Toledo Mud Hens 13, St. Paul Saints 1 (box)
The Mud Hens clobbered St. Paul to cut the Saints lead in the series to 3-2 heading into the deciding matchup on Sunday.
The Hens went with a bullpen day in this one and it worked out beautifully. Tanner Rainey got the start and he struck out five across two scoreless innings of work.
In the bottom of the second, the Hens struck. Eduardo Valencia and Kevin Newman singled with one out before Andrew Navigato flew out. Tomas Nido then stepped in and mashed a three-run shot to left for an early lead.
RJ
Petit took over from Rainey, and the big right-hander had no issues either, striking out three in two scoreless frames.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Hens more or less put this one to bed with a six-run inning. Newman walked with one out, and Navigato struck out, so it didn’t look that promising. However, Nido was there again, doubling deep to center field to score Newman. Parker Meadows walked, and Hao-Yu Lee and Justyn-Henry Malloy singled, making it 6-0. Jace Jung singled in Lee, and they weren’t done as Anderson pulled a hot grounder to third that was deflected by the third baseman into left field. Malloy scored and it was 8-0. Valencia singled in Jung, and it was 9-0 when the inning mercifully ended two batters later on a Navigato strikeout.
Wilkel Hernandez handled the top of the fifth in relief, and the Hens got right back to scoring in the bottom half. Nido led off with a walk, and Meadows lined a fastball to center field for an RBI double. A Lee ground out got Meadows to third, and he eventually scored on a Jung ground out to make it 11-0.
Matt Seelinger allowed a run in the sixth, but in the bottom of the seventh the Hens kept pouring it on.
Hao-Yu Lee crushed his 13th homer of the season to lead off the inning. The 103.6 mph shot went out to right center field. Malloy followed with a walk, and with two outs Valencia doubled him to third. An error on a Newman grounder scored Malloy to make it 13-1.
Bailey Horn handled the seventh and one out in the eighth, striking out three. Jordan Balazovic finished the eighth, and Alex Lange allowed a single in the ninth but struck out three, all swinging over sharp knuckle curves to end it.
Lee: 2-6, 2 R, RBI, HR, 2 K
Valencia: 3-4, R, RBI, 2B
Nido: 2-4, 3 R, 4 RBI, 2B, HR
Malloy: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Meadows: 1-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB, 2 K
Rainey: 2.0 IP, 0 R, H, 0 BB, 5 K
Petit (W, 3-1): 2.0 IP, 0 R, H, BB, 3 K
Lange: 1.0 IP, 0 R, H, 0 BB, 3 K
Erie SeaWolves 7, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 2 (box)
The SeaWolves extended their winning streak to five games behind a strong performance from starter Garrett Burhenn on Saturday.
The SeaWolves got on the board first in this one. Jake Holton led off the second inning with a double and Ben Malgeri followed with a double of his own for a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately that was all they’d get as Seth Stephenson popped out on a bunt attempt, Danny Serretti popped up, and a drive from Abel Bastidas was caught in right field.
Burhenn then proceeded to walk the leadoff hitter, and surrendered a two-run shot and the lead in the bottom half. However, from there on, Burhenn was outstanding. He scattered two hits while punching out 10 hitters and wasn’t lifted until there were two outs in the seventh inning. By then this one was pretty much over.
In the top of the fourth the SeaWolves recaptured the lead and took control for good with a five-run inning. Holton led off with a walk, and Malgeri launched a two-run shot.
Serretti reached on an error with one out and Bastidas singled. The Fisher Cats turned to Pat Gallagher out of their bullpen, but he walked Max Clark to load the bases. Thayron Liranzo popped out, but McGonigle spanked a hard grounder up the middle, and center fielder Dasan Brown was a little lazy getting to it. Clark hit the afterburners and raced all the way around from first to score, and it was 6-2 SeaWolves.
Tanner Kohlhepp finished the seventh for Burhenn and tossed a scoreless eighth inning. In the top of the ninth, Josue Briceño torched a line drive to the wall in center field and rumbled into third with a double. Holton singled through the right side of the infield to score him.
