St. Paul Saints 2, Toledo Mud Hens 1 (F/9)(Gm 1)(box)
The first of two was a makeup game for a rainout back on July 17. Elvin Rodriguez pitched well, but the offense had a brutal day at the plate. The only run they managed came courtesy of Derek Hill and Josh Lester back in July.
E-Rod the Younger tossed five innings of two run ball with no walks and six strikeouts. Way back in July, Derek Hill tripled and scored on a Josh Lester sac fly, and they didn’t add to that when play resumed on Tuesday afternoon. Jonathan Schoop and Andrew Lipcius had the only hits today, with Schoop’s a double as his rehab assignment moved to Triple-A today.
St. Paul Saints 1, Toledo Mud Hens 0 (F/7)(Gm 2)(box)
The second half of this doubleheader saw a bullpen day go pretty darn well, but the offense only managed three hits. Zack Short and Andre Lipcius each collected a double, while Schoop added a single and a walk.
Joe Navilhon got the start and pitched three perfect innings with four strikeouts. Shea Spitzbarth took over to get five outs without a run despite a lot of traffice on the basepaths. Finally Angel De Jesus allowed the only run of the game in the sixth inning, and the Hens had no answer.
Schoop: 1-2, BB
Lipcius: 1-3, 2B
Coming Up Next: The Saints will look to make it three in a row with RHP Ronny Henriguez (2-4, 5.94 ERA) on the mound. The Hens, will be improvising a bit again.
Altoona Curve 8, Erie SeaWolves 1 (box)
Fortunately, the Bowie Baysox also lost on Tuesday night, but the SeaWolves lost an opportunity to steal the division lead as the two clubs stayed locked atop the division with only 11 games remaining on the schedule.
Sawyer Gipson-Long was rocked for five runs in 4.2 innings of work, taking the loss. Andrew Magno, an interesting lefty reliever we’ve been following more closely, was also knocked around in his Double-A debut giving up a pair of runs in relief.
The SeaWolves got on the board in the bottom of the second when Quincy Nieporte led off with a walk. Dane Myers struck out, but Bryant Packard singled, and an error on the play allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Daniel Cabrera lifted a fly ball to center field for a sacrifice fly, as Nieporte scored, but it turned into an inning ending double play when Packard got caught too far off second base to get back in time.
The offense wouldn’t do much more in this one.
Myers: 2-4, 2B, 2 SO
Rosoff: 2-3
Gipson-Long (L, 2-2): 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 SO
Coming Up Next: No starters are announced yet for Tuesday night’s matchup at 6:05 p.m. EDT at UPMC Park.
West Michigan Whitecaps 3, Great Lakes Loons 0 (box)
The Whitecaps opened their final series of the season at home with a victory. Their third straight win, coupled with two straight losses by Lake County, has the Whitecaps just a game behind them atop the Midwest League East with only five games left in the regular season. This is a good week to head out to Comstock Park to see Izaac Pacheco and Jace Jung try to lead their teammates to the second half division crown in a big game atmosphere.
Carlos Guzman was excellent, closing out a strong second half with six innings of shutout ball with just two hits and a walk allowed, while ringing up six more strikeouts. Guzman’s WHIP is sub-.90 since the beginning of July. Now 24, he was in the wilderness for most of 2020 and 2021, but really got his control back over the past two months and has maintained pretty good strikeout rates. He may yet be worth tracking next season.
The Whitecaps put two on the board in the bottom of the first and never looked back. Carlos Mendoza led off with a single, and Ben Malgeri followed with one of his own. Jace Jung went the opposite way for an RBI single to score Mendoza and advance Malgeri to third, where Izaac Pacheco brought him home with a sacrifice fly to center.
The Whitecaps got an add-on run in the fifth when Austin Murr led off with a walk. A pair of bunts moved him to third, and a wild pitch scored him. The bullpen kept the Loons off the board over the final three innings to lock this one down. The ninth inning did get dicey before reliever Jack Anderson got a fly out to put this one to bed. Here is the call from the voice of the Whitecaps’ Dan Hasty.
Mendoza: 2-4, R, SO
Jung: 1-3, RBI, BB, SO
Murr: 1-2, R, 2 BB
Guzman (W, 9-6): 6.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, BB, 6 SO
Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps have yet to announce for Wednesday’s 6:35 p.m. EDT meetup with the Loons.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 4, Jupiter Hammerheads 2 (box)
The Flying Tigers fell behind early but poured it on eventually to take the first of six in Jupiter, FL on Tuesday.
Veteran minor leaguer J.T. Hintzen allowed a pair of runs in three innings of work as the Hammerheads jumped out to an early lead in the third inning. However, RHP Ulices Campos shut them down for five solid innings to set up a comeback.
In the fifth, Dom Johnson led off with a single, and two batters later Peyton Graham ripped a triple to the wall in center field to score Johnson. In the sixth, it was Johnson, and then Cristian Santana with RBI singles as the Flying Tigers seized a 3-2 lead.
In the seventh, Manuel Sequera reached on an error to lead off, and Roberto Campos followed with a sharp single. Andrew Jenkins drew a walk, loading the bases, and a fly ball from Luke Gold scored Sequera, though Campos was caught trying to advance to third for a double play to squander the chance at a rally. Ultimately, they didn’t need any more.
Graham: 1-4, RBI, 3B, BB, SO
Santana: 2-4, RBI, BB
Campos (W, 1-0): 5.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 3 SO
Coming Up Next: It will be a 6:30 p.m. EDT start on Wednesday night. No starters are announced yet.