Toledo Mud Hens 1, St. Paul Saints 0 (box)
The Mud Hens welcomed back their home crowd with a well pitched game and just enough offense to everyone home quickly and out of the cold with a victory on Tuesday afternoon.
Lael Lockhart Jr. got the start and the lefty set down the Saints in order in the first with help from Max Clark on a sinking drive that he had to go to the ground to snare as it fell in front of him.
The Hens quickly got to work in the bottom half. Wenceel Pérez lined out to center, but Clark kept his on-base streak intact with
a sharp single to right field. He then stole second base. Trei Cruz struck out, but Eduardo Valencia walked to keep the inning alive, and Hao-Yu Lee, in his first game back with the Hens after a Lakeland rehab assignment, lined a single to left to make it 1-0 Hens.
Clark hasn’t really scorched many balls so far, but he has hit a pair over 110 mph, his hardest hit on record, and his at-bats have uniformly been great. When we start seeing hard contact to the pull side, Clark will be within striking distance of his first major league cup of coffee. It’s early, but he definitely looks like he’ll be forcing the issue by June at this rate.
That was all they’d need. Lockhart only struck out one, but he managed to retire the first 14 hitters he faced in order. The Hens’ defense was sharp, while the Saints batted ball luck was tough. With two outs in the fifth, Lockhart walked old friend Ryan Kreidler for the Saints first baserunner. He was quickly erased by a ground out, and the Saints wouldn’t have many more. Lockhart spun five innings of no-hit ball with just a walk and a strikeout allowed. As you’d imagine, the pace of play was brisk.
Of course the Hens offense wasn’t doing much either. Corey Julks doubled in the fourth but was stranded. Clark beat out an infield single in the fifth with two outs, but that went nowhere either.
Burch Smith tossed a perfect sixth with two strikeouts. Konnor Pilkington took over, and the lefty walked a pair but collected four more outs without a hit allowed.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ben Malgeri tripled to right field with one out after a lengthy battle and a failed dive by the Saints right fielder. He tried to score on a Pérez groundout, but was cut down at the plate. Clark flew out to end the inning.
Pilkington got the first out of the eighth, but then issued his two walks, and right-hander Ricky Vanasco took over. Vanasco and Smith have been the best of the Hens relief corps early on, and he cleaned up the mess, whiffing Alex Jackson and Aaron Sabato both on power curveballs to escape the jam.
Vanasco allowed a walk and a single in the top of the ninth. The first hit of the game for St. Paul was a blooper into shallow right field. Second baseman Gage Workman made a great effort to get out there but couldn’t make the basket catch. Two outs from a combined no-hitter. Vanasco scorned the Saints meager success, and punched out his fourth and fifth hitters on the outing to decisvely earn his first save on the year. The Saints managed just one hit, although the Hens had just six of their own.
Clark: 2-4, R, BB
Valencia: 0-1, 3 BB
Lee: 1-3, RBI, K
Lockhart: 5.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, BB, K
Vanasco (S, 1): 1.2 IP, 0 R, H, BB, 5 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start at Fifth Third on Wednesday.
Chesapeake BaySox 4, Erie SeaWolves 1 (box)
Mistakes plagued the SeaWolves in an otherwise tight game on Tuesday as they dropped the first of their six-game road series against the BaySox.
It was a bullpen day for Erie, and Tanner Kohlhepp and John Stankiewicz got them through four innings without issue. They wasted an opportunity when Seth Stephenson was hit by a pitch to start a game, and he went on to steal second and third while his teammates popped up or struck out.
John Peck finally got things going with a one-out double in the fourth. An Andrew Jenkins single made it a 1-0 game.
Yosber Sanchez took over in the fifth. He issued a leadoff walk and then an Andrew Jenkins throwing error on a grounder made it first and second no outs. Another walk from Sanchez loaded the bases, and an RBI single and then a wild pitch followed before he got out of the inning with the BaySox up 2-1.
Stephenson led off the sixth with a walk, and Brett Callahan singled, but Peck, Izaac Pacheco, and Jenkins all struck out against tough lefty Micah Ashman, who you’ll recall was traded for Charlie Morton last summer.
Sanchez walked the first batter he faced in the sixth and gave way to right-hander Moises Rodriguez, who walked his first batter. The hard throwing sinkerballer avoided the big hit, but a pair of deep sacrifice flies made it a 4-1 game.
Chris Meyers led off the seventh with a double, but again they went in order from there.
Wandisson Charles pitched the eighth, giving up a walk but otherwise having no trouble.
In the top of the ninth, Pacheco led off with a single, and Meyers walked with one out. Justice Bigbie struck out, and a sharp single to left from Peyton Graham didn’t allow Pacheco to score. Bennett Lee struck out to end it.
Peck: 1-4, R, 2B, 2 K
Jenkins: 1-4, RBI, 3K
Kohlhepp: 2.0 IP, 0 R, BB, K
Sanchez (L, 0-1, BS): 1.0 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, H, 3 BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Wednesday.
