Toledo Mud Hens 10, Iowa Cubs 2 (box)
Max Clark homered for the second straight day and the Hens crushed the Cubs again with a strong effort from the bullpen as well.
Troy Watson made a short start and did quite well against a pretty good Cubs lineup. He blanked them on three hits and a walk over 3.2 innings of work with four strikeouts.
Tyler Gentry opened the scoring with a solo shot in the third. Eduardo Valencia launched home run number 11 on the year to open the fifth, and it was 2-0 Hens.
In the sixth, Max Anderson led off with a walk
and stole second base. Hao-Yu Lee smoked a sharp single to left that scored Anderson and took second on the play. A Trei Cruz single plated Lee for a 4-0 lead.
Ricky Vanasco took over from Watson for four outs, striking out two. Woo-Suk Go followed that up with a pair of perfect innings and three punchouts of his own. Tyler Mattison handled the eighth without allowing a baserunner either.
In the seventh, Max Clark cracked a 420 foot shot to right that left the bat at 108 mph. Yesterday he homered off a lollypop from a position player, but this was a no-doubter and over the past two weeks Clark has started pulling the ball with more authority. Good signs from the top outfield prospect in baseball.
Hao-Yu Lee doubled in Ben Malgeri and Gage Workman in the eighth. After walks to Cruz and Valencia, Jace Jung doubled in two and scored on groundout later in the inning to make it 10-0. Scott Effross allowed two runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Lee: 2-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B
Clark: 1-4, R, RBI, HR, BB, K
Valencia: 1-4, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB
Watson: 3.2 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:38 p.m. ET start on Thursday.
Erie SeaWolves 4, Richmond Flying Squirrels 2 (box)
Kenny Serwa put together his best outing of the season, but it took a late rally for the Flying Tigers to comeback and win this one.
Serwa gave up a run in the third, but otherwise the knuckleballer was in full control. He fired five innings of one-run ball with a walk allowed against seven strikeouts. Wandisson Charles handled the sixth and seventh innings without allowing a run.
The SeaWolves had the leadoff man on repeatedly in this one, but couldn’t break through until the eighth. Bennett Lee led off the inning with a solo shot that tied the game at 1-1. Seth Stephenson followed with a single and stole second base. Brett Callahan flew out, but John Peck reached on an error and Thayron Liranzo walked to load the bases. The Dragons’ Mitch White walked Justice Bigbie to force in a run, and a Peyton Graham single made it 3-1.
Tyler Owens wild pitched in a run in the bottom of the eighth, so it was 3-2 Erie heading into the ninth. Stephenson walked with one out, and the speedy center fielder had no trouble scoring on a Callahan drive to center that got down for a double. Luke Taggart struck out three in the bottom of the ninth to earn the save, but only after allowing a pair of two-out singles that brought the go-ahead run to the plate.
Stephenson: 2-4, 2 R, BB, SB, CS
Callahan: 2-5, RBI, 2B, 2 K
Graham: 1-3, RBI, BB, K
Coming Up Next: The series is tied up heading into Thursday’s 7:05 p.m. ET matchup in Richmond.
West Michigan Whitecaps 6, Dayton Dragons 4 (box)
Ben Jacobs had a rough outing, but the Whitecaps rallied with a three-run eighth inning to win on Wednesday and even the series.
Andrew Sears started things off with a rehab start. He gave up a run in the first, but only one hit and no walks, with four strikeouts over three good innings of work. He looks close to heading back to Double-A Erie soon.
Jacobs succeeded him, allowing three runs in five innings of work with six strikeouts. Jacobs wasn’t hit hard other than a Jacob Friend solo shot, but three walks and some wildness in the fourth especially helped the Dragons out quite a bit.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Whitecaps took advantage of leadoff walks to Jackson Strong and Luke Shliger. Cristian Santana struck out, but Juan Hernandez walked as well, loading the bases. Woody Hadeen singled in Strong, while Andrew Sojka singled in Shliger and Hernandez to make it a 3-3 game.
Dayton scored one in the seventh to take a one-run lead, but in the bottom of the eighth, Hadeen and Penngton walked and Bryce Rainer strafed an opposite field doubled to score Hadeen. That tied the game, and then the Dragons couldn’t handle a Clayton Campbell pop-up and Pennington scored. A Strong ground out allowed Rainer to score and make it 6-4 where it ended. Jalen Evans tossed a perfect ninth to earn his first save with the ‘Caps.
Hadeen: 2-3, R, RBI, BB
Sears: 3.0 IP, ER, H, 0 BB, 4 K
Jacobs (W, 1-0): 3 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 6 K, HBP
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 11, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 5 (box)
A six-run rally in the eighth blew open a close game as the Flying Tigers took down the Mighty Mussels on Wednesday.
They jumped out to an early lead in the first as Jordan Yost led off the bottom half with an opposite field single and took second on a passed ball. Jude Warwick walked, and with one-out, Edian Espinal smoked a drive into the right field corner for a two-run triple. Espinal remains a very interesting story as the Tigers teach him the catching position while he continues to rake, now holding a .915 OPS on the season. Jesus Pinto, the other fast riser in Lakeland, reached on an error as Espinal scored to make it 3-0.
Meanwhile, Cash Kuiper was crusing through three innings. In the fourth, he couldn’t quite corral a comeback from Enrique Jimenez, last seen being traded by the Tigers to the Twins for Chris Paddack. An error by Carson Rucker followed, and then Hunter Dobbins took a catchers interference call. Kuiper wasn’t hit hard, but a three-run inning for Fort Myers followed from those mistakes, including another one from right fielder Anibal Salas, tying the game. Fort Myers added one in the fifth as Kuiper’s outing came to an end.
The Flygers answered back in the bottom of the fifth. Salas singled, and Yost walked before Warwick tripled them both in to re-capture a one-run lead. Warwick got a little greedy heading down the third base line and got tagged out, but they had the lead. Jan Carabello allowed Fort Myers to tie things up again in the seventh, but in the eighth Lakeland took control for good.
Yost was hit by a pitch and stole second base to start the inning. Warwick singled, and Beau Ankeney doubled them both in after a pretty epic 10 pitch battle. Fort Myers went back to the pen, but the new reliever hit Espinal before striking out Pinto. Nick Dumesnil grounded out, moving both runners into scoring position, and Rucker walked. Hunter Dobbins followed with a grand slam to left center field to put this one in the bag.
Warwick: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
Yost: 1-2, 3 R, BB, SB
Kuiper: 4.2 IP, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, K
Coming Up Next: The series is even at a game apiece heading into a 6:30 p.m. ET start on Thursday.
