Toledo Mud Hens 2, St. Paul Saints 1 (box)
After three straight losses to St. Paul, a series loss for Toledo felt all but certain.
Not so fast, my friend.
The Mud Hens put together a three-game streak of their own to split the series, ending with Sunday’s 2-1 walk-off victory. Trei Cruz and Kevin Newman hit back-to-back RBI singles to cap off a ninth-inning rally.
Randy Dobnak was shaky at first, but he finished his five-inning start strong. Both of the base hits Dobnak gave up came in the first two
frames, and two of the three walks Dobnak allowed came in the third. He ended his outing with eight consecutive outs.
There are still sporadic moments where control escapes him entirely, but Dobnak is mostly effective around those spurts. Some more command will lead to a lower pitch count and longer outings.
Toledo’s offense didn’t do much to help Dobnak early on, either. The bottom of the order threatened in the third, with Newman and Gage Workman hitting consecutive singles and no outs. Parker Meadows struck out looking, and Hao-Yu Lee grounded into a 5-3 double play. Sigh.
Justyn-Henry Malloy doubled to open the fourth, and Cruz led off the fifth with a single. Both were left stranded without advancing.
Jordan Balazovic took over for Dobnak in the sixth. He worked around a two-out walk but wasn’t as lucky in the seventh. Jonah Bride broke the 0-0 tie with an RBI single up the middle, scoring Carson McCusker (leadoff single). That’s really the only mistake of the day from Toledo’s staff, though.
Codi Heuer and Tyler Mattison held 1-0 score through the following two frames, setting up the walkoff. Jace Jung and Akil Baddoo scored the deciding runs.
The Mud Hens were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position before those last two hits to win the game. Meadows played center field for the second straight night, and seems bound to return this week, quite possibily for the Mets series starting on Monday night.
Cruz: 2-4, 1 RBI
Jung: 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Newman: 2-4, 1 RBI
Dobnak: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K; 97 pitches (59 strikes)
Erie SeaWolves 4, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 2 (box)
Erie completed the 6-game series sweep with a 4-2 win over New Hampshire on Sunday.
Unlike the Mud Hens, the SeaWolves scored first, plating a pair of runs on a Kevin McGonigle 2-run home run. John Peck reached on a single in the at-bat before. The Fisher Cats got a run back in the bottom half of the inning after making the most of a one-out walk.
Je’Von Ward blooped one behind second base, but McGonigle lost it in the sun. The ball trickled off his back, and the runner scored before Ward was caught looking to stretch out a double. It wasn’t the ideal way to start for Jaden Hamm, but he worked through the fourth without much issue.
Jackson Hornrung caught him for a game-tying solo shot in the third, but this was still Hamm’s best outing since returning from the injury list.
Erie didn’t reach base again until Roberto Campos doubled in the top of the fifth with two outs. Danny Seretti couldn’t get Campos across, but the SeaWolves didn’t waste their next shot in the sixth.
Max Clark was robbed of extra bases (maybe a homer) to open the inning.
McGonigle outlasted an eight-pitch at-bat for a two-out walk. Josue Briceno broke the 2-2 tie with a bloop double.
Justice Bigbie hit a legit double to extend the lead.
Austin Bergner relieved Hamm in the fifth and carried Erie for the rest of the game. He dealt with five baserunners (three hits, two walks), but everyone else was swinging and missing. Five of his eight strikeouts came in a row, but Bergner couldn’t make it through the eighth.
Trevin Michael got the four-out save despite loading the bases in the ninth.
McGonigle: 1-3, HR (9), 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Clark: 0-4
Briceno: 1-4, 2B (5), 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K
Hamm: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K; 58 pitches (34 strikes)
West Michigan Whitecaps 7, Great Lakes Loons 2 (box)
West Michigan defeated Great Lakes, 7-2, on Sunday to split the series, also securing the Midwest League Eastern Division Championship for a second time this season — Clark, McGonigle and Briceno led the first half charge.
It’s the fourth time the Whitecaps have won the division in both halves of the season and the first time since 2017. Congratulations to manager Tony Cappucilli and everyone at the Whitecaps. They are 87-38, barely missing a step since the top prospects moved up in mid-July. They have six games left with a good chance to top 90 wins.
Lael Lockhart struck out five over five shutout innings in his third rehab start for West Michigan. He spent two weeks in Lakeland before that, but his next stop should be Toledo. Lockhart hasn’t given up a run over 18 innings this month and now has enough stamina to earn a win.
West Michigan’s offense gave him a seven-run lead before turning things over to Dylan Smith for a scoreless sixth. Patrick Lee brought in Garrett Pennington with a two-out single down the left field line in the second. Izaac Pacheco doubled off the right field wall for two more runs in the fifth.
Andrew Jenkins followed up with an RBI single, bringing the score to 4-0.
Brett Callahan launched a solo homer to kick off a second consecutive three-run inning. Archer Brookman singled in a run, and Jack Penney made it 7-0 with an RBI double.
Duque Hebbert couldn’t keep the shutout going in the seventh. Elijah Hainline hit a two-run home run off him, but that was the last hit of the day for Great Lakes. Moises Rodriguez and Marco Jimenez threw the eighth and ninth, respectively. Jimenez struck out the side to finish things off.
Pacheco: 2-5, 2B (24), 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K
Callahan: 1-5, HR (8), 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K
Lockhart (W, 1-0): 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; 66 pitches (43 strikes)
St. Lucie Mets 3, Lakeland Flying Tigers 1 (box)
Lakeland’s 3-1 loss to St. Lucie on Sunday also lost the Flying Tigers the series, 4-2.
Both teams combined for just 11 hits in the low-scoring affair. Lakeland didn’t get on base until the fourth inning, after St. Lucie went to the bullpen. Jesus Pinto led off with a ground-rule double and Samuel Gil followed up with a walk, but Carson Rucker squashed the rally with a double play.
Oddly enough, the only Flying Tigers run of the game came without a base hit in the inning. Cristian Santana walked and scored on an error in the fifth. That brief 1-0 lead lasted until the bottom of the sixth, when Lakeland also turned to the ‘pen.
Kelvis Salcedo continues to be the most interesting arm in Detroit’s lower minors. The stuff is sexy and he’s young. Proving it against better competition is still needed, but he’s as close as it gets to must-see in Lakeland right now. Salcedo struck out seven over five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and no walks.
Everything fell apart when Jatnk Diaz took over in the sixth, though. A leadoff double and a balk all but tied the game up. The runner tied things up on a sac fly from the very next batter. Diaz gets the blown save, his first of the year, but at least he looked better in the seventh. He’s a work in progress.
A rehabbing Jose Siri busted things open with a two-run double in the eighth. Diaz isn’t at fault here. Ethan Sloan struggled to get out until after the damage was done. Lakeland managed to load the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Pinto grounded out to end the game.
Salcedo: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K; 58 pitches (38 strikes)
