. Lucie when Andrew Pogue succeeded Marcano in the bottom of the fifth. He allowed a run before getting out of the inning, but by then the skies had really opened up and this one was eventually put in the books officially with five innings complete.
Tilien: 1-1, 2B, BB
MacDonald: 1-3
Hernandez: 1-2
Marcano (L, 0-1): 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, BB, 6 K
