Toledo Mud Hens 7, Rochester Red Wings 4 (box)
The Mud Hens struggled at the plate early on in this one, but they poured it on against the Red Wings’ bullpen—a weird phrase to type for a Detroit sports fan—and pulled away late to make it two in a row.
Jose Urquidy crept closer to his major league return with a two-inning rehab appearance in this one. He allowed a first inning solo shot to Yohandy Morales, but that was the only hit allowed while he struck out three and walked one.
Matt Seelinger took over for a scoreless third and then allowed a run in the fourth. Drew Sommers took over and cleaned up the inning. Codi Heuer handled the fifth and the sixth, allowing an unearned run in each frame as a couple of errors and then a wild pitch cost him.
The Hens mustered just one minor threat in the fourth inning, but finally in the sixth they broke through against starter Andrew Alvarez. Ryan Kreidler drew a walk with one out and Justyn-Henry Malloy lined a single to left. A Max Anderson drive to center field was caught, but got Kreidler to third, and Trei Cruz walked to load the bases.
Eduardo Valencia unloaded them. The catcher crushed a fastball 411 feet to center field to seize a 4-3 lead.
Rochester tied things back up on Heuer’s wild pitch in the bottom half, but in the eighth the Hens put this one away. Anderson and Cruz singled, and once again Valencia stepped the dish and crushed a home run. This one was to left center field off a changeup at the bottom of the zone in a full count. 7-4 Hens.
Valencia now has six homers in 24 games at the Triple-A level. He got on the radar back in 2022 in his first look at Erie, but an injury plagued 2023 season was followed by a very muted 2024. This year he’s started to drive more balls in the air, and combined with good walk rates and roughly average strikeout rates at both levels, has done a lot of damage.
Defensively he’s still short of the skills required to play the position regularly in the majors. His throwing is still mediocre and while it’s hard to evaluate framing at the Triple-A level, he doesn’t really stand out much for his hands or his blocking. Even so, Valencia may be emerging as an interesting backup catcher/first base option who can bridge the gap to Thayron Liranzo or Josue Briceño over the next year if the need arises. He’s crushing fastballs and holding his own against breaking stuff, so there is some depth to his offensive game. I doubt he ever catches much on an AJ Hinch led team but he could be useful as a reserve.
That second blast from Valencia was all the Hens needed. Jordan Balazovic handled the seventh, and Tanner Rainey spun a pair of scoreless innings to earn his fourth save for the Hens. They’ll look to secure at least a series split on Thursday at 1:05 p.m. ET.
Valencia: 2-3, 2 R, 7 RBI, 2 HR, BB
Malloy: 2-5, R, 2 K
Anderson: 2-5, R, K
Urquidy: 2.0 IP, ER, H, BB, 3 K
Harrisburg Senators 3, Erie SeaWolves 0 (Gm1)(F/7)(box)
Harrisburg Senators 4, Erie SeaWolves 2 (Gm2) (F/7)(box)
The SeaWolves struggled with Harrisburg pitching in both games, dropping both games of a doubleheader on Wednesday.
In Game 1, Nationals lefty Jackson Kent tossed five innings of two-hit ball against the SeaWolves, striking out six.
For the SeaWolves, Jaden Hamm struggled a bit in opposition, allowing three runs over five innings. The Senators got to Hamm for a double and a single in the top of the second inning to score the game’s first run. A wild pitch from Hamm brought in their second run. The right-hander was not sharp at all and just hasn’t been able to build on his excellent 2024 campaign at all this year. He’s still throwing a good amount of strikes, but his command has been spotty, and he’s struggled both with his fastball velocity and with trying to develop his slider and changeup. He didn’t record a strikeout in this one, and a double to lead off the top of the fifth led to his third run allowed on the day.
With Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark both on the bench for this one, the SeaWolves put plenty of balls in play but could only manage three hits and a walk on the day.
Peck: 2-3, K
Hamm (L, 2-5): 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, BB, 0 K
Game 2 was a makeup game from back in mid-July. Max Alba got the start and the Senators pounced on him immediately for a three-run first inning.
The SeaWolves fought back in the top of the second. Jake Holton led off with a double and took third on a Carlos Mendoza ground out. Ben Malgeri doubled him home and eventually scored on an Eliezer Alfonzo single, but again the offense really didn’t get much else going.
Alba settled in for a pair of solid innings, and Tanner Kohlhepp looked good with a pair of strikeouts in the fourth. Ryan Boyer issued a pair of walks in the fifth that led to Harrisburg’s fourth run before settling in to finish the game.
Kevin McGonigle went 0-3 in this one, while Clark did not play. We’re still awaiting some news about the apparent hand or wrist injury the center fielder suffered on Tuesday night.
