Syracuse Mets 9, Toledo Mud Hens 7 (box)
Toledo and Syracuse traded runs over the first five innings before settling at a 7-7 tie in the fifth. The Mets took the lead for good in the sixth and added an insurance run in the eighth, eventually beating the Mud Hens 9-7.
Joander Suarez didn’t give Syracuse the best start, getting tagged for four runs while struggling to get eight outs. Wenceel Perez led off the game with a single and stole second, coming around on a Jace Jung base knock with two outs. Jung flied it to right there, and it probably
should have been caught, but it found grass somehow.
Suarez gave up another leadoff single in the second, this time to Ben Malgeri. Cal Stevenson hit his first home run of the year on the very next pitch. Perez got doubled up to end the inning after forgetting how many outs there were. He took off on a fly ball and rounded second before turning around.
The third was the worst for Suarez, but he somehow only gave up one run. He walked Jung, gave up a run on an Eduardo Valencia single and walked Malgeri, putting him at 72 pitches. That was the end of the line for him.
Despite all the scoring, Toledo never held the lead for more than a few outs. Jack Little got the start, but he was never going to go deep in this one. He gave up two runs on three singles, but got out of the inning with a pickle between first and second on the last base hit.
Dylan File took over for Little in the second. The Erie SeaWolf came up to help Toledo on its bullpen day and threw the bulk of the game, going 3 2/3 innings. It wasn’t good. File gave up five runs on seven hits and a walk. Syracuse hit his cutter and four-seamer hard all day. We’re talking 11 hard-hit balls and just two whiffs on the day. No strikeouts, and two home runs. Woof.
The first two runs off File came around in the second on a Cristian Pache single with the infield playing in. File got through the third okay, working around a leadoff double. Trei Cruz briefly put File in line for the win with a solo home run in the fourth, but Hayden Senger took him deep on the first pitch in the bottom of the inning.
Max Burt gave the Mud Hens the lead in the top of the fifth with a two-run double off Mike Baumann. Again, File gave up a leadoff home run in the bottom half — this time to Nick Morabito. File tried to finish off the fifth, inducing a pair of flyouts, but back-to-back singles knocked him out of the game. Brennan Haniffee didn’t help File out, giving up an RBI single after taking over.
Toledo never scored again, mustering just one baserunner against Austin Warren and Anderson Severino. Hanifee had more trouble in the sixth. He walked the lead-off man, Pache, and watched him score on a two-out single from Jose Rojas. Hanifee gets the loss and blown save — his third of the year — because of that run.
Tanner Rainey was the lone Mud Hens pitcher not to give up a run. He went 1-2-3 in the seventh, retiring all three batters on contact. That lowered his ERA to a respectable 13.50 on the season… Tyler Mattison gave up a leadoff home run to Jackson Cluff in the eighth, and that’s all she wrote.
Perez: 1-4, R, BB
Valencia: 2-4, RBI, K
Cruz: 1-5, HR (1), R, RBI, 2 K
Stevenson: 2-3, HR (1), R, 2 RBI, BB
Malgeri: 2-3, 2 R, BB, K
Coming Up Next: It’s another 1:05 p.m. ET start at Syracuse. Toledo leads 3-2 in the series.
Richmond Flying Squirrels 13, Erie SeaWolves 6 (box)
If 16 runs in Triple-A felt like a lot, how about 19 in Double-A between the Erie SeaWolves and Richmond Flying Squirrels? Unlike the Toledo game, Erie never got close to taking a lead, and it was pretty ugly from the very beginning.
Everyone’s favorite knuckleballer, Kenny Serwa, couldn’t get out of the first inning in his first start of the year. After retiring the leadoff man, Serwa allowed six straight baserunners to reach. A Dayson Croes triple and Maui Ahuna single scored the first run. Charlie Szykowny walked, and then came a series of balls in play that didn’t leave the infield but ended up not being outs.
Serwa took a comebacker off his back but stayed in the game. He struck out Turner Hill to finally record a second out, but that was it for him at 34 pitches. Sometimes, the knuckleball just doesn’t get outs, and it doomed Erie in this one.
