Toledo Mud Hens 12, St. Paul Saints 4 (box)
The Hens scored early and didn’t stop all night as they beat down the Twins’ affiliate on Tuesday.
They got going right out of the gate. Max Clark drew a leadoff walk in the first, Hao-Yu Lee, who has impressively taken the demotion and gone down and mashed for Toledo, singled, and Gage Workman blasted a three-run homer. Easy game.
Lefty Lael Lockhart Jr. got the start, and he was reasonably
solid, leaking single runs in the third and fourth innings.
In the bottom of the fourth with a 3-2 lead, Ben Malgeri got the Hens going again with a leadoff double. Max Anderson singled in the run, then scored on an Eduardo Valencia double. Jace Jung lined out, but Corey Julks pulled a drive to left center field for a two-run homer. 7-2 Hens.
In the sixth, Trei Cruz smoked a 107 mph drive for a double, and Jung singled him in to make it 8-2. Nick Sandlin gave up a two-run homer in the seventh, but the Hens came back for four more in the bottom half. Anderson walked, Cruz and Valencia singled, and Jace Jung launched a grand slam the opposite way to really blow this one open.
Workman: 2-5, R, 3 RBI, HR, 2 K
Jung: 2-4, R, 5 RBI, HR, K
Malgeri: 3-5, R, 2B
Lockhart: 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:05 p.m. ET start on Wednesday, with Justin Verlander making his second rehab start for the Mud Hens.
Erie SeaWolves 10, Akron RubberDucks 2 (box)
Kenny Serwa threw a good game, and Brett Callahan and Izaac Pacheco continued their reign of terror with the long ball in a convincing victory at UPMC Park on Tuesday.
Seth Stephenson started the SeaWolves off right with a leadoff bunt single in the bottom of the first, and an errant throw on the play let him reach second. John Peck drew a walk from Ducks’ starter Josh Hartle, and an error on a Callahan ground ball allowed Stephenson to score. A wild pitch then scored Peck as well, and Thayron Liranzo drew a walk. An Andrew Jenkins scored Callahan to make it 3-0 SeaWolves after one.
In the bottom of the second, Stephenson led off again with a single. Peck flew out, but Callahan smoked a ball to deep center for a double. Justice Bigbie doubled in both runners to make it 5-0.
Serwa allowed a run in the third, and one in the sixth, but two runs over six innings of work will do everytime.
E.J. Exposito hit a solo shot in the third. In the fifth, Jenkins led off with a walk and Pacheco drilled a hot grounder for a single. Bennett Lee, back in Erie after a brief detour to West Michigan to catch Tarik Skubal over the weekend, drew a walk to load the bases. They only got one run, as Stephenson grounded out and Peck flew out to center.
Pacheco blasted his 10th homer to leadoff the bottom of the seventh.
In the eighth, Peck singled, and Callahan launched his 10th long ball to right to make it a 10-2 game. That’s three homers in fourth games for the outfielder, and his OPS is now pushing .900. Pacheco has six homers in his last seven games, and while he continues to strike out too much to get real excited about him, he is giving some signs of a breakout at 23 years old.
Callahan: 2-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR, BB
Pacheco: 2-4, R, RBI, HR, K
Stephenson: 2-5, 2 R, RBI, K
Serwa (W, 2-6): 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Wednesday.
Lake County Captains 4, West Michigan Whitecaps 2 (box)
Andrew Sears gave the Whitecaps a pretty good outing and looks ready to head back home to Erie, while the bats just stranded too many runners in this one.
Sears allowed a run in the second, but he also struck out six over three innings of work.
Luke Shliger tied the game in the third with a leadoff solo shot. In the fifth, Junior Tilien singled with two outs, and Woody Hadeen doubled him in to make it 2-1.
Beyond that the ‘Caps just couldn’t cash in their chances. Because of Sears rehab start, Hayden Minton, who struck out 10 in his last start, didn’t enter this one on his normal start day until the fifth. He started off strong, but got a little wild, allowing a run in the seventh and a two-run shot in the eighth, and the ‘Caps couldn’t answer back. They are tracking to get healthier with Nolan McCarthy, Stephen Hrustich, and now Patrick Lee all rehabbing in the FCL.
Shliger: 1-3, R, RBI, HR, BB, K
Rainer: 1-3, 2B, BB, K
Tilien: 3-4, R
Sears: 3.0 IP, ER, 5 H, BB, 6 K
Minton (L, 2-4): 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s an 11:05 a.m. ET start on Wednesday.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, Clearwater Threshers 5 (box)
Casey Mize’s rehab start went off without a hitch. Assuming he recovers normally with no more issues with the adductor strain, he may be ready to go. The bullpen leaked a few runs, but the offense finally showed up in a big way in the seventh and eighth innings for a come from behind victory.
Mize threw 36 of 55 pitches for strikes over five innings of work. He allowed a solo home run to Nathan Humphreys and wasn’t that sharp, but this is mostly about handling and recovering from the workload. He struck out five and walked one on the outing.
Lefty Grayson Grinsell’s start was pushed back to accomodate Mize, and it went poorly for him when he took over in the sixth. He allowed four runs over three innings of work.
Meanwhile, the Flying Tigers wasn’t doing much, squandering a few chances and hitting a few hard-hit at’em balls. Finally in the seventh they broke through when Nick Dumesnil led off with a walk, and Jesus Pinto singled to right field. The duo pulled off a double steal, and Carson Rucker got them on the board with a sacrifice fly. That made it 2-1 Clearwater, before Grinsell gave up two more in the bottom half.
In the eighth, the Flying Tigers took over. Jude Warwick led off with a single, and Jordan Yost lined a double to center field. Beau Ankeney singled in Warwick, and Edian Espinal remained hot, singling in Yost. Two batters later, Carson Rucker mashed a three-run shot to left that made it 6-4 Lakeland.
An automatic double from Zach MacDonald followed, and Hunter Dobbins doubled him in to make it 7-4.
Grinsell allowed a run in the eighth, but Jose Guzman spun a 1-2-3 ninth inning, punching out Humphreys to earn his second save.
Espinal: 2-5, R, RBI, K
Rucker: 1-2, R, 4 RBI, HR, BB, K
MacDonald: 1-3, R, 2B, BB, 2 K
Mize: 5.0 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 5 K
Grinsell (W, 4-2): 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start on Wednesday. There was one unfortunate bit of new over the weekend, as Kelvis Salcedo returned to the injured list. The right-hander is one of the Tigers top arms on the farm, but his last outing saw his velocity dip before he was pulled from the game. Probably not a good sign.
FCL Tigers 7, FCL Blue Jays 4 (box)
Jhonan Coba was a little wild for the first time this season, but the bats were hot as a rehabbing Nolan McCarthy and Maikol Orozco both went yard in this one. Cris Rodriguez chipped in with a pair of hits, while Steven Madero and a rehabbing Patrick Lee each doubled.
Johnathan Rogers, a 2023 prep pick of the Tigers who left the org last year only to recently re-sign with the club, gave up a run in 1.2 IP, walking two and striking out two. The one downer was that shortstop prospect Angel de los Santos was hit in the head by a pitch and had to leave the game. Hopefully that was just precautionary.
Rodriguez: 2-5, R, K
Orozco: 2-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR
Coba: 2.0 IP, ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 K
