Toledo Mud Hens 7, Columbus Clippers 5 (box)
After splitting the first six games against the Columbus Clippers, the Toledo Mud Hens claimed the series with a 7-5 victory on Sunday.
The Mud Hens came out swinging early. Hao-Yu Lee led off the home half of the first with a walk, and Trei Cruz chopped one to the left side to beat the shift. Justyn-Henry Malloy snuck one through the left side, putting Toledo on the board before recording the first out. Ryan Kreidler barreled one to the warning track in center, bringing two runners in (Jace Jung
replaced Malloy on a fielder’s choice).
Lee and Cruz got it done again in the second. Lee singled with two outs, and Cruz went deep to right field. Cruz is not going to be an everyday starter in the MLB, but I view him as that key role guy every Tigers team of the Jim Leyland had. A glue guy, if you will. Think Donny Kelly and Ramon Santiago vibes. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, his OPS is just under .900 and there’s that positional versatility that the Tigers like so much.
Max Anderson and Jung went a combined 0-for-8 in this one, with the former strking out three times. That’s not great for two middle-of-the-order bats, but bad games happen.
Randy Dobnak was so-so in this one. The command comes and goes, more often going when a talented hitter is at the plate, and the contact is hard — six of 12 balls in play over 95 mph; only three below 90 mph. Still, he went five innings and only gave up a run on three hits, so what am I complaining about? He also ended his outing with seven straight outs after the run scored on a sacrifice fly.
Lee scored a third run in the fourth inning, walking with two outs. He stole second and advanced to third on a ball in the dirt. The catcher made a bad throw to third, and Lee jogged into home.
Gage Workman and Andrew Navigato added one more insurance run for Toledo in the sixth. Workman led off with a triple, and Navigato’s sac fly brought him in.
Tyler Mattison took over for Dobnak in the sixth. He only saw three batters, coming out after two outs and a four-pitch walk. Drew Sommers took over to face Kahlil Watson and the lefties behind him. Mattison wasn’t happy, but it’s a good strategic call. Sommers retired all four batters he face, striking out the lat two in the seventh.
RJ Petit and Tanner Rainey had trouble in the eighth and ninth, respectively. Both men gave up a pair of runs, Petit on a homer and Rainey on a Travis Bazzanna single. You’d like to see better performances to close out a series win, but it’s Sunday and bullpens run thin. A win is a win.
Lee: 1-2, 3 R, 2 BB
Cruz: 2-4, HR (4), 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB
Jung: 0-4, 1 R, 1 K
Anderson: 0-4, 3 K
Dobnak (W, 2-7): 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; 80 pitches (44 strikes)
Chesapeake Baysox 6, Erie SeaWolves 1 (box)
Chesapeake’s pitching staff kept Erie’s bats silent in a 6-1 SeaWolves loss, ending the series in a tie.
Max Clark didn’t play, but the other top prospects were at the top of the lineup. Kevin McGonigle led off, followed by Thayron Liranzo and Josue Briceno. Only McGonigle reached base on an error in the sixth and a walk in the ninth. Liranzo grounded into a double play and Briceno struck out to end the game.
Chesapeake starter Michael Forret was perfect through four innings until led off the fifth with a single. Ben Malgeri had the only Mud Hens hit of the day, a one-out double through the left side in the sixth. Malgeri scored on the same error that McGonigle reached first on.
Erie only had one walk and nine strikeouts at the plate. A little more patience is warranted when you’re not hitting the ball, but there were some nice swings. Enrique Bradfield Jr. is a plus defender in center, and he robbed a few hits today.
Austin Bergner started off the game by striking out Bradfield, but Austin Overn took him deep in the next at-bat. Aron Estrada followed up with his own solo shot two batters later. Both balls were crushed to right field.
Bergner worked around a pair of walks and an error in the second and third innings, finishing the day with more free passes (3) than strikeouts (2). Tanner Kohlepp took over in the fourth and went 1-2-3 with two strikeouts. Overn got to him for another solo bomb in the fifth, making 3-0, Chesapeake.
Yosber Sanchez was next out of the bullpen. He got behind in the count against every batter he faced, walking and hitting a batter before giving up a pair of runs on a Bradfield double. Trevin Micahel went 1-2-3 in the seventh, and Richard Guasch gave up a run in the eighth. Who else but Overn got the RBI, his third of the day.
McGonigle: 0-3, 1 BB
Liranzo: 0-4, 1 K
Briceno: 0-4, 2 K
Bergner (L, 6-7): 3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 K; 79 pitches (44 strikes)
West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Fort Wayne Tin Caps 0 (box)
West Michigan flipped the script from what happened to Erie. The Whitecaps limited the Fort Wayne Tin Caps to two hits, winning the game 5-0 and the series four games to three.
Preston Howey gave four no-hit innings in his start. The leadoff man almost took him deep, but it was smooth sailing after that. Howey mishandled a tapper back to the mound to extend the third, but he made up for it with one of four strikeouts on the day. It would have been nice to see if Howey could stretch it to five, but it’s still a career day.
Dariel Fregio picked up the win as the primary relief man. He gave up the first Tin Caps hit of the day in the sixth, but Fregio handled the other six batters with relative ease. Haden Erbe put together a 1-2-3 inning after that, and Marco Jimenez faced the minimum in the eighth.
Jimenez gave up the other base knock, but a nice relay got the runner attempting to stretch out a double. He worked around a walk in the ninth to close out the win.
West Michigan scattered 11 hits around the field throughout the day, but it was Izaac Pacheco’s two homers that propelled the Whitecaps to a victory.
Peyton Graham drove in the first run and had a 4-hit day, so he deserves credit too, but Pacheco’s been on a tear this week with five home runs and two multi-homer games. He hit a three-run shot in the third, two at-bats after Graham’s RBI, and hit a solo shot in the seventh. It’s a bit early, but it’s time to start thinking about moving him up.
Graham: 4-5, 1 R, 1 RBI
Pacheco: 2-5, 2 HR (13), 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 K
Howey: 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; 47 pitches (33 strikes)
Clearwater Threshers 4, Lakeland Flying Tigers 2 (box)
Lakeland is the only Detroit minor league affiliate to lose its series this week, falling 4-2 against the Clearwater Threshers on Sunday.
The Flying Tigers outhit their opponents, but a 1-for-22 day with runners in scoring position is beyond bad. It’s disastrous. Jack Goodman sat out after taking one in the head earlier in the series.
Ricardo Hurtado and Carson Rucker carried the offense with two and three hits apiece; however, only Rucker’s RBI single in the ninth inning came with a runner on second or third. Still, that put Lakeland in a position to force extra innings with Cristian Santana, the tying run, at the plate. Both he and Jude Warwick struck out to end the game. Sigh.
The pitching was relatively good, though. Gabriel Reyes got through six innings for the first time since June 29 and the second time all year. He had good location on the fastball and whiff rates above 33% on all three of his secondaries.
Reyes walked just one while striking out nine. Clearwater finally got to him in the sixth with a leadoff triple and two-out single, but it’s still a career day. This is what I wanted to see Howey give a go, but whatever.
Andrew Pogue worked around two walks in the seventh, and Ehan Sloan gave up a pair of homers in the eighth. The first home run was a solo shot, but the second decided the game with two runners on base. Pedro Garcia got the final out of the inning, and Lakeland didn’t have to pitch the ninth.
Hurtado: 2-5, 1 K
Rucker: 3-3, 2B (14), 1 RBI
Reyes: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K; 88 pitches (54 strikes)
