Louisville Bats 5, Toledo Mud Hens 1 (box)
Toledo and Louisville tied the series 3-3 with Sunday’s result.
Dylan File wasn’t too sharp, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk. The big swing — a three-run homer — came in the third from Juan Brito. Louisville took a 3-0 lead and never looked back. The Bats tacked on insurance runs in the fourth and fifth, the latter coming on a solo home run off Yilber Diaz in relief.
Diaz wasn’t great either. He walked a pair in the sixth and needed Jack Little to get out of the inning. Little worked through
the seventh, navigating his way around a double and a walk. Ricky Vanasco was the only Toledo arm to not allow a base hit, but he did walk the leadoff man in the ninth. A 4-6-3 double play allowed him to face the minimum, however.
The Mud Hens didn’t do a ton at the plate, mustering just five hits on the day. Zebby Zavala was the only one with multiple hits, including his first double with the team. Zavala has slashed .467/.619/.733 over six games with Toledo. He’s also walked (5) nearly as much as he’s struck out (6).
Jace Jung delivered the only run of the game for the Hens. Jung doubled in Jack Goodman in the fifth. A better left fielder would have tracked this one down, but it was still a well-struck ball.
Zavala: 2-4, 2B (1), K
Jung: 1-4, 2B (18), RBI, K
File (L, 6-8): 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, BB, 3 K, HR
Coming Up Next: The Mud Hens host the Iowa Cubs next week, starting Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. ET.
Erie SeaWolves 5, Hartford Yard Goats 4 (box)
It was a 5-1 week for Erie, but things got hairy in the final inning of the series on Sunday. Four of the nine runs scored in this one came in the ninth, and the difference ended up being an error by the Yard Goats.
Kenny Serwa was excellent, allowing just one run on two hits and three walks over seven innings. He only had two strikeouts, but knuckleballers are going to have those soft-contact kind of days. Erie built up a 4-0 lead for him before Hartford finally got on the board in the seventh.
Thayron Liranzo got the scoring started for the SeaWolves in the fourth with a solo home run, his 13th of the year. Seth Stephenson and Zyhir Hope both singled in runs in the fifth to put Erie ahead by four.
Colin Fields tried to close out the final two innings, but he ran into trouble in the ninth. A leadoff walk and a single turned dangerous after a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position.
Which base the runners were on ended up being inconsequential, however, when Cole Messina hit a three-run homer to make it a one-run game. Fortunately, Patrick Lee scored in the top of the ninth on a bobbled grounder by the second baseman.
Tyler Owens took over for Field and got the final two outs, ending it on a strikeout.
Hope: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K
Liranzo: 1-5, HR (13), R, RBI, 2 K
Serwa (W, 6-8): 7.0 IP, ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves host the New Hampshire Fisher Cats next week, starting Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. ET.
West Michigan Whitecaps 12, Lansing Lugnuts 6 (box)
West Michigan also took the series 5-1, and it ended with a 12-run barrage.
The Whitecaps hit four homers in this one, including a pair in the first. Jackson Strong and Bryce Rainer opened the game going back-to-back. It’s Rainer’s third game in a row going deep. The kid is on fire.
Clayton Campbell also hit a solo shot in the fourth, and he drove in the first two of eight runs in the fifth.
After Campbell’s two-run single, Lansing walked three straight batters, resulting in two more runs. Then, Nolan McCarthy hit a grand slam to make it 11-0. The best part about this rally is that it all came with two outs on the board. Sure, it took a bit of a meltdown from the Lugnuts’ pitching staff, but one mistake stops the big inning from happening completely.
Rainer notched another RBI with a single in the seventh, getting West Michigan to a clean dozen runs. Connor Fenlong comfortably left the game after six innings of shutout ball. Fenlong struck out six and allowed just three hits and one walk.
Moises Rodriguez got the seventh. He gave up a leadoff single but induced a double play to stop Lansing from scoring. He walked the next batter and gave up a single, which definitely would have resulted in a run, before getting the third out.
Rodriguez couldn’t make magic happen two innings in a row, though. A leadoff double ended up scoring in the eighth. Jalen Evans took over for Rodriguez with a man on second and one out, but he gave up a two-run homer that put a run on both of their records.
Evans came back out for the ninth, but he loaded the bases with just one out. Logan Berrier had to close it out, but not before allowing all three runners to score on back-to-back hits. At least, the Whitecaps had a big enough cushion that six runs over the final two frames didn’t really matter.
Rainer: 2-4, HR (13), 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, K
Campbell: 2-4, HR (8), 2 R, 3 RBI, BB
McCarthy: 2-4, HR (2), 2 R, 4 RBI
Fenlong (W, 3-1): 6.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps are in South Bend next week, starting Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. ET.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 4, Bradenton Marauders 1 (box)
The Flying Tigers secured a 4-2 series win on Sunday, beating Bradenton comfortably in the finale. Timely hitting and good pitching led the way.
Grayson Grinsell got the start, and he delivered four innings of one-hit ball for Lakeland. Grinsell has been solid this month, allowing just two runs on four hits over nine innings. His walks are a bit high at nine, but he’s still struck out 12.
Carlos Rodriguez made his third appearance — and second of the week — for Lakeland in relief of Grinsell. He worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning with a strikeout.
Xiomer Guacache was next out of the bullpen. He gave three innings of one-hit ball, striking out three and walking as many. Frenny Grant made his second appearance of the week in the ninth, but he couldn’t finish off the shutout. A walk and a couple of singles got Bradenton on the board, but Grant had four runs to work with.
Two of those four runs came early for Lakeland. Javier Osorio doubled in Jesus Pinto in the second, and Jordan Yost brought Osorio around right after.
Michael Oliveto scored an insurance run in the sixth, leading off the inning with a double and coming home on a Nick Dumesnil single. Pinto added the fourth run in the eighth, singling with Dumesnil on base.
Yost: 2-4, RBI
Oliveto: 2-4, 2 2B (4), R, K
Grinsell: 4.0 IP, 0 R, H, 2 BB, 5 K
Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers are in St. Lucie next week, starting Tuesday at 6:10 p.m. ET.
