Toledo Mud Hens 6, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 3 (suspended)
Rain led to this one getting delayed until Friday at 5:05 p.m. ET where it will be completed prior to playing the regularly scheduled Friday night game. The Hens are down 0-2 in the series.
Jordan Balazovic started this one and gave up three runs before being relieved by R.J. Petit with two outs in the third. Petit looked great, striking out four and giving up just a hit and a walk in 2 1/3 innings of work.
The Hens were quiet at the plate the first two times through the order, but finally in the top
of the sixth they erupted for a huge rally before the rain interrupted their rampage.
Andrew Navigato hit a solo shot to lead off, and Parker Meadows followed with a 104.1 mph double to right field. Expect him in center field against the White Sox on Friday night. Hao-Yu Lee followed him by driving a double to left and Akil Baddoo walked to load the bases. Jace Jung pulled a grounder through the right side for a two-run single that tied the game 3-3. Lehigh Valley went back to the pen, and Eduardo Valencia continued to mash, greeting the new reliever, Jacob Waguespack, with a three-run bomb to center field. So it was 6-3 as Trei Cruz walked, and Kevin Newman and Gage Workman flew out, so the game will resume with two outs and Cruz on first base.
Portland Sea Dogs 13, Erie SeaWolves 2 (box)
A rough outing for Kenny Serwa and a rough day for the SeaWolves offense doomed them in this one.
Serwa gave up a run in each of the first two innings, and then four more in the fourth, ending his outing with a scoreless fifth. After showing really impressive command for a pitcher who features knuckeballs prominently, Serwa’s control has really falled off recently. He only allowed four hits, but he didn’t strike out a batter and he walked four in this one. Serwa is 28, but perhaps he’s just wearing down in his first full year of pro ball.
Jake Holton launched his 19th homer of the year for the SeaWolves to lead off the second inning. The SeaWolves wouldn’t score again until Kevin McGonigle led off the sixth with a walk. He was wild pitched to second, and a pair of routine groundouts were enough to score him. Otherwise the SeaWolves had just five hits in this one.
McGonigle saw only one strike over his first three plate appearances, flying out to center field in the first. The Sea Dogs just stayed away from him the rest of the game. They finally pitched to him in the seventh after Seth Stephenson led off with a triple and John Peck and Thayron Liranzo struck out, but a pitch low on the outer edge was grounded to second base to end the inning.
Richard Guasch took over in the sixth and tossed two perfect innings with one strikeout. Things went completely sideways on lefty Andrew Magno in the eighth. He gave up seven runs on six hits and a walk, recording only one out before getting pulled for outfielder Ben Malgeri, who got the final two outs.
Stephenson: 1-3, 3B, BB
Holton: 1-4, R, RBI, HR
McGonigle: 0-2, R, 2 BB
Serwa (L, 5-6): 5.0 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 0 K
West Michigan Whitecaps 15, Fort Wayne TinCaps 2 (box)
Another round of congratulations to Whitecaps manager Tony Cappuccilli and his staff is in order. The 2025 Whitecaps have been one of the best High-A team of all time, and they reached 90 wins (131 game season) with their third straight beatdown of the TinCaps on Thursday.
The featured attraction here was RHP Paul Sewald, who made his first rehab appearances since being traded for at the deadline. Sewald topped out at 91 mph, issuing a walk and striking out one in a hitless inning of work. He’ll need a few appearances to get ready, but 91-92 mph is typically the speed where Sewald thrives. He didn’t throw quite that hard this year for the Guardians earlier this year before the injury.
Hayden Minton took over and dealt five innings of scoreless ball, allowing just two hits and a walk, while punching out six. Minton had his good slider working and he also got plenty of run support.
The Tigers got the rout underway in the third. Bennett Lee walked with two outs, and Woody Hadeen singled him over to third. Hadeen stole second with Jack Penney at the dish, and Penney singled in both runs for a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth, the Tigers blew the thing wide open with a nine-run inning. Garrett Pennington led off with a single and with one out, Jackson Strong doubled him in. Patrick Lee walked and Abel Bastidas lifted his first homer at the High-A level to make it 6-0.
Things seemed to be quieting down as Bennett Lee flew out for the second out, but Hadeen drew a walk and then Penney was hit in the helmet by a pitch and lifted for pinch-runner Izaac Pacheco. There was a little barking after that shot to the head as the TinCaps had gotten sour about Bastidas admiring his first High-A homer a bit earlier. Andrew Jenkins singled in Hadeen, Pennington walked, and Brett Callahan smoked a two-run double to center field. 9-0 Whitecaps. Jackson Strong followed with a walk, and then Patrick Lee walked to force in the final run of the inning. 11-0 Whitecaps.
In the sixth, Callahan led off with a walk and Strong singled. A wild pitch put them both in scoring position, and Bastidas singled in Callahan. Bennett Lee struck out for the second out of the inning, but then Woody Hadeen stepped into the box, ripped a line drive that the center field dove for and missed. The ball got to the wall as Hadeen roared all the way around the bases to score with the home crowd going bonkers. 15-0.
Freddy Pacheco allowed a solo shot, and an error led to a run during Moises Rodriguez’s inning of work. Marco Jimenez closed this one out.
Hadeen: 3-5, 3 R, 3 RBI, HR, BB, K, SB
Bastidas: 3-5, 2 R, 4 RBI, HR, K
Callahan: 1-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB
Strong: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB
Minton (W, 7-2): 5.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, BB, 6 K
Jupiter Hammerheads 2, Lakeland Flying Tigers 1 (box)
The Flying Tigers lost a really well pitched game to fall behind 2-1 in this final series of the regular season.
There were precious few baserunners early on in this one and Jupiter’s Liomar Martinez threw a really strong start for them. Lefty Jake Miller made his second rehab appearance as the starter in this one. He put up a scoreless frame with two strikeouts in the first, but was then drilled in the back by a Chris Arroyo line drive in the second and had to leave the game. Pedro Garcia came on to get a double play ball and cleaned up the inning before spinning a scoreless third and fourth inning.
In the fourth, Carlos Marcano continued his head-turning return to action. Slotted well down our preseason prospect list as a developing control artist with a 92-94 mph sinker whose stuff needed to pop, Marcano has emerged from nearly three months on the injured list throwing 95-97 mph sinkers consistently with a sharper slider. His typical control hasn’t been present all year and that was true in this one, but the bump in stuff has been a nice surprise. He wasn’t hit hard, but he did give up a run in the sixth and another in the seventh and wasn’t piling up the whiffs either. We’ll see if he ends up back in West Michigan in time for the playoffs.
In the bottom of the sixth, Zach MacDonald led off with a double and was knocked in by Samuel Gil for the Flying Tigers only run in this one. They loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh after singles from Cristian Santana and Juan Hernandez and MacDonald getting hit by a pitch. Unfortunately, Nick Dumesnil grounded out to end the threat, and there wasn’t another one.
MacDonald: 2-2, R, 2B, SB
Marcano (L, 0-2): 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K
Miller: 1.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 K