Great Lakes Loons 7, West Michigan Whitecaps 3 (box)
Lefty Gabriel Reyes made his High-A debut and was quite wild, walking five hitters in just 2 2/3 innings. Those walks and some sloppy play put the Whitecaps in a hole early and then never fought back.
Reyes walked Mike Sirota to open the game. Sirota stole second and scored on a Charles Davalan single for a quick 1-0 lead. Reyes issued another walk in the inning but got out of further trouble. The Whitecaps loaded the bases with one out as a result of three straight walks, but Ricardo Hurtado grounded into a double play to waste the opportunity.
Reyes just could not get it together. He walked two more in the second and escaped, then walked the leadoff hitter in the third, and did not escape. A Cristian Santana error at second allowed the next hitter to reach, and then Reyes plunked Nico Perez. A sacrifice fly made it 2-0. Perez stole second and Hurtado threw it away as the runner on third scored. Perez showed Hurtado zero respect, stealing third as well, but it was unnecessary as Victor Rodrigues mashed a two-run shot for a 5-0 lead. Duque Hebbert took over and cleaned up the mess.
Meanwhile, the Whitecaps bats were stone cold. Logan Berrier relieved Hebbert in the fifth and promptly surrendered a run on a Rodrigues RBI single. 6-0. Loons.
In the bottom half, Stephen Hrustich led off with a walk. With one out, Samuel Gil singled Hrustich to third, and he scored on a wild pitch to get the Whitecaps on the board. 6-1.
Berrier was fine in the sixth, and in the seventh, Carlos Lequerica took over and punched out the side. However, in the eighth, a leadoff double and a pair of ground outs made it a 7-1 game, and that was about all there was.
Inohan Paniagua made his Whitecaps debut in the top of the ninth, striking out two. Roberto Campos singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth and Garrett Pennington walked. The Loons went back to their pen and a Hurtado ground out advanced the baserunners. A wild pitch from Joseilyn Gonzalez scored Campos. A Samuel Gil single made it 7-3, but Santana flew out to end it.
Gil: 2-4, RBI, K
Campos: 1-3, R, BB
Reyes (L, 0-1): 2.2 IP, 5 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 5 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 12:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday at LMCU Park.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 6, Daytona Tortugas 5 (box)
The Flying Tigers built a lead, lost it, got ahead again, and then just held off the Tortugas to maintain a perfect 4-0 record in their home 2026 debut.
LHP Bailey Horn made a short rehab outing to start this one off. He got the first two outs before giving up a single. Pedro Garcia took over and started with a balk and a wide pitch before a grounder tied up Carson Rucker and scored the run. Garcia shut things down from there but it was 1-0 Daytona.
The Flying Tigers struck out in order against Sheng-En Lin in the first, while Tyler Owens came on for a rehab inning in the second, which he handled without much issue.
In the bottom of the second, Lin walked four hitters, handing the Flying Tigers a 2-1 lead.
At that point, LHP Grayson Grinsell, the Tigers’ 2025 sixth rounder out of Oregon, entered the game to make his debut. He spun a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. Jack Goodman stayed hot for Lakeland with a ground rule double down the right field line, but that went nowhere.
Grinsell dug a little hole to open the fourth, but Mason Neville lined into a double play and Grinsell whiffed Drew Davies to escape unscathed.
Zach MacDonald has been a minor revelation early on for the Flygers, and he opened the fourth with a double to right. Sergio Tapia moved him to third with a groundout, and a wild pitch from the Tortugas’ Dominic Scheffler Nolan McCarthy brought the run in while walked Nolan McCarthy. 3-1 Lakeland.
Grinsell struck out the side in the fifth, showing off good sliders and changeups to go with a solid 92 mph fourseamer. However, he got into trouble in the sixth, giving up up two runs as Grinsell and Tapia struggled to control the Tortugas running game. The score was knotted 3-3, but the Flying Tigers came right back.
Beau Ankeney led off the bottom of the sixth with a single. MacDonald struck out and Tapia grounded out, but McCarthy singled and Jose Pinto walked to load the bases with two outs. Bryce Rainer popped up to the shortstop Rafhimil Torres, but he lost the towering ball and dropped it as all three runners scored for a 6-3 lead. Rainer stole second and then third, but Rucker struck out to end the inning.
Eliseo Mota then conspired to return the favor with a mess of an inning that saw the Tortugas score two until Jorger Petri took over to clean things up. 6-5 Lakeland. Petri was nails, and collected the next six outs with just a walk in the ninth allowed to collect the save.
Goodman: 1-3, R, 2B, BB, K
MacDonald: 1-3, R, RBI, BB, K
McCarthy, 1-2, R, RBI, 2 BB
Grinsell (W, 1-0): 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:00 p.m. ET start in Lakeland on Wednesday.