John Stankiewicz was first out of the bullpen. He gave up a two-run double to Jonah Cox. Both runs went on Serwa’s record. He gave up a two-run homer to Szykowny and an RBI double to Zach Morgan in the second. It was another inefficient inning that required a pitching change to get out of. Colin Fields was next out. Fields had a decent day, striking out four, but Scott Bandura tripled and scored on a fielder’s choice to make it 9-0 in the third.
We haven’t mentioned the Erie offense yet because it took until the bottom of the third for the SeaWolves to get a hit. Fortunately, it was a four-run inning, so there’s some small silver lining to look at. E.J. Exposito led off with a single. Aaron Antonini and Seth Stephenson had back-to-back base knocks to bring Exposito around. Brett Callahan walked, and Andrew Jenkins cleared the bases with a triple.
Fields came back out for the fourth and kept the Flying Squirrels off the board for the first time in the game. Yosber Sanchez couldn’t keep that going in the fifth. He gave up a pair of singles around a fielding error to give up an unearned run, and then balked in another. Meanwhile, Erie’s offense disappeared in the fourth and fifth.
Jenkins sparked a rally in the sixth with a leadoff single. He moved to second on a throwing error and tagged up to reach third on an Izaac Pacheco flyout. Peyton Graham singled in Jenkins, and Meyers knocked reliever Jack Choate out of the game. Manuel Mercedes took over for Richmond. He threw a wild pitch to advance the runners and traded a run for a groundout. That was the last time the SeaWolves scored, though.
Wandisson Charles was the only Erie arm not to allow a run. He got the final out of the sixth and worked around a two-out double in the seventh. The SeaWolves waved the white flag in the eighth, throwing Justice Bigbie. It’s too bad we don’t have Statcast data for that. Bigbie gave up a run in each of the two innings he pitched. Still better than Serwa!
Jenkins: 3-5, 3B (1), R, 3 RBI, K
Stephenson: 2-5, R, RBI, 2 K
Callahan: 2-4, R, BB, K
Serwa (L, 0-1): 0.2 IP, 5 R, 5 ER, BB, K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:35 p.m. ET start in Erie. The series is tied up, 1-1.
Lake County Captains 6, West Michigan Whitecaps 3 (box)
West Michigan’s offense didn’t get going until the eighth inning, and the Whitecaps only scored half the runs Lake County did in a 6-3 loss.
Stephen Hrustich was the only Whitecap to reach the first time through against Braylon Doughty. Hrustich singled and stole second in the second, but that’s all West Michigan could do against the Lake County starter. It looked like they’d get to Rafe Schlesinger in the fourth after a leadoff double from Samuel Gil and a Ricardo Hurtado single, but both men ended up stranded.
Clayton Campbell singled in the fifth, and Hunter Dobbins singled in the seventh, but neither scored. Schlesinger struck out five over four innings and earned the win. West Michigan did hit off Kendeglys Virguez in the eighth, though. Jackson Strong led off with a double, Gil walked and Hrustich homered.
Lake County made another pitching change after that, and the Whitecaps never got another hit. Cam Walty and Donovan Zsak struck out four of the next five batters to close out the win, earning a hold and save, respectively.
West Michigan’s pitching wasn’t horrible. Rayner Castillo allowed three runs on four hits and two walks over four innings. All three runs came on homers: a two-run shot from Aaron Walton in the second and a solo homer from Esteban Gonzalez in the fourth. Castillo struck out five, but he gave up four extra-base hits, too. A bit of a mixed bag for him in his season debut.
Jalen Evans struggled in relief of Castillo. He gave up a leadoff double in the fifth and saw the runner score after a sloppy play at first and a Walton single. Evans spiked one in the dirt for a wild pitch and another run. CJ Weins had to finish the inning for him. He gave West Michigan 1 1/3 innings of hitless ball, walking just one batter.
