Lehigh Valley IronPigs 10, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (box)
Jose Urquidy was good in his rehab outing, but otherwise the Hens staff was lit up the rest of the night while the offense didn’t do a whole lot at the plate.
Urquidy tossed three scoreless frames to start this one off. He was in pretty good command of his fourseamer, curveball, and changeup, allowing just two hits and no walks. He struck out three for the outing. Alex Cobb handled the fourth inning and it was a weird one. Cobb gave up a walk and a single before a bunt attempt allowed them to get
the lead runner. Brian Serven then picked off the lead runner at second. Cobb issued two more walks before getting out of the inning unscathed.
In the meantime, the Hens took advantage of some wildness from IronPigs pitching. In the top of the fourth, Jace Jung singled to right field and Eduardo Valencia drew a walk. Max Anderson singled in Jung and a wild pitch got Valenica to third. A Trei Cruz sac fly made it 2-0 Hens.
In the fifth, Serven led off with a walk and IronPigs starter Mitch Neunborn wild pitched him to second. Parker Meadows lined a single to center field and a Hao-Yu Lee sacrifice fly scored Serven to make it 3-0.
The fun ended there, as Matt Seelinger was knocked around for four runs. Alex Lange gave up two more, and just as hard-throwing Tanner Rainey looked like he might be Detroit bound, he melted down for four runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
The Hens bats went very quiet after some long innings in the field, and the IronPigs pulled away to win easily.
Meadows did play center field for the third straight game, and is seemingly healthy enough to return during the Tigers homestand.
Meadows: 1-3, BB, 2 K
Lee: 1-3, RBI
Anderson: 1-3, RBI, BB, K
Urquidy: 3.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K
Portland Sea Dogs 8, Erie SeaWolves 1 (box)
Nothing went right for the SeaWolves in this season opener in Maine. Andrew Sears was rocked and the lineup was dominanted by Sea Dogs pitching on Tuesday night.
Max Clark started the game by drawing a walk and was then picked off by pitcher Dalton Rogers. Portland pitching wasn’t drawing whiffs, but they kept the SeaWolves on the ground and nothing was dropping for them. They drew 8 walks, but it was a masterclass in effectively wild pitching from Rogers and the Sea Dogs bullpen.
Meanwhile, Andrew Sears aggression in the zone bit him a little bit. The lefty gave up a two-run shot to Ronald Rosario in the bottom of the first on a pitch that wasn’t even poorly located. Sears didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven, but a couple of hits and a John Peck error at third led to a three-run third for the Sea Dogs.
Max Clark, Thayron Liranzo, and Kevin McGongle all went hitless, though Clark walked three times. A Roberto Campos double in the top of the ninth was the SeaWolves only really hard hit ball on the night that dropped.
Carlos Mendoza was back in the lineup after recovering from taking a baseball to the face. He flicked a fly ball that was misplayed in left field, and Campos scored the only SeaWolves run.
Travis Kuhn and Blair Calvo pitched in relief of Sears and they leaked three more runs between them.
Briceno: 1-3, BB
Campos: 1-3, R, 2B, BB, 2 K
Clark: 0-1, 3 BB
Sears (L, 1-2): 4.0 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 7 K
West Michigan Whitecaps 8, Fort Wayne TinCaps 5 (box)
Whatever the roster, whatever the situation, the West Michigan Whitecaps continue to brutalize their Midwest League competition. They smacked three homers in this one, pounding out eighth extra base hits total to run their record to 89-38.
Rayner Castillo got the start and after two quick strikeouts, had to dig himself out of a bases loaded situation in the top of the first. He racked up his third punchout of the inning, and his teammates responded with some run support in the home half.
Woody Hadeen led off with a double and Izaac Pacheco walked with one out. A pop out from Andrew Jenkins followed, but Austin Murr stepped in and cranked a three-run shot for a nice early lead.
Castillo got himself into another jam in the top of the second, and this time he couldn’t escape, giving up a two-run double. Jackson Strong got a run back with his third homer since joining the Whitecaps to lead off the bottom of the second. Castillo surrendered a solo shot in the top of the third, but then settled in to record his last eight outs and get through the fifth without much further difficulty.
