Toledo Mud Hens 4, Nashville Sounds 2 (Fri)(box)
The 2024 International League season got underway at Fifth Third Park on Friday night, and the Hens came away victorious. Helps to have a major league quality starter on the mound. Matt Manning surrendered a solo shot in the third inning on a poorly placed fastball, but was otherwise overwhelming as you’d expect.
The big right-hander punched out seven to just a walk and three hits allowed over five innings of one-run ball. He racked up 11 swings and misses, mostly off the fastball/slider. The one walk was to Brewers catching prospect Jeferson Quero in the first inning, who Manning promptly picked off with Quero injuring himself on the play.
Wenceel Perez is off to a hot start, and he led off the bottom of the first with a double, scoring on a two-out Keston Hiura single. Manning punched out the side in the second inning, and Akil Baddoo led off with a walk and then stole second. Ryan Kreidler drew a two-out walk to set the table for Perez, who tripled up the gap to score them both.
Patrick Dorrian’s moonshot of a home run in the third made it 3-1 Hens, and southpaw reliever Sean Guenther allowed a run in the sixth as the Sounds pulled within one run. Mason Englert loaded the bases in the seventh, but a pair of strikeouts and a pop-out to end the inning saved the game. In the bottom half, Hiura singled and Justice Bigbie walked with one out. Baddoo struck out, but Eddys Leonard lined a single the opposite way to make it 4-2 Hens. Dillon Dingler drew a two-out walk to load the bases for the Hens, but Ryan Kreidler flew out to center field to end the inning.
Beau Brieske took things from there, closing it out with two innings of somewhat shaky work to earn the save.
Perez: 2-5, R, 2 RBI, 3B, 2B
Hiura: 3-4, R, RBI, K
Leonard: 2-3, RBI, BB, K
Manning (W, 1-0): 5.0 IP, ER, 3 H, BB, 7 K
Toledo Mud Hens 4, Nashville Sounds 2 (Sat)(box)
On Saturday afternoon, it was right-hander Keider Montero’s turn to shine in his first start of the year. Montero really carved up the Sounds for four innings, allowing just two hits and a walk, punching out six along the way. He topped 97 mph with his fourseamer and racked up a whopping 12 whiffs in his short outing.
Once again, the Hens quickly seized the lead in this one. Justyn-Henry Malloy doubled with one out in the bottom of the first and scored on a Jace Jung double to make it 1-0. Dillon Dingler crunched a solo shot in the second inning to make it 2-0. In the fifth, it was Wenceel Perez getting it down. He drew a two-out walk, stole second base, and then scored on a Jung single. 3-0 Hens.
Drew Anderson allowed quite a bit of hard contact after taking over in the fifth inning. Back-to-back doubles got Nashville on the board in the sixth, and it was 3-1 Hens. In the seventh, it was Wenceel Perez yet again, leading off with another triple to the wall. A Malloy line drive single scored him to make it 4-1. Trey Wingenter leaked an unearned run in the ninth courtesy of an error on Jace Jung, but eventually closed it out, recording all three outs via swinging strikeout or foul tip.
Perez: 1-2, 2 R, 3B, 2 BB, 2 SB
Jung: 2-4, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 K
Malloy: 2-3, R, RBI, 2B, BB, CS
Montero: 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, BB, 6 K
Nashville Sounds 12, Toledo Mud Hens 0 (box)(Sun)
The Hens went looking for the brooms on Sunday and stepped on a rake instead. Starter Brant Hurter and Wilmer Flores in relief were absolutely teed off on by Sounds hitters. Meanwhile, the Hens bats fell flat as well, as they recorded just three singles, and thus couldn’t cash in the six walks they drew on the day.
Hurter got ambushed in the first by uncharacteristically walking the first two hitters he saw. Both would come around to score before Hurter settled in the next two innings. More wildness led to a meltdown in the fourth. A leadoff walk, a stolen base, and then a wild pitch from Hurter allowed Brewer Hicklen (appropriately named, eh?) to reach third. Another walk set the table, and a single followed to score the first run. Brenan Hanifee took over and promptly allowed back-to-back doubles which blew the game open.
Flores more typically suffered for some wildness in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. He walked two in his 2 1⁄3 innings of work, and an ill-timed Eddys Leonard error helped one run to score, but Flores really couldn’t command much and the Sounds teed off on his fastball. It was also a surprise to see Flores in a bulk relief setting, but that may have been a function of him sitting too long since the end of his work in major league camp. He should be back on normal starting duty this week.
Andrew Vasquez allowed a run in relief as well to get the Sounds to a dozen of them.
About the only positive note was that right-handed reliever Brendan White returned to action from some early spring camp elbow irritation and struck out the only batter he’d face in cleaning up the fifth inning for Hanifee.
Malloy: 1-3, BB, K
Bigbie: 1-3, BB, K
Hurter (L, 0-1): 3.0 IP, 5 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: The Hens travel to Iowa for six against the Cubs starting on Tuesday night at 7:38 p.m. ET.