Toledo Mud Hens 5, Louisville Bats 4 (box)
Hao-Yu Lee and Eduardo Valencia powered the Hens offense to a hard fought victory over the Bats on Sunday. The Kentuckians wouldn’t go away, chipping away at the Hens early lead against starter Troy Watson and the Hens bullpen.
Troy Watson gave up a run in the first, but then he settled in to carve up the Bats over the next few innings. Eduardo Valencia helped even the score with a two-out double in the bottom of the first. Jace Jung doubled in Valencia to even things up.
Pitching ruled the day from
there until the bottom of the fourth. Akil Baddoo came up with a one-out single and Andrew Navigato followed suit. Another single from Gage Workman was misplayed by Ryan Vilade and Baddoo scored with Navigato and Workman advanced to scoring position. Riley Unroe walked to load the bases, and Hao-Yu Lee cleared them by smoking a triple to center field to make it 5-1 Hens.
Watson struck out nine on his day, but he leaked a run in the fifth and another in the sixth. So it was 5-3 when he left the game with two outs in the sixth. Woo-Suk Go took over, striking out Christian Encarnacion-Strand to end the inning. However, Go allowed a Davis Wendzel solo shot in the seventh as the Bats pulled within one.
Alex Lange hit the first batter of the eighth inning before bouncing back to strike out Edwin Rios. A Rece Hinds grounder forced the lead runner at second, but Lange also walked Vilade before punching out Encarnacion-Strand to end the inning.
Troy Mattison had a similar go trying to close it out in the ninth. His return from Tommy John surgery has remained somewhat erratic, and he allowed a Connor Joe single before walking Wendzel. The Bats trying a sacrifice bunt, but Mattison pounced on it to get Joe heading to third. A ground out and a fly out sealed the deal for the Hens.
Lee: 2-4, 3 RBI, 3B, K
Valencia: 2-4, R, 2B, K
Navigato: 2-4, R, 2 K
Jung: 1-4, RBI, 2B, 2 K
Watson (W, 4-1): 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, BB, 9 K
Erie SeaWolves 7, Altoona Curve 5 (box)
Kevin McGonigle homered and the SeaWolves rallied back with a big sixth inning to win on Sunday. They took the six game set, five games to one, setting a ton for the Eastern League championships where they’ll face Altoona in the divisional round starting on Tuesday in Altoona, with Game 2 and 3 if necessary coming home to UPMC Park in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Jaden Hamm got the start on the heels of his first really good outing in quite a while after coming on the injured list. He backslid some in this one, giving up three runs in four innings of work with three walks and zero strikeouts on the day. Command was just not sharp at all for much of the outing.
Konnor Griffin singled and later scored in the top of the first for an early Curve lead. However, McGonigle quickly evened the score with a deep drive to right field for a solo homer in the bottom of the first. That was McGonigle’s 19th homer in under 400 plate appearances this season. Despite a horrendous .226 BABIP with Erie, the game’s top prospect holds a 157 wRC+ with a 16.3 percent walk rate against a 12.3 percent strikeout rate at the Double-A level, having just turned 21 last month.
Hamm leaked two more in the third, and in the fifth, Eric Silva took over with a clean inning.
In the bottom half, Ben Malgeri led off with a single up the middle. Eliezer Alfonzo reached on catcher’s interference and Carlos Mendoza followed with an RBI single to make it a 3-2 Curve lead. That was all the SeaWolves would get in the fifth.
Silva has pitched very well in his own return from the injury list, but his control faltered in this one as well. In the top of the sixth, Silva walked two hitters and then a pair of single plated two runs to make it 5-2 Curve. The SeaWolves then came back with a big inning in the bottom half to seize control of the game.
Josue Briceño led off with a single and Jake Holton reached on an error on Altoona’s right fielder that allowed Briceño to score from first as the ball went all the way to the wall. Holton cruised into second with a double. Roberto Campos pinch-hit for Justice Bigbie and drew a walk. Malgeri few into a double play with Campos cut down at second, but Alfonzo singled in Holton to make it a 5-4 Curve lead.
The Curve went back to their bullpen, but new reliever Jaden Woods walked Mendoza and then Seth Stephenson lined a single to center field to tie the game as Alfonzo scored. Woods walked John Peck as well, and a two-run line drive single the opposite way from McGonigle made it 7-5.
Silva had settled back in and handled the seventh without issue. Blair Calvo tossed a perfect eighth and ninth, striking out Konnor Griffin swinging to end it.
McGonigle: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, K
Malgeri: 2-3, R, SB
Stephenson: 2-3, R, RBI
Hamm: 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 0 K
Silva (W, 2-0): 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K
West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Cedar Rapids Kernels 3 (box)
Carlos Marcano and Austin Murr starred in this one as they took Game 1 of the Midwest League championship series on Sunday in front of a packed house at LMCU Park.
