Keider Montero strikes out 11 as SeaWolves extend division lead

St. Paul Saints 6, Toledo Mud Hens 2 (box)

Zach Logue was knocked around a bit and the offense just couldn’t put together a rally on Tuesday night.

Logue gave up four earned over four innings of work. He allowed six hits, walked two, and struck out six. A pair of solo shots in the second inning put him in a bit of a hole, and a two-run fourth by the Saints ended Logue’s night.

Beau Brieske took over and got the next five outs, allowing just a walk, though he didn’t record a strikeout. Matt Wisler cleaned up the sixth for Brieske, and Trey Wingenter tossed a scoreless seventh.

Parker Meadows doubled the opposite way in the third with two outs, and scored on a Nick Solak single to get the Hens on the board. Brendon Davis hit a solo shot, his fifth home run, in the seventh. They had an opportunity in the sixth as Solak led off with a double and then Tyler Nevin walked with one out, but Donny Sands and Andre Lipcius struck out. Otherwise there weren’t any real threats produced.

Miguel Diaz allowed two runs in the top of the ninth, and other than a leadoff single from Grant Witherspoon, the Hens went quietly. Justyn-Henry Malloy had the night off.

Meadows: 2-5, R, 2B, SO

Solak: 3-4, RBI, 2B, BB

Logue (L, 1-6): 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 SO

Coming Up Next: LHP Tarik Skubal makes his next rehab start on Wednesday at 12:05 p.m. ET. Look for him to stretch out to 50 pitches as the Tigers look for his return around the end of the month. RHP Randy Dobnak (3-3, 5.51 ERA) goes for the Saints.

Erie SeaWolves 5, Hartford Yard Goats 4 (box)

Keider Montero was electric in this one, continuing to vault up the ranks of the Tigers top pitching prospects. He wasn’t terribly efficient, throwing 60 of 95 pitches for strikes, but punching out 11 hitters takes a lot of pitches. Montero allowed a run in the fifth and one in the sixth before departing, but for most of the outing he dazzled, hitting 98 mph with his fourseamer and showing off his nasty breaking stuff and improved changeup, though a hanging changeup in the sixth went for a ride courtesy of Yanquiel Fernandez’s solo shot.

Meanwhile, Erie was building a nice lead while Montero carved up the Goats. A Trei Cruz leadoff walk and a one-out single from Wenceel Perez set them up for their first run when Cruz scored on a wild pitch. Chris Meyers, just up from West Michigan, cracked his first home run in Eastern League action in the top of the second. Perez singled to lead off the third, stole second, took third on an error on the play, and then scored on Andrew Navigato’s double to make it 3-0 after three innings. Navigato capped the SeaWolves scoring with a two-run blast in the fourth with Trei Cruz aboard.

Sean Guenther allowed a run in relief, Andrew Magno spun a clean frame, and R.J. Petit closed it out, though he did allow a two-out solo shot to DRew Romo before getting the final out and collecting the save.

Navigato: 3-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, 2B, SO

Perez: 2-5, R, SB

Meyers: 1-4, R, RBI, HR, BB, SO

Montero (W, 5-2): 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 11 SO

Coming Up Next: RHP Ty Madden (1-1, 4.44 ERA) looks to make it two in a row over the Yard Goats on Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. ET. Akron and Altoona both lost on Tuesday, so the SeaWolves lead in the division race is 2 and 2.5 games over those two clubs, respectively.

In injury news on Tuesday, right-hander Sawyer Gipson-Long was moved to the 7-day injured list. That’s a hit to their pitching staff as they push for the division first half title. The 25-year-old starter has been terribly home run prone this year, with a 1.77 HR/9, but his strikeout and walk rates are superb and had only given up more than two runs once since April.

Great Lakes Loons 2, West Michigan Whitecaps 1 (box)

Garrett Burhenn gave the Whitecaps a solid outing, but the offense couldn’t get much going in this one.

Danny Serretti led off the bottom of the first with a single, and scored on Brady Allen’s double, but Jace Jung lined out to right and the ‘Caps went down in order from there.

Errors on both Burhenn and Izaac Pacheco in the third led to a pair of unearned runs coming across. It wasn’t until the seventh that a two-out Dillon Paulson gave them a runner in scoring position, but they couldn’t get him home. Roberto Campos singled in the contest to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.

Serretti: 2-4, R

Crouch: 2-4

Burhenn (L, 3-3): 4.2 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 6 H, BB, SO

Coming Up Next: RHP Troy Melton (1-0, 1.23 ERA) looks to keep his strong season going on Wednesday as he takes on the Loons LHP Ronan Kopp (0-2, 2.34 ERA) at 6:35 p.m. ET.

Bradenton Marauders 6, Lakeland Flying Tigers 2 (box)

The Flying Tigers seized a slim early lead in this one, held it until Bradenton tied it in the seventh, and then got blown away by a four-run ninth inning for the Marauders.

Starter Cole Patten allowed a solo shot in the top of the first, but struck out seven while blanking the Marauders the rest of his five inning start. The Flying Tigers got the run back in the bottom half of the first. Peyton Graham led off with a single and collected his 14th stolen base. Mario Feliciano walked, and a sac fly from Dom Johnson allowed Graham to take third, where he tagged and scored on an Andrew Jenkins fly ball. In the second, a Graham RBI ground out plated their second run.

The Flying Tigers then ran themselves out of a few opportunities. Johnson singled to lead off the third, but was picked off at first. Graham led the fifth off with a single but was cut down trying to steal second again.

Reliever Max Alba gave up a Termarr Johnson solo shot in the seventh that tied the game. Jose Diaz came on in a tie game in the top of the ninth and got clobbered for four runs to lose it.

Graham: 2-4, R, RBI, SB, CS

Jenkins: 1-2, RBI, BB, SO

Patten: 5.0 IP, ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 SO

Coming Up Next: First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday.