Toledo Mud Hens 8, Iowa Cubs 4 (box)
Toledo got out to an early lead in the this one and then had to fight off the Cubs and rally to win this first of six on Tuesday night.
Hao-Yu Lee led off the game with a single, and Akil Baddoo quickly did likewise on a swinging bunt down the third base line to old friend Dixon Machado. An Eduardo Valencia grounder forced Baddoo at second, but Jace Jung drew a walk to load the bases. Max Anderson unloaded them, roasting a line drive to up the left field gap for a three-run double.
Randy Dobnak got the start for the Hens and he struggled, allowing a run in the third and then three more in the fourth as the Cubs seized a 4-3 lead.
Matt Seelinger cleaned up the fourth for Dobnak, and Paul Sewald came on to get two outs before turning things over to Dylan Smith with two outs in the fifth. Smith’s command was sharp, and he struck out four and walked one in just 1 1/3 innings of work.
Finally in the top of the sixth the Hens rallied back. Jung doubled with one out and Anderson drew a walk. Gage Workman smoked a three-run shot to left center field, and it was 6-4 Hens. Four walks in the inning followed as the Cubs bullpen crumbled, walking in a run to make it 7-4 before they got out of the inning.
Max Anderson added a solo shot, his 19th total home run this season, in the top of the seventh.
Chase Lee, Drew Sommers, and Wilkel Hernandez each handled an inning of relief without a run to close this one out.
Anderson: 2-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2B, HR, BB, 2 K
Lee: 1-3, R, 2 BB, SB
Jung: 1-3, 2 R, 2B, 2 BB
Cruz: 2-2, 2 2B, 2 BB
Dobnak: 3.1 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, K
Altoona Curve 11, Erie SeaWolves 5 (box)
The SeaWolves quest for a third straight Eastern League championship hit its first speed bump immediately as the Curve pounded out 14 hits to storm back and take Game 1 of the division series.
Esmerlyn Valdez opened the scoring for the Curve with a solo shot off Garrett Burhenn to lead off the second inning.
The SeaWolves came roaring back in the fourth. Carlos Mendoza led off with a walk and Seth Stephenson was hit by a pitch. Max Clark flew out deep enough for Mendoza to tag and advance to third. A sac fly from John Peck scored him, and Stephenson stole second base. Kevin McGonigle singled him in for a 2-1 lead, and Josue Briceño stepped to the plate and crushed a two-run homer to left center field to make it 4-1.
Meanwhile, Burhenn was dealing and had little trouble with the Curve through five innings of work. With his pitch count low, manager Andrew Graham tried to get another inning out of him, but in his third time through the order the Curve struck.
A one-out double was followed by a single, a double, and another single that tied the game 4-4. Lefty Andrew Magno took over and got a ground ball but Mendoza booted it at second base. A line drive single to right loaded the bases. Magno struck out Javier Rivas, but a ground ball up the middle was deflected by Magno and McGonigle had no play. Konnor Griffin grounded one to third, and the SeaWolves inning from hell continued as John Peck threw it away trying to rush to get the speedy Griffin. 8-4 Altoona.
That was it for the SeaWolves. Thayron Liranzo doubled and scored in the top of the seventh, but Tanner Kohlhepp coughed up three more runs in the bottom half to put this one out of reach.
Just a rare bad night all around as the SeaWolves had three errors, and catcher Briceño was charged with three passed balls.
The talented SeaWolves lineup put up just four hits on the night as the Curve bullpen smothered then once starter Wilber Dotel was out of the game. Game 2 is set for 6:35 p.m. ET at UPMC Park on Thursday, with a potential Game 3 on Friday at the same time if necessary. Hopefully the SeaWolves can get hot at home.
McGonigle: 1-2, R, RBI, 2 BB
Briceno: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, 2 K
Burhenn (L, 0-1): 5.1 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 8 H, BB, 5 K
West Michigan Whitecaps 3, Cedar Rapids Kernels 1 (box)
After the season they had, it would’ve been a real drag if it ended short of a title, particularly with the bizarre rule set that gave the Kernels home field advantage. Instead, the Whitecaps stood on business and Tony Cappuccilli and his young squad took home the Whitecaps’ first Midwest League title since 2015.
The first star in this one has to go to starter Joe Miller. The lefty is 25 and a veteran of the league at this point and it showed. Miller spun 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball despite pitching through a fair amount of traffic. His teammates played good defense and Miller struck out six while walking two, limiting the Kernels to two extra base hits of their five total hits against him.
The tone was set early when Kyle DeBarge led off the bottom of the first with a triple to left. Miller struck out Marek Houston, and then got a grounder off the bat of Eduardo Tait to Woody Hadeen at shortstop. Hadeen fired home to Bennett Lee to cut down DeBarge, and Billy Amick grounded out to end the inning. From there it was relatively smooth sailing for Miller.
