Omaha Storm Chasers 7, Toledo Mud Hens 2 (box)
Carl Edwards Jr. took the loss, but that’s largely because his defense didn’t have his back. The first run was on Edwards. He gave up a double and single in the first, and a fielder’s choice made it 1-0. The other four were unearned.
Bennett Lee threw away a dropped third strike that would have been the third out of the third inning. (Triple-triple). A leadoff error by Cal Stevenson at first ruined the start of what should have been a 1-2-3 inning. Instead, it turned into a three-run homer. 5-0, Omaha.
Brant Hurter took over in the seventh. He gave up an RBI single, but Trei Cruz made it a two-run base knock after letting the ball go right by him in center field. Cruz had a chance to throw the lead runner out at home, but you have to glove the ball first to do that. It was a bad night for the defense.
Stevenson made up for his earlier mistake by hitting an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh. He came home a few batters later on a Wenceel Perez sac fly. That was all of the meaningful offense for Toledo, though.
Ricky Vanasco faced the minimum in the eighth, thanks to an inning-ending double play, and went 1-2-3 in the ninth.
Cruz: 2-3, BB
Stevenson: 2-4, 2B (7), R, RBI, K
Perez: 0-3, SF, RBI, K
Edwards Jr. (L, 4-10): 6.0 IP, 5 R, 1 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 8 K, HR
Coming Up Next: It’s a noon ET start on Sunday. Omaha leads the series, 4-1.
Erie SeaWolves 10, Altoona Curve 6 (box)
It was a big home run day for Erie, with the SeaWolves sending the ball into the stands six times. Izaac Pacheco and E.J. Exposito each hit multiple long balls, going back-to-back in the first and fifth innings. Pacheco hit a third homer in the seventh for good measure.
The other home run came from Thayron Liranzo, also in the first. It was a two-run shot and his second in as many games. Roll the tape!
Pacheco and Exposito were next, and neither were wallscrapers.
Max Alba had plenty of run support to work with after the first, but he gave up four runs over his 5.1 innings of work. A solo homer in the first got Altoona on the board, and a sac fly in the fourth made it 4-2. Alba gave up six hits and two walks overall, so it wasn’t a runaway win by any means.
Pacheco and Exposito did it again in the fifth, this time with a little less power, but both went to center field. Exposito leads the team with 20 homers, but Pacheco is closing in after this explosive night.
Alba left the game in the sixth with one out and two on. Tyler Owens took over and immediately gave up a two-run, ground-rule double, with both runs going on Alba’s line. Owens wasn’t particularly sharp, walking a batter and giving up an RBI single later in the inning, keeping it a two-run game.
Josue Briceno created some separation in the bottom of the sixth with a sac fly, but Wandisson Charles gave that run right back to Altoona in the seventh.
Pacheco’s third home run of the night and 15th of the year came in the seventh. It served as the final blow of the game, but a six-homer night ending with a four-run differential feels a bit off. A win’s a win, though.
Charles went 1-2-3 in the eighth and Trevin Micahel closed things out with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Pacheco: 3-4, 3 HR (15), 3 R, 5 RBI
Liranzo: 1-3, HR (12), R, 2 RBI, BB, K
Exposito: 2-4, 2 HR (20), 2 R, 2 RBI
Briceno: 0-3, SF, R, RBI, BB
Alba (W, 2-4): 5.1 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 K, HR
Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:35 p.m. ET start on Sunday. Erie leads the series, 3-2.
West Michigan Whitecaps 14, Fort Wayne TinCaps 6 (box)
Back-to-back days with 14 runs for West Michigan. Not too shabby. All of those runs came in the first four innings, with 10 coming in the third alone. You’d think this was another home run barrage, but the Whitecaps had zero homers and just two extra-base hits. Singles and walks, baby. That’s baseball at its purest.
Singles from Woody Hadeen and Roberto Campos got things going in the first. Fort Wayne starter Bryan Balzer tried to give West Michigan more runs in the opening frame, but the Whitecaps stranded the bases loaded.
Hadeen doubled in the second, moving Juan Hernandez to third. Bryce Rainer scored him on a sac fly right after.
Brady Smith’s first start in the Tigers farm went well, but a two-run homer in the second made it a tie ball game. Those were the only two runs he allowed, though. He gave up two hits and three walks while striking out four over five innings.
Then, the big inning came. Balzer gave up a leadoff single to Clayton Campbell and hit Luke Shliger. He loaded the bases with a walk to Jackson Strong, and another walk to Andrew Sojka gave West Michigan the lead back.
The TinCaps changed pitchers, but it didn’t help. Javie Chacon hit Cristian Santana for another free run, and then Hernandez and Hadeen hit back-to-back RBI singles. All of a sudden it was 7-2, in favor of the Whitecaps.
Another single from Roberto Campos gave West Michigan its eighth run, and Campbell walked for the second time in the inning. Shliger hit a sac fly, and Strong reached on an error. Chacon hit Sojka, and Santana singled in Strong to cap off the 10-run frame.
Campell hit a sac fly in the fourth, and a wild pitch put West Michigan ahead by a dozen. Smith cruised and turned it over to the bullpen in the sixth.
Logan Berrier gave up three runs over his two innings of work, but that was only enough to cut Fort Wayne’s deficit to single digits. Juanmi Vasquez had trouble getting the third out in the eighth, so Jalen Evans had to come in and finish things out. Evans was sharp with three strikeouts.
Hadeen: 4-6, 2B (14), 3 R, RBI, BB, K
Rainer: 1-5, 2B (19), R, RBI, 3 K
Campos: 3-6, R, 2 RBI, 2 K
Smith (W, 1-1): 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K, HR
Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:05 p.m. ET start on Sunday. West Michigan leads the series, 4-1.
CANCELED: Lakeland Flying Tigers vs. Dunedin Blue Jays
Rained out. No makeup.
Coming Up Next: It’s a noon ET start on Sunday. The series is tied, 2-2.
