St. Paul Saints 10, Toledo Mud Hens 6 (box)
The Saints jumped all over Austin Bergner and held on to win their third straight over the Mud Hens.
The Saints got two runs in the top of the first, and three more in the second, eventually knocking Bergner out after three innings. They added another run in the fourth before the Hens finally started clawing their way back.
Daz Cameron got the Hens going, launching a two-run shot in the fourth for his seventh homer of the season. Still the Saints added another run in the top of the sixth. In the bottom half, Zack Short led off with a single and Cameron followed with a walk. A double play ball from Jonathan Schoop moved Short to third, where he’d score on a wild pitch.
Short came through with a two-run double in the seventh, and Cameron singled in Chris Rabago in the bottom of the ninth. The Saints just kept adding runs to hold them at bay.
Cameron: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, BB, SO
Short: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, SO
Coming Up Next: RHP Simeon Woods Richardson starts for the Saints on Thursday night. The Hens haven’t announced a starter yet.
Altoona Curve 2, Erie SeaWolves 1 (F/10)(box)
The pitching was strong on both sides, but the Curve managed to score the Manfred runner in the top of the 10th, and the SeaWolves’ couldn’t match them on Wednesday.
Gerson Moreno gave Erie two perfect innings with four strikeouts in a bit of an opener start, before Brant Hurter took over. The big lefty punched out seven in four innings of work, allowing three hits and a walk. He did allow an unearned run in the third, as his own error covering first base with two outs in the inning cost him.
The SeaWolves had some chances early on and couldn’t take advantage. Quincy Nieporte led off the second with a double but was stranded. They had two on with two outs in the fifth, but couldn’t get a clutch knock. Finally in the eighth, Eric De La Rosa led off with a double, and Gage Workman doubled him home two batters later, but Workman was stranded as Parker Meadows grounded out, and Quincy Nieporte flew out to end the inning.
Brendan White allowed a double in the 10th with the runner on second to lose the tie. Jon Rosoff started at second in the bottom half, and reached third on a wild pitch. Eric De La Rosa managed an infield single to lead off the 10th, but Rosoff had to hold at third and De La Rosa made a cardinal mistake in getting picked off. Rosoff was thrown out at home on an Andrew Navigato ground ball, and Workman struck out to end it.
De La Rosa: 3-4, R, 2B
Meadows: 1-3, BB, SO
Hurter: 4.0 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 H, BB, 7 SO
Coming Up Next: First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday night. The Bowie Baysox lost as well, so the two clubs are still tied up with 10 games left on the schedule.
Great Lakes Loons 3, West Michigan Whitecaps 0 (box)
The Loons’ Adolfo Ramirez carved up the Whitecaps in this one, and the bullpen did the rest. The Whitecaps managed just three singles and a pair of walks on the night.
Carlos Pena’s short start was quite good for the Whitecaps. He allowed a run over three innings, but punched out seven, allowing just three hits and a walk. The bullpen leaked a pair of runs, but the pitching was not the issue in this one.
Crouch: 1-2, BB
Pena: 3.0 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 7 SO
Coming Up Next: RHP Keider Montero (7-7, 4.74 ERA) takes on RHP River Ryan (1-1, 0.82 ERA) at 6:35 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Lake County won on Wednesday, so the Whitecaps are now two games back in the divisional chase with just four to play.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, Jupiter Hammerheads 0 (box)
The pitching was good, but it was two of the Tigers top young positional prospects who carried the Flying Tigers on Wednesday.
Lakeland started the scoring in the second. Andrew Jenkins reached on an error to start the inning, and stole second before scoring on a Dom Johnson single. In the third Cristian Santana doubled with one out and scored on a Peyton Graham single. Graham advanced on the throw in, and Jenkins knocked him in with a single.
In the fifth, Santana was drilled by a 94 mph fastball. Graham made them pay, launching his first pro home run to left field. Santana got further vengeance in the seventh when Iverson Leonardo was hit by a pitch leading off. Santana smoked a two-run shot, his ninth, to left field. The bullpen did the rest.
Santana: 2-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, HR, 2B, SO
Graham: 2-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR
Jenkins: 1-4, R, RBI, SO, SB
Coming Up Next: First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday night.