Columbus Clippers 6, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (box)
A 6-3 loss led to a series tie between Columbus and Toledo on Sunday. The Mud Hens had just four hits, two of which came from Gage Workman.
Tyler Gentry singled in Workman, who doubled with two outs in the fourth, tying the game.
The other two hits came in the eighth, both singles, one from Tomas Nido and another from Workman. Zach McKinstry reached on a fielding error between the two, extending the inning, but Toledo only got two runs out of it.
The pitching wasn’t terrible for the Mud Hens, but the Clippers always seemed to respond right after giving up a run.
Tanner Rainey got the start but only went one inning. It went bad right away, with a leadoff walk and ground-rule double. Rainey bounced back a bit, retiring the next three batters, but a run still crossed and Toledo never led after that.
Eric Silva was the best of the bunch, throwing three no-hit innings and working around a pair of walks. He landed his fastball for strikes four times and drew two whiffs over 11 pitches. He was just effective over his three innings of work, allowing three hard-hit balls and six batted balls on 42 pitches.
Matt Seelinger took the loss thanks to runs allowed in the fifth and sixth innings. He walked the first batter he faced and gave up a pair of singles, immediately breaking the 1-1 tie, and back-to-back extra-base hits in the sixth made it 3-1.
Drew Sommers took over with one out in the seventh. Juan Brito golfed a solo home run to left field before Sommers could record an out. The good news is he struck out the next three batters he faced — one being a wild pitch, dropped third strike.
Sean Guenther got the eighth. His outing went: single, double, ground out, single, walk, pop out, strike out. Two runs on that kind of sequence is the minimum damage one can expect. Oh, well. The offense wasn’t doing much anyway.
Clark: 0-4, 2 K
McKinstry: 0-4, RBI
Workman: 2-4, 2B (11), R
Silva: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: Toledo is at home against Memphis next week, starting Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. ET.
Erie SeaWolves 4, Chesapeake Baysox 3 (box)
Erie claimed a fifth win in its series against Chesapeake on Sunday with a 4-3 win thanks to a late score in the eighth inning.
Six of the seven runs scored in the game came between the second and fourth frames. Erie starter Kenny Serwa gave up a two-run single in the top of the second, but the SeaWolves bounced back in the bottom of the third. Bennett Lee and Seth Stephenson hit back-to-back singles and John Peck walked with one out. Justice Bigbie cleared the bases with a double to right-center, giving the SeaWolves the lead.
Bigbie had the only other base hit of the day for Erie in the eighth, but it was a big one. A line drive single to center field scored Peyton Graham, who walked to lead things off. That run decided the game as Erie’s pitching staff closed things out in the ninth.
Erie’s bullpen was excellent, holding Chesapeake to one run on four hits and no walks. Yosber Sanchez, Moises Rodriguez and Wandisson Charles all threw two innings apiece, in that order, following Serwa. Sanchez gave up the run in the fourth on a solo homer, but the other two worked scoreless outings, giving up one hit each.
Woo-Suk Go recorded his second save in as many days, going 1-2-3 in the ninth. He struck out a pair and lowered his ERA to 0.66 on the year.
Bigbie: 2-4, 2B (5), 4 RBI, K
Jenkins: 1-4, 2B (6), K
Serwa: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: Erie is in Harrisburg next week, starting Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET.
F/10: Cedar Rapids Kernels 6, West Michigan Whitecaps 5 (box)
West Michigan couldn’t avoid the sweep on Sunday and extended its losing streak to eight games with a 5-6 defeat in extra innings.
The Whitecaps and Kernels spent much of the game tied, scoring a run each in the third and holding the 1-1 tie until the sixth inning. Garrett Pennington and Bryce Rainer hit back-to-back doubles to give West Michigan the lead, and Juan Hernandez singled in Rainer to make it a two-run game.
Clayton Campbell homered in the eighth to make it a 4-1 game, but disaster struck in the ninth, when Cedar Rapids scored three runs off Carlos Lequerica. A leadoff homer, an error and three singles allowed the game to go to extra innings, and West Michigan didn’t have enough juice to come out on top.
Rainer scored in the top of the 10th on a wild pitch to briefly take back the lead, but a fielding error from Junio Tilien at third base allowed the tying run to cross. Ryan Harvey gave up a walk-off single to Danny De Andrade and took the loss.
It’s a shame, too, because the other four Whitecaps pitchers that threw were very good. Carlos Marcano went four strong in his third start of the year, allowing just one run on two hits — a homer in the third — and two walks while striking out four.
Thomas Bruss threw a 1-2-3 fifth inning in relief, and Zack Lee and Logan Berrier each recorded a hold without allowing a baserunner over the next three innings. Lee struck out four of the six batters he faced.
The offense was alive, too, notching 10 hits on the day. Everyone but Tilien recorded a base hit, and Pennington had three on the day.
Rainer: 1-5, 2B (2), 2 R, RBI, 2 K
Pennington: 3-5, 2 2B (9), 2 R, RBI, 2 K
Campbell: 1-5, HR (3), R, RBI, 2 K
Marcano: 4.0 IP, 2 H, R, ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Lee (H, 1): 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: West Michigan is at home against Dayton next week, starting Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. ET.
Bradenton Marauders 8, Lakeland Flying Tigers 5 (box)
Lakeland dropped the last game of the series with Bradenton, 8-5, on Sunday for a 1-5 finish to the week.
Anibal Salas was the only hitter with a pulse for the Flying Tigers. He had three of the team’s five hits, all of which were doubles. The most important came during a five-run seventh inning, with the bases loaded. He drove in a pair, and the rest came on walks — six of Lakeland’s nine free bases came in the inning.
The only other hits on the day from the Flying Tigers came from Newremberg Rondon in the sixth and Beau Ankeney in the seventh.
Troy Melton made his season debut on a rehab assignment, going 1 2/3 innings (32 pitches) in the start. He went 1-2-3 in the first, but a pair of singles and a throwing error led to two runs in the second before recording an out. He hit his pitch limit before getting out of the second frame, but things looked good. He drew three whiffs on five swings (60%) with his slider and averaged 97.2 mph on his fastball.
Yendy Gomez pitched through the third, facing the minimum of four batters. Eliseo Mota took over in the fourth, but he couldn’t finish the inning. A pair of walks and two singles led to three runs, all with two outs. Pedro Garcia got out of the fourth without allowing any more runs and went 1-2-3 in the fifth, but trouble came after that.
Garcia gave up a bunt single, RBI double and three straight walks after recording the first out of the sixth. Jatnk Diaz took over with the bases loaded and limited the Marauders to one run on a sacrifice fly, but it was 8-0 by that point. The good news is Diaz was perfect through the rest of the game, retiring eight batters in a row with three strikeouts.
Salas: 3-4, 3 2B (5), 2 RBI
Melton: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: Lakeland is at home next week agaisnt St. Lucie, starting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