Ryan Boyer struck out three in the bottom half to end it in style.
Holton: 3-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB
Malgeri: 2-5, R, 3 RBI, 2B, HR, K
Briceno: 1-5, R, 3B, K
McGonigle: 1-5, 3 RBI, SB
Burhenn (W, 12-3): 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, BB, 10 K
Great Lakes Loons 6, West Michigan Whitecaps 4 (box)
The Loons scored last to take a back and forth game on Saturday and put themselves in position to win the series on Sunday. Not too many teams have managed that feat this season.
The game started with a Jack Penney triple, and Woody Hadeen scored him on a ground out. Lucas Elissalt got the start for West Michigan and finally had some trouble. A long bottom of the first that featured an RBI double from Zyhir Hope made it 2-1 Loons after one.
Brett Callahan tripled in Austin Murr in the fourth to tie the game at 2-2, but Elissalt walked the leadoff hitter in the bottom half and Freddy Pacheco allowed two runs to score for a 4-2 Loons lead.
Murr walked to leadoff the sixth, and Garrett Pennington and Callahan followed with singles to load the bases. A Bennett Lee sacrifice fly brought Murr home, and then Penney was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Loons walked Hadeen after a 10 pitch battle to force in a run, and it was all tied up again 4-4.
Unfortunately, the Whitecaps couldn’t put anything else together. Colin Fields uncharacteristically walked three straight hitters after allowing a leadoff single in the eighth. That made it 5-4, and the Loons tacked on another run as Dariel Fregio came on to get them out of the inning.
The Whitecaps got a single from Andrew Jenkins in the top of the ninth, but couldn’t do anything with it. There were complaints about the strikezone in this one, but really it was just an odd night for a Whitecaps pitching staff that doesn’t issue many free passes. They gave up nine walks in this one.
Penney: 2-3, R, 2B, 3B, BB
Hadeen: 1-4, 2 RBI, BB, SB
Callahan: 2-4, RBI
Elissalt: 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 5 BB, 4 K
Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, St. Lucie Mets 2 (box)
We got a pleasant surprise in this one as left-hander Jake Miller emerged from the shadows of the Tigers minor league injured list to spin two innings of rehab work in this one. Miller looked very good for the SeaWolves early in the year and has the potential to impact the Tigers in 2026 if he can get back to full strength.
He wasn’t quite there in this one. He allowed a run on a pair of two-out singles and a Carson Rucker error, but nothing was hard hit at all. Miller was around 92-93, and his command of the fastball and slider were pretty good for his first outing in months. He racked up three strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter.
The Flying Tigers held the lead anyway, as Nick Dumesnil reached on an error in the first and scored on a Samuel Gil double. The throw into home allowed Gil to take third, and a Rucker sacrifice fly made it a 2-0 game before the unearned run in the bottom half.
The Flying Tigers extended that lead in the third. Dumesnil reached on catcher’s interference to start the inning, and then Gil was hit by a pitch. Rucker drilled a 106.1 mph line drive to center for a single to score Dumesnil, and then Jude Warwick was hit to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Gil before reliever Joel Lara could get out of the inning, and it was 4-1 Lakeland.
Another diving catch by Dumesnil helped preserve that lead.
In the top of the fifth, the Flying Tigers kept up the pressure. Sergio Tapia and Juan Hernandez singled with one out, and Clayton Campbell walked to load the bases. The Mets proceeded to walk two runs in to make it 6-1.
Zack Lee succeeded Miller, tossing three innings and giving up a run in the bottom of the fifth that made it 6-2 Lakeland.
Pedro Garcia tossed a clean sixth, and 2025 12th rounder Cash Kuiper threw a pair of scoreless frames to get them to the ninth. A Tapia leadoff double in the top of the inning led to another run, and Joe Ruzicka, the Tigers 16th rounder out of Belmont College, closed this one out with no issues.
The Flying Tigers will look to earn a split in the series on Sunday afternoon.
Rucker: 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 K
Gil: 1-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B, K
Tapia: 3-5, 2 R, 2B, K
Miller: 2.0 IP, R, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K