RHP Preston Howey got the start in this one and it was a rough go for him. Howey gave up a run in the second and two in the third as the Kernels took a 3-0 lead. That third inning could’ve been a lot worse. With a runner on second and two runs in, manager Tony Cappucilli turned to Haden Erbe, but the right-hander walked the first two hitters he faced to load the bases. Erbe dug deep to whiff Caden Kendle on a good breaking ball to strand all three baserunners. That was a game saving strikeout, and in the fourth they were able to turn the game over to Carlos Marcano, who was extremely impressive yet again.
In the bottom of the fourth, Austin Murr finally ignited the Whitecaps offense with a two-out double. Jack Penney singled him in to make it a 3-1 Kernels lead.
At that point, the Carlos Marcano show was everything. The right-hander has returned from three months on the injured list throwing much harder and he absolutely dominated the Kernels for 4 2/3 innings of work. Marcano struck out seven, allowing just one walk and one single to give his team all the time necessary to mount a comeback.
Izaac Pacheco didn’t do much at the plate, but he did contribute some nice defense to the cause.
They didn’t need long as it turned out. In the bottom of the fifth, Woody Hadeen singled and took second on a wild pitch with Peyton Graham at the dish. Graham lined a single to left center to score Hadeen, and took second on the play. Izaac Pacheco and Andrew Jenkins struck out, but Graham stole third base, and Brett Callahan singled up the middle to tie the game at 3-3.
The Kernels went back to their pen and called on Nick Trabacchi. It didn’t help as Callahan stole second on his and Garrett Pennington singled to left to score him. Again the Kernels threw home and Pennington, practicing the Tigers Way, took second base. It wasn’t necessary as Murr hammered a drive to the center field wall for an RBI triple and a 5-3 lead.
That was all they’d get, but it was all they’d need.
RHP Marco Jimenez took the mound to close this one out, and his experience showed through. After walking the leadoff hitter and sending the home crowd into a state of terror, Jimenez pumped 99-100 mph fastballs from there and got a fly out and a pair of punch outs to earn the save and wrap up a Game 1 victory.
The Whitecaps can close it out Tuesday or Wednesday night on the road with one more victory.
Murr: 2-3, R, RBI, 2B, 3B, BB, K
Graham: 2-4, R, RBI, 2 SB
Hadeen: 1-3, R, BB, 2K
Callahan: 1-4, R, RBI, 2 K, SB
Marcano (W, 1-0): 4.2 IP, 0 R, H, BB, 7 K
Jimenez (S, 1): 1.0 IP, 0 R, BB, 2 K, WP
Lakeland Flying Tigers 6, Daytona Tortugas 1 (box)
The Detroit Tigers hottest pitching prospect, 19-year-old Kelvis Salcedo, led the Lakeland Flying Tigers to a Game 1 victory in the Florida State League championship series on Sunday.
Salcedo was overpowering from the start, retiring 15 straight batters before allowing his first hit and hitting a batter in the sixth. That ending his outing, but five perfect frames with four strikeouts is a heck of a way for a young pitcher to make his postseason debut.
The Flying Tigers got a walk to Nick Dumesnil and a Chris Meyers single in the first, but couldn’t take advantage as Ricardo Hurtado grounded into a double play to end the inning.
They broke through in the third when Juan Hernandez drew a one-out walk and Dumesnil doubled him home with a hot grounder through the left side of the infield for a 1-0 lead.
In the fifth, Samuel Gil singled with one out. Hernandez took a called strike three, but Dumensil walked. Jesus Pinto then smoked a fly ball deep to right field and off the wall in the corner, plating both runners and cruising into third with a triple and a 3-0 lead. Meyers then singled in Pinto to make it 4-0.
Salcedo hit Bernard Moon to open the bottom of the sixth, and Ichiro Cano dumped a bloop single to center field. At that point the training staff and manager Rene Rivera came out to visit and they removed Salcedo from the game. Hopefully nothing significant there. Either way this was Salcedo’s last appearance of the season.
Luke Hoskins took over and got a fly ball that sacrificed Moon in from third to make it 4-1. Hoskins cleaned up the inning from there without issue and tossed a 1-2-3 seventh inning as well.
Hurtado led off the eighth by drawing a walk, but was forced on a Junior Tilien ground ball. Carson Rucker struck out, but Stephen Hrustich walked just in time for Gil to rip a line drive into the right field corner for a two-run triple that made it 6-1.
Lefty Ethan Sloan spun a clean bottom of the eighth. Ronny Chalas came on in the ninth and struck out the first two hitters he faced on swinging third strikes before a lineout to Dumesnil in center field wrapped this one up.
The series comes home to Publix Field on Tuesday night, with a potential Game 3 set for Wednesday if necessary. The Flying Tigers just need to win one of the next two to wrap up their first Florida State League title since 2012.
Gil: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, 3B
Dumesnil: 1-3, R, RBI, 2 BB
Meyers: 2-5, RBI, K
Pinto: 1-5, R, 2 RBI, 3B
Salcedo (W, 1-0): 5.0 IP, ER, H, 0 BB, 4 K
