Toledo Mud Hens 3, Rochester Red Wings 0 (box)
A fine outing from Joey Wentz led the Mud Hens over the Red Wings on Tuesday night. The big lefty tossed six scoreless, allowing just three hits and a walk, while striking out four. He remains on the shortlist to join the Tigers when rosters expand, though Michael Pineda’s return may complicate matters. Pretty confident Hinch and Fetter would like to get their hands on Wentz for a little bit as he needs to start providing value next season.
Meanwhile the Hens’ offense was winning via the long ball. Andre Lipcius lifted his first Triple-A home run, a solo shot, in the top of the third. Dustin Garneau followed with a solo shot of his own later in the inning. The catcher later doubled to lead off the seventh and scored on a Jack Lopez ground ball that got thrown around a bit by the Red Wings.
With a 3-0 lead, Zac Houston, Miguel Del Pozo, and Nick Vincent locked down the final three innings with no trouble.
Garneau: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, HR, 2B, SO
Lipcius: 1-3, R, RBI, HR, BB, SO
Wentz (W, 2-2): 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 SO
Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:05 p.m. EDT start on Wednesday. No starters have been announced yet.
Bowie Baysox 6, Erie SeaWolves 5 (box)
Sawyer Gipson-Long cruised for most of this one, but errors on Gage Workman and Trei Cruz, newly promoted from West Michigan today, in the fifth inning led to a traffic jam and a three-run shot from Bowie’s Connor Norby, sinking an otherwise strong six-inning outing from the SeaWolves’ starter.
Norby opened the scoring with a solo shot in the first against Gipson-Long, so he had the right-hander’s number all game long. Erie came back to tie things in the second on an RBI double from Andrew Navigato after Dillon Dingler walked. In the fourth, Quincy Nieporte singled and Dingler walked again, leading to Gage Workman’s 12th home run on the year. Workman has finally heated up in August and the shot make it 4-1 at the time.
After the implosion of the fifth inning, as the Baysox seized the lead, the SeaWolves tied it up again in the sixth when another walk to Dingler was followed three batters later by a Bryant Packard RBI double. Things stayed knotted at five until the top of the ninth when Gerson Moreno allowed a leadoff double, followed with back-to-back wild pitches to score the run and give the Baysox the lead, and then struck out three straight hitters to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Dane Myers singled with one out, and the throw in briefly got away from the first baseman. Myers didn’t break for second, turned to walk back to the bag, and was tagged out. He did appear to be inside the first base line, but any gesture toward second was only a flinch, so manager Gabe Alvarez got himself tossed arguing over that one. Parker Meadows struck out to end the game.
Dingler: 0-1, 3 R, 3 BB, SO
Workman: 1-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, 2 SO
Packard: 1-4, RBI, 2B
Gipson-Long: 6.0 IP, 5 R, 3 ER, 5 H, BB, 6 SO
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. EDT start at UPMC Park on Wednesday night.
West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Fort Wayne TinCaps 1 (box)
Carlos Guzman put together a good outing and the offense poured it on late to open the road series in Fort Wayne on a high note.
Guzman has been really inconsistent again this season, but he locked down the TinCaps for five innings with just one run on three hits and a walk. He collected four strikeouts and then turned it over to the pen for four quality innings of scoreless relief.
Josh Crouch opened the scoring with his 10th home run on the year in the second inning. That held up until the fifth when Fort Wayne tied things up. Finally in the eighth, they took advantage of a couple of walks as Jace Jung came up with a two-run double, and an Izaac Pacheco single moved Jung to third where he scored on a wild pitch. Eduardo Valencia walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a ground out, and scored on another ground ball into a fielder’s choice by Jung in the ninth for a little insurance.
Jung: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB
Valencia: 2-2, 2 R, 2 BB
Guzman: 5.0 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 4 SO
Coming Up Next: RHP Garrettt Burhenn (4-6, 4.08 ERA) starts for the Whitecaps on Wednesday night. The TinCaps are yet to announce.
Clearwater Threshers 9, Lakeland Flying Tigers 4 (box)
Clearwater jumped on starter Jordan Marks and didn’t look back in this one. After they scored four in the first, the Flying Tigers did fight back. A two-out solo shot from Manuel Sequera, his 19th on the year, started things. Roberto Campos then singled and rode home on this Cristian Santana shot later in the inning.
Thanks to the Detroit Tigers Minor League Tracker for that one.
Unfortunately the offense couldn’t get much else going in this one. The Threshers added two in the third to make it 6-3, and a three-run seventh inning put this one away for keeps. The Flying Tigers did manage a rally in the eighth, with Cristian Santana doubling home Peyton Graham, but a pair of strikeouts to end the inning snuffed any last hope of a comeback.
Santana: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, 2B, SO
Campos: 2-4, R
Sequera: 2-4, R, RBI, HR, SO
Coming Up Next: They’ll meet up on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. EDT as the series continues at Publix Field in Lakeland.