The Whitecaps had baserunners in the first two frames but couldn’t capitalize either. In the third, Hadeen drew a leadoff walk and Peyton Graham singled for his second hit of the game. The speedy duo pulled off a double steal, and Brett Callahan’s grounder to shortstop was enough to plate Hadeen for a 1-0 lead.
The score was 1-0 for quite a while, but with two outs in the top of the sixth, Jack Penney tripled to left. Jackson Strong drew a walk, and Bennett Lee doubled to center field. Penney scored, but that was all they’d get as the relay cut down Strong at the plate. 2-0 Whitecaps.
With two outs and a man on in the bottom of the sixth, Miller allowed a single to Danny De Andrade and then walked Misael Urbina to load the bases. With the game potentially hanging in the balance, Colin Fields came on and punched out Caden Kendle to strand them all.
In the top of the eighth, Callahan led off with a single and Andrew Jenkins doubled to right field. Callahan scored on a strike three pitch to Penney that got away from the catcher, and it was 3-0 Whitecaps.
Dariel Fregio tossed a scoreless seventh despite allowing a hit and a walk. Moises Rodriguez came on in the eighth but allowed singles to Billy Amick and De Andrade. He collected a ground out to first, but then hit a batter and wild pitched in a run. A walk followed, and Carlos Lequerica took over, quickly getting a double play ball as the Whitecaps escaped one more time.
There wouldn’t be another as Marco Jimenez was nails yet again. The fireballing right-hander has really been overpowering and under control in the postseason, and it was fitting that he closed out the game against a tough trio of hitting prospects. Jimenez froze DeBarge for strike three. Feeling the Rhythm of the Night, Jimenez got Houston to line out, and then punched out the dangerous Tait swinging to put a bow on one of the greatest minor league campaigns in the history of the game.
Congratulation to Tony Cappuccilli, his staff, and the players both in the first and second half who contributed to an absolutely magical season.
Graham: 2-5, 2B, SB
Callahan: 2-4, R, RBI, K
Strong: 1-1, 3 BB, 2 SB
Bennett Lee: 1-4, RBI, 2B, K
Hadeen: 1-4, R, BB, K, 2 SB
Miller (W, 2-0): 5.2 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 K
Jimenez (S, 2): 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
Lakeland Flying Tigers 9, Daytona Tortugas 2 (box)
The Flying Tigers tore Daytona’s pitching staff apart in this one, racking up 12 hits and scoring in six of their eight turns at the plate to take the Florida State League championship.
Lefty Gabriel Reyes got the start, and he was a little shaky early on. Reyes allowed a run on a balk in the top of the first and another in the second inning before settling down to pitch into the fifth. After the Tortugas strung together some singles early on, Reyes really leaned into his slider and from that point on the Tortugas had no luck against him.
The offense got right to work in the bottom of the first. Nick Dumesnil and Jesus Pinto walked to start the inning and Daytona’s manager tried to pull their starter Ovis Portes. Of course, you have to face three batters, and so this wasn’t allowed. All around a pretty bizarre sequence of events that led to Portes simply hitting Chris Meyers, which then brought the hook. Stephen Quigley took over and did well to get out of the inning with just two runs allowed. In the moment, that seemed like a huge letdown for a young lineup but that did not prove to be the case.
So it was a 2-2 tie entering the bottom of the fourth. Carson Rucker drew a leadoff walk and stole second base. Stephen Hrustich singled him in to tie the game.
In the fifth, Dumesnil and Pinto singled to open the inning. A Meyers ground out advanced them both into scoring position and a two-out error on a Junior Tilien grounder to third allowed both runs to score for a 5-2 lead.
Singles from Hrustich and Samuel Gil led to a run in the sixth. In the seventh, Meyers led off with a double and scored on another grounder to third from Tilien that went for an error. Rucker doubled Tilien to third and a Gil single later made it 8-2. They added one more on a Ricardo Hurtado double in the eighth.
Meanwhile, Reyes departed with one out in the fourth, and Pedro Garcia got them through the seventh inning without another run allowed. Logan Berrier did the rest, spinning a pair of scoreless frames to close out the Flying Tigers first Florida State League title since 2012.
Congratulations to Florida State League Manager of the Year, Rene Rivera, who takes home the crown in his first season at the helm of the Tigers Single-A affiliate, as well as all the players and coaches who got this accomplished.
Hurtado: 2-5, 2 RBI, 2B, K
Hrustich: 2-4, R, RBI, BB
Pinto: 2-4, 3 R, BB
Dumesnil: 1-4, 2 R, BB
Reyes: 4.1 IP, 2 R, ER, 4 H, BB, 4 K