Ethan Sloan gave up a solo homer to Bennett Thompson in the seventh, making it 6-0 at that point. Sloan bounced back to strike out the next two batters he faced. Hunter Dobbins got the eighth. He started the game at designated hitter. Dobbins didn’t pitch in college, but he didn’t look bad here. The velocity isn’t anything to write home about, but he was effective, retiring three of the four batters he faced.
Hrustich: 2-3, HR (1), R, 3 RBI, BB
Strong: 1-4, 2B (1), R, 2 K
Gil: 1-3, 2B (1), R, BB, K
Castillo (L, 0-1): 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR
Coming Up Next: No Sunday game for West Michigan. West Michigan won the series, 2-1. The Whitecaps are back in action at 6:35 p.m. ET on Tuesday at home against the Great Lakes Loons.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 13, Tampa Tarpons 4 (box)
The Lakeland Flying Tigers was the only Tigers affiliate to win on Saturday, beating the Tampa Tarpons, 13-4.
Lakeland’s offense was strong all night, but let’s not bury the lede here. Malachi Witherspoon, Detroit’s second-round pick last year, made his debut and looked pretty good. Witherspoon went four innings for the Flying Tigers. He gave up one run on three hits while striking out four batters and not allowing a walk.
He was mostly sinker and cutter, mixing in a handful of sliders and using his four-seam and curveball against left-handers. Statcast can struggle to differentiate between slider and cutter, and the sinker and four-seamer can also be misconstrued. Take that however you want, but we’ll go with what they call it for now.
The cutter was his best pitch, coming in around 87 mph and drawing five whiffs on nine swings. He got three whiffs and five called strikes on the 96-mph sinker. Batters chased the sinker 64% of the time.
The offense gave Witherspoon a lead before he took the mound. Bryce Rainer fouled one off his foot and got checked on by the trainer before lining his first hit of the year into right-center.
Maybe it ends up a double if he doesn’t hit himself. Hao-Yu Lee followed up with another single, and Carson Rucker doubled down the left-field line to bring in both men. Tampa walked in a run in the second.
Witherspoon faced the minimum through his first three innings. Sergio Tapia threw out Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek trying to steal after reaching on an error to leadoff the second. Witherspoon struck out four batters the first time through the order. Enmanuel got to him for a leadoff double in the fourth, and Brando Mayea followed up with a single. Witherspoon botched a pickoff attempt to allow the run, but he retired the next two batters. Jesus Pinto threw out Mayea at home to end Witherspoon’s outing.
The Flygers couldn’t score in the third, but they added two runs in the fourth on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly from Lee. Back-to-back walks in the fifth didn’t turn into anything. Jude Warwick got caught stealing, and Beau Ankeney was stranded on second. A passed ball made it 6-1 in the sixth, and two more came in on a throwing error in the seventh.
Tyler Owens took over for Witherspoon in the fifth. He’s on a rehab assignment and looked good, sitting the Tarpons down in order. Jatnk Diaz went 1-2-3 in the sixth, but he struggled in the seventh. After recording a pair of quick outs, Diaz gave up four straight singles, which resulted in two runs.
Rainer was pinch hit for in the eighth. Hopefully, that’s just a rest thing while up a good amount and not an injury. Javier Osorio legged out an infield single, stole second, stole third and scored on a thrown away ball by the catcher. Rucker scored for a second time on a Zach MacDonald groundout, making it 10-3.
Inohan Paniagua pitched the eighth for Lakeland. He struck out the first two batters he faced, but then allowed four straight baserunners. Maxwell singled in Engelth Urena to make it 10-4.
Tampa threw a couple of position players in the ninth. Lakeland bullied them for three more runs. Osorio doubled in a run, and Rucker doubled in a pair. That’s just mean…
Yendy Gomez closed it out for the Flying Tigers, working around a pair of walks in the ninth.
Rainer: 1-3, R, 2 BB, K
Lee: 1-1, R, 2 RBI, BB, SF
Rucker: 2-4, 2 2B (3), 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB, K
Osorio: 2-3, 2B (1), 2 R, RBI, K, 2 SB
Witherspoon: 4.0 IP, 3 H, R, ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: Lakeland goes for the sweep in Tampa at noon ET on Sunday.