Malgeri: 1-3, R, RBI, 2B, K
Holton: 1-3, R, 2B
Alba (L, 0-1): 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, BB, 3 K
West Michigan Whitecaps 2, Lansing Lugnuts 1 (box)
Lael Lockhart returned to action with a good outing, and the Whitecaps mustered just enough offense to make it two in a row over the Lugnuts.
The left-hander missed about six weeks in July and early August for an undisclosed injury, and this was his third and longest appearance as he works his way back toward Toledo. Lockhart tossed 3 2/3 scoreless frames with five strikeouts against three hits and two walks. Joe Adametz came on for the final out of the fourth in relief.
The Whitecaps had a chance at an early lead with Peyton Graham reached on an infield single and Andrew Jenkins followed with a single into left field in the bottom of the first. An Izaac Pacheco ground out and a Garrett Pennington strikeout ended that threat. Instead, an Archer Brookman solo shot in the fifth opened the scoring in this one.
Hayden Minton took over from Lockhart as the usual starter, and he tossed five innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts and no walks. The Lugnuts strung together a double and a single in the eighth to tie the game, but Minton shut them down in the top of the ninth, setting up a walkoff victory.
Pacheco led off the bottom of the ninth with a single. An errant pickoff throw got him to third, and Pennington was hit by a pitch. So it was up to Austin Murr, and he lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home Pacheco as the game winner.
First pitch at LMCU Park on Thursday is set for 6:35 p.m. ET.
Brookman: 1-3, R, RBI, HR
Graham: 1-3, BB, K
Pacheco: 1-4, R, K
Minton (W, 6-2): 5.0 IP, ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K
Lockhart: 3.2 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 5 K
Dunedin Blue Jays 7, Lakeland Flying Tigers 5 (Gm1)(F/7)(box)
Dunedin Blue Jays 7, Lakeland Flying Tigers 1 (Gm2)(F/7)(box)
Pitching uncharacteristically let the Flying Tigers down in Wednesday’s double header as they dropped both game to the Blue Jays Single-A affiliate.
Things started off well. Zach MacDonald led off the bottom of the first in Game 1 with a walk and took second on a Samuel Gil ground out. MacDonald stole third with Carson Rucker at the plate, and Rucker walked. Junior Tilien dumped a misplayed pop up into center field for a double of sorts, and MacDonald scored. Cristian Santana was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Jude Warwick doubled in two runs. A Sergio Tapia sacrifice fly brought home Santana from third, and it was 4-0 Lakeland.
Tigers 2025 12th rounder, right-hander Cash Kuiper, made a short appearance to start the game. After a nice first inning, he ran into trouble in the second and was lifted for Ronny Chalas after issuing four straight walks to start the inning. Chalas walked in a run as well, and it was 4-2 Lakeland. Chalas was then rocked for four runs in the third.
Wilmer Flores handled the fourth with a pair of strikeouts and was succeeded by Eliseo Mota. A Gil throwing error cost Mota an unearned run in the sixth to make it 7-4 Dunedin.
Singles from Santana and Warwick led to a run for Lakeland in the bottom of the sixth, but that was all they could manage.
Tilien: 2-3, r, RBI, 2B
Warwick: 2-3, 2 RBI, 2B, K
Santana: 1-2, 2 R, K
Chalas (L, 3-2): 2.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, BB, K
A rough outing for Jatnk Diaz and some squandering by the offense led to another loss in Game 2.
Diaz gave up a run in the first, but settled in pretty well the next two innings. However, in the fourth he lost his release point a bit, issued a pair of walks, and then Yeuni Munoz cracked a three-run shot for a 4-1 lead. Diaz came back out in the fifth and struck out a pair of Blue Jays swinging to end his outing on a high note.
Meanwhile, a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first to Nick Dumesnil went nowhere. A leadoff walk to Samuel Gil in the second was followed by a one-out single by Junior Tilien, but David Smith and Zach MacDonald struck out to strand them. Finally in the third, Dumesnil singled to lead off the bottom half and then stole second and third base. A Ricardo Hurtado singled scored him for the Flying Tigers only run. Gil followed with a double to move Hurtado to third, but again a rally escaped them as Santana popped out to end the inning.
Logan Berrier succeeded Diaz in the sixth, and he was knocked around for three runs as the Blue Jays put this one away for keeps.
The Flying Tigers had a few more opportunities the rest of the way but couldn’t capitalize.
Gil: 2-2, 2B, BB
Dumesnil: 1-3, R, BB, 2 SB
Goodman: 1-4, 3B, K
Diaz (L, 0-2): 5.0 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K
