Toledo Mud Hens 8, Lehigh Valley IronPigs 7 (box)
A big day for the offense carried the Hens over Lehigh Valley in game 1 of this series from Allentown, PA. Jack O’Loughlin continues to impress, and while the bullpen made it a nail biter, a ninth inning rally brought home the victory.
The left-handed O’Loughlin, who has spent a half decade in A-ball since being drafted by the Tigers at age 17, has suddenly leveled up. With better velocity (92-94) and an improving breaking ball, the Australian looks like a different pitcher than he did even at the beginning of the season. He’s not dominating at Triple-A or rocketing up prospect lists yet, but coming straight from High-A he’s been surprisingly effective filling the hole in the Hens rotation left by Reese Olson.
On Tuesday, O’Loughlin tossed five innings of four run ball, with three earned runs. He struck out seven on the outing. He was cruising along with four shutout innings when he ran out of mojo in the fifth, allowing all four runs in that frame.
The Hens had staked him to a nice lead. Parker Meadows and Justyn-Henry Malloy went deep in the top of the first, their eighth and tenth home runs of the season, respectively. A two-run shot from catcher Michael Papierski make it 4-0 Toledo in the top of the second inning. Andre Lipcius opened the fourth inning with a double and scored on a Joe Rizzo single to make it 5-0 at that point.
Parker Meadows continues to hit with power off lefties as he leads off the game with a home run. Then Justyn Henry-Malloy went yard. pic.twitter.com/0ncH7zdNea
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 13, 2023
O’Loughlin’s minor meltdown in the fifth made it 5-4 Hens. Back-to-back doubles from Tyler Nevin and Nick Solak opened the seventh, with Nevin scoring on the latter. Papierski later singled in Solak to make it 7-4. Beau Brieske came on in the sixth for an inning of rehab work that went fine.
Matt Wisler allowed three runs in the eighth and the IronPigs tied things up. But in the top of the ninth, Lipcius singled and took second on an error. A Papierski single scored him, and Sam Clay shut down the IronPigs in the bottom half to earn the save.
Meadows: 2-5, R, RBI, HR, BB, 2 SO
Papierski: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, BB
Lipcius: 2-5, 2 R, 2B, 2 SO
O’Loughlin: 5.0 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 7 SO
Coming Up Next: LHP Zach Logue (1-4, 5.40 ERA) starts for the Hens on Wednesday evening at 7:05 p.m. ET. The IronPigs haven’t announced a starter yet.
Erie SeaWolves 7, Harrisburg Senators 3 (box)
A strong start from Keider Montero and three homers from the offense carried Erie over Harrisburg on Tuesday.
Montero was sharp in this one, showcasing good fastball command and a mix of nasty, high spin breaking balls and a good tumbling changeup that he even used against right-handers at times. He punched out nine in six innings of work, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks. The right-hander threw 58 of 86 pitches for strikes, and was arguably squeezed a fair bit as well.
The offense cranked out 14 hits in this one and didn’t walk once. Diego Rincones mashed a three-run shot in the second inning. Rincones and Dillon Dingler both homered in the eighth after Harrisburg had trimmed the SeaWolves’ early lead to one run. That put this one to bed as an Erie victory.
LF Justice Bigbie was promoted from West Michigan to Erie on Tuesday and went 4-for-4, scoring twice in his Double-A debut.
Pretty memorable Double-A debut for Justice Bigbie yesterday. He went 4-for-4 and scored a pair of runs as Erie moved into a virtual tie for 1st place. pic.twitter.com/RUvRQ6AfKw
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 14, 2023
Rincones: 2-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR, SO
Dingler: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR
Perez: 2-5
Montero (W, 4-2): 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 9 SO
Coming Up Next: RHP Ty Madden (0-1, 4.35 ERA) has struggled a bit recently and looks to get on track against the Senators at 6:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday. LHP Alex Troop (3-4, 4.66 ERA) starts for the home team.
West Michigan Whitecaps 3, Lake County Captains 1 (box)
Good pitching and home run power carried the day for the Whitecaps last night.
Relief prospect Tyler Mattison started as an opener in this one, striking out two in a perfect frame. Garrett Burhenn took over as the “starter” and spun five innings of one run ball, allowing just a solo shot.
West Michigan got on the board right away in this one as Danny Serretti led off the game with a walk, moved to second on a Jace Jung ground out, and then scored on a Roberto Campos single. Brady Allen launched his seventh homer of the season in the third, and Dillon Paulson added a solo shot in the fourth to complete the scoring.
Allen: 1-3, R, RBI HR, BB, 2 SO
Mendoza: 2-3, BB
Burhenn (W, 3-2): 5.0 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 3 SO
Coming Up Next: RHP Troy Melton (0-0, 1.86 ERA) starts for the Whitecaps on Wednesday. RHP Aaron Davenport (0-4, 5.11 ERA) goes for Lake County. First pitch was at 11:00 a.m. ET.
Dunedin Blue Jays 9, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (box)
The Flying Tigers built an early lead but Dunedin seized control with a pair of four-run innings to take the first of six on Tuesday.
In the first, Lazaro Benitez doubled in Mario Feliciano for the Flygers first run. Chris Mauloni took over from a rehabbing Trey Wingenter, who had a very shaky outing, with two outs in the first and wild pitched a run home, allowing Dunedin to tie it up. A two-run single from Peyton Graham in the second inning made it 3-1 Lakeland. Unfortunately, Cole Patten took over and was clubbed for four runs in the third and four more in the fourth as Dunedin was off to the races.
Valero: 3-4, R, 2B
Graham: 1-5, 2 RBI, SO
Patten (L, 1-4): 2.2 IP, 8 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 2 SO
Coming Up Next: First pitch on Wednesday is set for 6:30 p.m. ET.