Jack Penney led off the bottom of the third with a double and scored later on a Murr double to open up a 5-3 lead. Penney led off the fifth and rode home on Pacheco’s 17th home run for a 7-3 lead.
I was pretty cautious about Pacheco’s modest first half breakout, but he now has 11 homers since the break in mid-July and things are getting much more interesting for the 22-year-old. He’s still striking out a ton but he is finally doing big time damage as well.
This one was destroyed almost into the park lot beyond the right center field wall.
In the sixth, Patrick Lee singled and stole second. Hadeen walked and the duo pulled off a double steal. As it happened, the TinCaps walked in a run before getting out of the inning and it was 8-3.
Woo-Suk Go and Carlos Lequerica each allowed a run late in relief.
Pacheco: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, 2 BB
Murr: 2-4, R, 4 RBI, 2B, HR
Callahan: 2-4, 2 2B
Castillo (W, 5-6): 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 K
Lakeland Flying Tigers 6, Jupiter Hammerhead 5 (F/13)(box)
This was just a ghastly night at the plate for the Flying Tigers. They didn’t get a hit until the bottom of the ninth inning. The Hammerheads didn’t do a whole lot better though they struck out a lot less. However, when it mattered most, the Flying Tigers came to life and outlasted the Hammerheads through four extra innings to quite literally walk this one off.
Cale Wetwiska gave up a run in the first and three two very shaky innings in his third pro outing. The stuff is impressive, but he’s got a lot of work ahead to harness it.
Eliseo Mota struck out two in a perfect third inning, and then Eric Silva took over. You may remember Silva as the Tigers’ acquired him as a relief prospect from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for Mark Canha last year. He’s been banged up like the majority of the Tigers pitching prospects, but the Tigers have converted him back to starting. In this, his seventh appearance since missing most of April and all of May and June, Silva tossed six scoreless innings. It wasn’t all that impressive as he scattered four hits and a walk with only one strikeout. His fastball touched 95 mph but he didn’t have much feel for his cutter and slider. The whiffs were pretty scarce. Still this was a lost season for Silva and he’s going to need work to get back to full strength. He’s a good candidate for the Arizona Fall League.
Finally in the bottom of the ninth in a 1-0 game, the Flying Tigers finally got on the board. Stephen Hrustich came up with a one-out infield single to third for their first hit of the game. He was erased on a Jesus Pinto grounder, but Nick Dumesnil lined a double to center field to move Pinto to third. Carson Rucker singled him in and we had a tie game.
With the spell broken, the 10th inning featured two runs from either side. Ronny Chalas gave up two in the top half, but in the bottom half Junior Tilien opened things up with a triple to score Ricardo Hurtado from second. A Samuel Gil grounder evaded the Hammerheads first and second basemen somehow and plated Tilien to tie the game at 3-3.
Lefty Ignacio Briceno took over for Lakeland in the 11th, and he did nice work to stifle the Hammerheads for two innings without the inherited runner on second scoring. Unfortunately the Flying Tigers couldn’t get their runner in either.
Finally in the top of the 13th, the Hammerheads broke through for two runs and a 5-3 lead.
Jude Warwick struck out to open the bottom half against a hard-throwing relief prospect in Samuel Carpio, but Cristian Santana reached on another infield single to third to keep hope alive. Hrustich then walked to load the bases with Pinto and Dumesnil coming up. Pinto took a tough called strike three on a high changeup, and so it was up to Dumesnil. He worked a 3-1 count and with that patient at-bat drew a walk to make it a 5-4 game. Now it was Carson Rucker’s turn, and Carpio was losing the plot after two stressful innings of work. He fell behind Rucker and walked him on four pitches to tie the game. Unreal. Would this game ever end?
Save us, Ricardo Hurtado. Instead Carpio saved us by walking him too. What a crazy, classically Low-A baseball game. The Flying Tigers just hung in there late and did more right from the ninth inning on.
Hrustich: 2-2, R, BB
Dumesnil: 1-4, RBI, 2B, 2 BB, K
Tilien: 1-5, R, RBI, 3B, 2 K
Silva: 6.0 IP, 0 R, 4 H, BB, K
Briceno (W, 4-5): 3.0 IP, 2 R, ER, H, 0 BB, 2 K
