Omaha Storm Chasers 11, Toledo Mud Hens 2 (box)(Gm1)
Sawyer Gipson-Long continued to struggle in Game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader between Toledo and Omaha. He failed to reach the fourth inning for the third straight start and has only had one outing allowing fewer than four runs since July 7. SGL’s ERA has ballooned to 5.75 from 4.28 in that time, and opponents are hitting .429 against him in August.
He worked around a pair of unfortunate singles in the first, but Jacob Berry took him deep in the second to get the scoring started.
The wheels started falling
off in the third. SGL hit the leadoff man on a full count, gave up a swinging bunt single and saw a triple go over Wenceel Perez’s head, ricocheting off the wall into right-center. A long sac fly made it 4-0, and back-to-back walks on nine pitches meant the end of the day for Gipson-Long.
Jack Little gave up a flare to right field to bring in a fifth run before getting out of the third. Little didn’t do great with the bases clear in the fourth. He gave up two runs on three hits, making it 7-0.
Toledo had some early chances to score and make this a game, but no one got the big hit. Max Anderson doubled off the wall in the first, but was stranded. In the second, Andrew Navigato had a hard-hit single to the left field corner that looked like extra bases off the bat. A Seby Zavala liner up the middle would have scored Navigato from second, but Jack Goodman grounded out to end the inning instead.
Those were the first at-bats for Goodman and Zavala with Toledo. Goodman spent most of the year with Single-A Lakeland but got called up earlier this week. Zavala recently signed after spending time with Triple-A Oklahoma City and Charros de Jalisco in Mexico.
Toledo’s offense was pretty quiet for the rest of the game. Brett Callahan was hit by a pitch in the fourth, but nothing came from it.
Goodman and Zavala got a bit of redemption in the fifth. Zavala led off with a walk, and Goodman hit his first Triple-A home run. It was a no-doubter into the street beyond left field. So, there’s a silver lining. Nine of the final 10 Toledo hitters went down after that.
Beau Brieske was the victim of a very unfortunate string of singles that led to a grand slam, turning it into a laugher. Two of the hits to load the bases were bloops. It was just one of those days for the Mud Hens. Troy Watson got the sixth. He worked around a two-out walk for a scoreless inning.
Cal Stevenson was the position player on the mound in the seventh. He had a little fun getting a strikeout with an 80-mph heater after lobbing in several 50-mph eephus pitches.
Anderson: 1-3, 2B (18)
Perez: 0-3, 2 K
Goodman: 1-3, HR (1), R, 2 RBI, K
Gipson-Long (L, 2-5): 2.2 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K, HR
Omaha Storm Chasers 10, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (box)(Gm2)
Game 2 went just about the same way, except the blowup came in the second inning, and Toledo led briefly after a Jace Jung homer in the first. For what it’s worth, Jung stung a couple of balls in Game 1; they just went right to gloves. This one was an oppo shot that just kept going and going until it crept over the wall.
Lael Lockhart was the unlucky starter to take the loss. Toledo listed a TBD starter, so it was a planned bullpen game. Lockhart actually got through the first cleanly, but things went really bad in the second.
Seven of the first eight batters in the inning reached safely, including three doubles and a home run. Max Anderson booted one of those “doubles” to allow the tying run to score, but everything else was legit.
Tyler Gentry hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second, cutting the deficit to five runs.
Luke Taggart got the third and fourth for Toledo. Three hits turned into two more runs for the Storm Chasers in the former, but Taggart got through the latter frame without any damage.
Gentry got another RBI in the fourth, driving in Brett Callahan with a single into left. Toledo actually got the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth innings, but the big hit never came.
Tanner Rainey was the third pitcher for the Mud Hens. He worked around a pair of two-out squibbers in the fifth and went 1-2-3 in the sixth. Rainey was solid with four strikeouts. Scott Effross got the seventh. He gave up an unearned run on an error and two hits.
Anderson: 1-3, 2B (19), BB
Jung: 1-4, HR (18), R, RBI, K
Gentry: 3-3, HR (9), R, 2 RBI
Lockhart (L, 2-3): 2.0 IP, 7 ER, 5 H, BB, 2 K, HR
Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:05 p.m. ET start on Saturday. Omaha leads the series, 3-1.
