Iowa Cubs 3, Toledo Mud Hens 1 (box)
Hens pitching was pretty good on Tuesday, but the bats faltered in the 90 degree heat of this cruel, noon start time.
The Mud Hens did get on the board first. Brett Callahan singled with one out in the top of the second inning. He stole second as Trei Cruz struck out, and the throw from Moises Ballesteros was wild to second, and Callahan took third. A bloop single from Jace Jung brought him home as the Hens only run on the day.
Dylan File put together a pretty mediocre outing, giving up three runs
in 4.1 innings of work. He did strike out five against two walks.
Brenan Hanifee, Tyler Mattison, Tanner Rainer, and Nick Sandlin were all effective in relief, but the Hens only managed four hits on the day. Cubs right-hander Will Sanders put together a strong outing against them.
Callahan: 1-4, R, K, SB
File (L, 4-5): 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:05 p.m. ET start at Fifth Third on Wednesday.
Erie SeaWolves 6, Akron RubberDucks 4 (box)
Hayden Minton and Carlos Peña split this start, with each going four innings and allowing two runs. That was plenty as Peyton Graham and the SeaWolves pounded out the hits in this one.
Minton gave up two runs in the first before settling in for three scoreless frames.
In the top of the third, Seth Stephenson and Graham lined back-to-back doubles and Garrett Pennington singled in Graham to make it a 2-2 tie.
In the fourth, E.J. Exposito singled with one out. With two outs, Stephenson singled, and Graham doubled in both runs with his second double on the day. 4-2 SeaWolves.
Exposito added his 12th home run of the season to open the sixth. That made it 5-2, and a nice relay from Stephenson to Graham to third ended the bottom half of the inning, avoiding a jam for Peña.
Chris Meyers is on a multi-week heater and he continued it with a solo shot to center field in the seventh to make it 6-2.
Peña leaked a pair of runs in the eighth, but Trevin Michael locked down the save.
Graham: 3-5, R, 3 RBI, 3 2B
Stephenson: 2-5, 2 R, 2B
Exposito: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, HR, K
Minton: 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Wednesday.
Lake County Captains 20, West Michigan Whitecaps 11 (box)
Neither team’s pitching staff could find the strike zone on a scorching, humid night in West Michigan. Typically under those conditions, home plate umpires call a loose strike zone and force hitters to swing the bats. Not in this one. A tight zone, sweaty hands, and position players pitching by the end of this led to a high scoring game, but it wasn’t entertaining as 24 walks combined were issued in this one.
On a bullpen day, Logan Berrier gave up five runs, and Ryan Harvey and Thomas Bruss each gave up four.
The two clubs started exchanging blows in the third, as the Captains scored five runs. In the bottom half, Patrick Lee was hit by a pitch with one out and Woody Hadeen walked. Bryce Rainer smoked a 114 mph single to center to plate Lee.
Ricardo Hurtado then doubled in Hadeen and Rainer and took third on throwing error on the play. A Jackson Strong sacrfice fly made it a 5-4 game.
Unfortunately, the Captains scored single runs in the fourth and fifth to take a 7-4 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, the ‘Caps came roaring back. Samuel Gil led off with a single, and after Luke Shliger struck out, Patrick Lee singled, and both scored on a Woody Hadeen double. Rainer walked on four pitches, as the strike zone contined to look extremely tight for the home plate umpire. Hurtado singled in Hadeen and Rainer, and it was 8-7 Whitecaps.
That’s where Harvey and Bruss melted down. The Captains scored eight runs in an unending inning of pain in the top of the seventh.
In the bottom half, Lee walked and then scored on another Hadeen double. Beyond that, this game just got stupid as the Whitecaps turned to position players, and the Captains relievers couldn’t throw strikes. The walks and homers piled up on the Captains side.
Hurtado: 3-5, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2B
Rainer: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, BB, 2 K
Hadeen: 2-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB
Lee: 1-2, 3 R, RBI, 2 BB
Zack Lee: 2.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, Palm Beach Cardinals 1 (box)
The Flying Tigers got a little help from a rehabbing slugger, and the pitching staff did a nice job as they returned home with a comfortable victory on Tuesday night.
The one thing that didn’t go right was Grayson Grinsell’s start. The lefty allowed three singles and a walk in the first, but managed to manuever through the inning without allowing a run. He did throw 33 pitches, so the Tigers pulled him.
Pedro Garcia took over for the second inning and he gave the Flying Tigers three scoreless frames to save the rest of the pen.
In the third, Jude Warwick and Nick Dumesnil led off the bottom half with singles. They’d only get one run, as Zach MacDonald and then Jordan Yost walked to force in a run. Beau Ankeney struck out and Josue Briceño popped out to end the inning.
In the third, Carson Rucker led off with a single and Edian Espinal walked. There was a delay for an injury as the Cardinals had to go to the bullpen. The new reliever walked Dumesnil, and Rucker scored on a Jesus Pinto ground out. MacDonald hit one 400 feet to center field, but it was run down to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Briceño, rehabbing his preseason wrist surgery, smoked an opposite field shot for his first homer of the year. 3-0 Lakeland.
Right-hander Colin Fields, also on a rehab assignment, gave up a solo shot in the fifth to make it 3-1, but it was all Lakeland the rest of the way. Pinto mashed a three-run homer in the seventh to make it 6-1. Dumesnil singled in Rucker in the bottom of the eighth for the final run of the game.
Yost: 2-3, RBI, 2B, 2 BB, SB
Rucker: 2-3, 2 R, BB, K, SB
Dumesnil: 3-3, R, RBI, 2 BB
Garcia (W, 2-4): 3.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start on Wednesday.
