Jace Jung goes yard twice to power Erie

Indianapolis Indians 8, Toledo Mud Hens 6 (box)

The Mud Hens’ offense had a good night, but the pitching staff got lit up a bit too much to win on Tuesday.

Sean Guenther got the spot start and quickly gave up a pair of runs in the first. The Hens came right back in the second. Michael Papierski doubled to lead off the inning, and a batter later Dillon Dingler cracked his second home run since his promotion.

Donny Sands led off the fourth with a walk, took second on a Dingler single, and then third as Nick Solak drew a walk. A sacrifice fly from Nick Maton gave the Hens a 3-2 lead. Colt Keith singled and scored on a Papierski single in the fifth, but Brenan Hanifee, who took over from Guenther in the third, allowed a pair of runs in the bottom half as Indianapolis tied things up at 4-4.

Eddys Leonard broke the tie in the top of the seventh. He led off with a walk, stole second, took third on an error on the play, and scored on a Ryan Kreidler sac fly. Indy came right back with a run against Sawyer Gipson-Long in the bottom half. 5-5 tie.

The SeaWolves had a one-out scoring chance in the eighth but couldn’t cash in, and in the bottom half Gipson-Long gave up a pair of homers and three runs total. Things didn’t look good, but at least the ninth inning turned out to be a rollercoaster.

Leonard led off, and he got a 1-2 mistake over the middle and flicked a solo shot to left. The situation got even more intriguing as Kreidler walked to bring the tying runner to the plate. Papierski flew out, but Sands doubled to right field to move Kreidler to third. Dingler struck out but Solak walked to load the bases in a wild inning, but it ended with a Maton fly out to left field. Alas.

Leonard: 3-4, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB, K

Dingler: 2-5, R, 2 RBI, HR, 2 K

Papierski: 2-5, R, RBI, 2B

Coming Up Next: LHP Zach Logue (3-8, 6.45 ERA) takes on RHP Roansy Contreras (0-0, 2.81 ERA) at 6:35 p.m. ET.

Justyn-Henry Malloy left the game after his second at-bat in the third inning on Tuesday. No word yet on a reason, but Evan Petzold of the Free Press reports that the International League Player of the Week has not been promoted to Detroit. Hopefully nothing serious.

Erie SeaWolves 9, Somerset Patriots 7 (F/10)(box)

Jace Jung continued to punish Midwest League pitching on Tuesday. The second baseman launched his 23rd and 24th home runs on the year to bookmark a strong night for the SeaWolves’ offense.

After a quiet first inning, Luis Santana got Erie started with a leadoff single in the top of the second inning. Chris Meyers drilled a grounder back up the middle for a single but Santana was cut down trying to go first to third. Ben Malgeri popped out, and it didn’t look like much was going to come of the early threat, but Jake Holton came through with a lined single to get Meyers to third. Corey Joyce pulled a ball through the left side of the infield, and it was 1-0 Erie. A Julio E. Rodriguez single made it 2-0, and they got right back to work in the third inning.

Justice Bigbie led off the third with a single and Jung hammered a fly ball out to center field for a two-run shot. 4-0 Erie.

Bryan Sammons was solid for five innings of work, allowing two runs, but in the sixth he got knocked out and Blake Holub was hit up in relief as the Patriots scored four runs to take a 6-4 lead. Austin Bergner took over and silenced Somerset for two innings, racking up four strikeouts.

The offense went cold after the early outburst, and they went into the ninth inning still down two runs. A throwing error on Somerset’s second baseman allowed Ben Malgeri to reach leading off the top half, and that error came back to haunt them. Holton and Joyce struck out, and things looked bleak, but Rodriguez got a 1-0 meatball and hammered it to center field for a two-run shot that tied the game.

Lefty Andrew Magno took over in the bottom half looking to send it to extras, but allowed a leadoff single that could have made things a bit tense. But Magno bounced back with a strikeout, and then Rodriguez cut down the runner trying to steal second. Huge sequence there too, and a fly out sent this to the tenth.

With Trei Cruz starting on second base, the SeaWolves had the right man at the plate, as Bigbie singled to right field. Jung followed by torching a drive over the wall in right for a three-run shot. You know that felt good.

Magno allowed the runner on second to score, advancing on a fly out and a ground out to pull within two. A walk and a single followed, and now things were tense, but he fought through it and finished the save with a strikeout.

Jung: 2-4, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR, BB, 2 K

Rodriguez: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, 2 K

Bigbie: 2-5, 2 R

Sammons: 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: LHP Brant Hurter (6-7, 3.55 ERA) takes on a tough opponent in Somerset’s RHP Drew Thorpe (4-0, 1.37 ERA) on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. ET.

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

The Whitecaps offense just couldn’t get anything going in this one. Seth Stephenson led off the bottom of the first with a single and took second on a throwing error. He moved to third on a ground out and scored on an Eliezer Alfonzo single. That was all the offense managed on the day.

Jackson Jobe gave them a solid start, allowing just four hits against no walks and six strikeouts, but again, two of the hits were hangers that got crushed for solo home runs. The Loons got him in the second and the fifth innings to take away the early lead and their bullpen did the rest.

Alfonzo: 1-3, RBI

Jobe (L, 2-2): 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 6 SO

Coming Up Next: RHP Dylan Smith (1-1, 3.27 ERA) takes on LHP Justin Wrobleski (4-4, 2.90 ERA) at 6:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 10, Tampa Tarpons 3 (box)

The Flying Tigers welcomed in Tampa on Tuesday and delivered a beatdown that included Kevin McGonigle’s first Low-A home run.

Edgardo Ibarra got the start, and despite handing out walks like Halloween candy, he managed to go 4 ¹⁄₃ innings with only a run allowed. Meanwhile the offense was building a big lead.

With one out in the bottom of the second, catcher Josue Briceno singled to right and was wild pitched to second after Jose De La Cruz struck out. McGonigle walked, and Bennett Lee walked to load the bases…and then David Smith walked…and then Jim Jarvis was hit by a pitch. Oh and then Max Clark walked as well. 3-0 Lakeland. Ain’t Low-A ball grand?

In the third, Quincy Nieporte led off with a walk—the Flying Tigers would draw 11 walks in this one—and Jose De La Cruz mashed a two-run shot, his 11th on the year.

Ibarra gave up his lone run in the fifth, so heading into the bottom half it was 5-1 Lakeland. Briceno led off with a single, and three more walks and a ground out made it 7-1.

In the seventh, McGonigle blasted a solo shot, his first professional home run, to left to make it 8-1, and they scratched out another run on a walk, single, and a ground out from Jarvis. Tampa scored two in the top of the eighth, but in the bottom half, Max Anderson was hit by a pitch to leadoff, and Nieporte followed with a single. A Briceno double play ball brought home Anderson for the 10th run on the day.

Briceno: 2-5, 2 R

McGonigle: 1-3, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB

De La Cruz: 1-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, BB

Clark: 0-4, RBI, BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start at Publix Field on Wednesday evening. Bradenton remains 1 ¹⁄₂ games back of Lakeland in the West Division and currently on a six-game win streak, so the Flying Tigers need to keep it rolling in this final series of the year.

Congratulations to outfielder Seth Stephenson on being named the Florida State League’s Player of the Month for August. He’s been an absolute menace leading off the Flying Tigers lineup most of the year.