Erie SeaWolves 10, Altoona Curve 1 (box)
Erie fared a lot better than Toledo today—good pitching, good offense and a win.
Four home runs powered the SeaWolves Flagship City Kitties to a 10-1 win, but some decent pitching deserves some credit for holding Altoona to just one run on six hits and three walks. Most of those baserunners came against starter Carlos Pena, who worked 4.2 innings of one-run ball.
That one run came in the first and was unearned. An error by E.J. Exposito at third extended the inning, which should have been over in four batters. Instead, a two-out base hit brought the runner home, and Erie briefly trailed… but not for long.
Peyton Graham opened the bottom of the first with a solo homer. Thayron Liranzo also had a ground-rule double, but there was no follow-up.
Graham and Liranzo were at the center of a three-run third inning, too. Graham got things going with a ground-rule double, and Liranzo blasted a three-run shot after Josue Briceno walked. Andrew Jenkins had a bizarre triple that fell in the middle of three fielders near the foul line in right field. Jenkins didn’t end up scoring, though.
Pena was pretty good after the extended first inning. He retired eight of the next nine batters he faced before running into a little trouble in the fourth. The second out of the inning went off Pena’s leg before he made the play. He stayed in the game after being checked out by the training staff, but Altoona notched back-to-back singles before Pena got a strikeout.
Pena came back out for the fifth, but a pair of walks got the bullpen active. Zack Barnhart got the final out of the inning and pitched through the sixth.
Erie blew the game wide open with four straight singles in the bottom of the sixth. Exposito and Stephen Hrustich went through the left side, and Max Burt found fair territory on a tall fly ball to left that looked destined to land foul.
Patrick Lee bounced one to short to make it 6-1. The infield was playing in and made a good throw home, but Burt snuck his hand in there. If we’re being honest, he looked out, but it was going to be a tough one to overturn.
Graham hit into a fielder’s choice for another run, and his 55th steal of the season came on a wild pitch that scored Lee, pushing Erie’s lead to seven.
Colin Field came in for the seventh. He gave up a single but retired the other six batters over two innings of work.
Lee and Briceno both hit solo homers in the eighth for good measure. We’ll also ignore Zyhir Hope striking out four times and being the only SeaWolf without a hit.
Yoniel Curet got the ninth. He ended it on two strikeouts after giving up a leadoff single.
Briceno: 2-4, HR (8), 2 R, RBI, BB
Graham: 2-5, HR (6), 2B (17), 2 R, 2 RBI
Hope: 0-5, 4 K
Liranzo: 2-4, HR (11), 2B (8), R, 3 RBI, BB, K
Lee, P: 2-4, HR (3), 2 R, 2 RBI, K
Pena, C: 4.2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Saturday. The series is tied, 2-2.
West Michigan Whitecaps 14, Fort Wayne TinCaps 4 (box)
Ah, yes, a good ol’ 14-run drubbing from West Michigan. The Whitecaps scored in seven of nine innings and put up four crooked numbers in this one. Every player got a hit. Edian Espinal and Ricardo Hurtado each had a three-hit day, and Bryce Rainer, Beau Ankeney and Juan Hernandez all had multiple hits.
Despite a total of 16 hits, West Michigan only had three go for extra bases. Rainer had the first, starting the scoring with a double in the first. Hurtado also had an RBI single in the opening frame.
Espinal singled in Samuel Gil in the second and drove in Andrew Sojka with a sac fly in the fourth. Rainer’s second hit was an RBI single right after.
The sixth inning was the big one, with five runs crossing. Somehow, Ankeney’s three-run homer was one of just two hits in the frame. The first four batters reached via hit-by-pitch or walk, with Rainier picking up the RBI. Roberto Campos advanced all of the runners with a groundout after a pitching change, and then Ankeney did his thing.
Sojka tripled to leadoff the seventh and scored on a groundout from Hernandez. Fort Wayne traded run No. 12 for a double play, and Gil got West Michigan to a baker’s dozen with a single through the right side. Campos added the final run in the ninth with a single up the middle. Somehow, the TinCaps avoided throwing a position player. I’m not sure why.
Speaking of pitching, Jojo Ingrassia made his organizational debut. He was solid despite loading the bases in the first. A dropped third strike and two walks made things tricky, but he got out of it with a double play. Ingrassia flashed a 90-92 mph fastball that touched 94, an 86-mph changeup and an 84-mph slider. Command was spotty, but he went 1-2-3 in the second. He came out with one out in the third after 44 pitches.
Zack Lee inherited a runner from Ingrassia and gave up an RBI double to make it an earned run. He was otherwise good through the fourth. Win Scott went 1-2-3 in the fifth and worked around a two-out double in the sixth.
Fort Wayne finally put something together in the seventh, with Scott still on the mound. Scott left the game with the bases loaded, but an error helped extend the inning. Only one of the three runs that scored was earned. Ryhan Harvey pitched through the eighth, and Eliseo Mota faced the minimum in the ninth, ending the game on a double play.
Rainer: 2-5, 2B (18), 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, K
Espinal: 3-4, R, 2 RBI, BB
Ankeney: 2-5, HR (2), R, 3 RBI
Ingrassia: 2.1 IP, ER, H, 2 BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Saturday. West Michigan leads the series, 3-1.
(Gm. 1) Lakeland Flying Tigers 11, Dunedin Blue Jays 1 (box)
Another doubleheader! Unlike Toledo, Lakeland took Game 1 and did so in convincing fashion. The Flying Tigers scored 11 runs on 14 hits in just six innings—no need to play the bottom of the seventh when you’re up by double digits.
Carson Rucker delivered the first of three home runs, a two-run shot with Hayden Yost on second (walk, balk).
Three batters later, Angel De Los Santos hit his own two-run homer, and first outside of rookie ball. Anibal Salas tripled in Jesus Pinto a bit later, giving Lakeland an early 5-0 lead.
The Flying Tigers batted around in the first, bringing Yost back to the plate in the second. He singled, moved to second on a passed ball and scored after stealing third and forcing a bad throw. It’s his 15th stolen base of the season. Chris Meyers doubled in Rucker, who was hit by a pitch.
Meanwhile, Cale Wetwiska worked through 2.2 innings of scoreless ball. He gave up a pair of hits and walked two batters, but four strikeouts evens things out. Maddox Long took over for him in the third, getting the final out of the inning and working into the sixth. Long did about as well as Wetwisk, albeit with half the strikeouts.
After two quiet innings, Lakeland got back to scoring runs in the fifth. Rucker had another big hit, this time with the bases loaded. A bases-clearing double made it 10-0.
De Los Santos didn’t have to wait another six games for his second home run with Lakeland. He went deep again in the sixth with no one on base.
Jan Caraballo got the last out of the sixth and closed things out for the Flygers. He gave up a run in the seventh, breaking up the shutout, but who’s complaining about an 11-1 win? Not me.
Yost: 3-3, 3 R, BB
Rucker: 2-3, HR (11), 2B (8), 2 R, 5 RBI, K
De Los Santos: 3-4, 2 HR (2), 2 R, 3 RBI, K
Wetwiska: 2.2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K
(Gm. 2) Dunedin Blue Jays 6, Lakeland Flying Tigers 0 (box)
Game 2 didn’t go so well, though. Lakeland had just one hit and trailed 6-0 for most of the contest.
Malachi Witherspoon labored through 3.2 innings, giving up six earned runs on two hits and three walks. An RBI double in the first isn’t the worst thing, but following up with walk-HBP-walk-HBP to open the second is. Witherspoon got a ground ball to get the first out and traded another run for the second, but JoJo Parker hit a three-run homer off him to put Dunedin up by six.
At least Witherspoon bounced back by striking out the side in the third, and he would have gotten through the fourth if not for an error. Jose Guzman replaced him and worked through the sixth. He walked a pair but didn’t allow any hits.
Pedro Garcia worked around a double from Parker in the seventh. Parker had all three of the Blue Jays’ hits in this one. It’s an odd overall box score, but that’s what happens in Single-A doubleheaders.
Lakeland’s lone hit came from Jude Warwick in the sixth. It was a leadoff double to right field. At least it wasn’t a no-hitter…
Yost: 0-3, K
Warwick: 1-3, 2B (17), 2 K
Witherspoon (L, 3-5): 3.2 IP, 6 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K, HR
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6 p.m. ET start on Saturday. The series is tied, 2-2.
