Toledo Mud Hens 7, St. Paul Saints 5 (box)
Ty Madden’s second Triple-A start went a little better, and the offense build a big early lead and hung on late to take the first of six games.
Madden got through the top of the first with just a walk allowed, and his offense went to work. Buddy Kennedy walked with one out and Jace Jung singled him to second. Keston Hiura smoked a double to center field to plate Kennedy. Bligh Madris followed with a double as well, scoring Jung and Hiura both, and then Madris rode home on a Dillon Dingler single. 4-0 Hens.
Madden would allow solo shots to left-handed hitters in both the second and third inning. Otherwise he was fine for four innings, striking out four hitters. The big developmental step for Madden right now is handling left-handed hitters. A new splitter, all the rage with the Tigers now for anyone struggling with a circle change, helped Madden combat lefties in Erie and earned him a promotion to Toledo. This is still the key issue to watch with him as he tries to work him way up near the front of the line for a call-up this summer.
The Mud Hens, without Justyn-Henry Malloy, who has missed a few games with an undisclosed injury, got a run in the second after Andrew Navigato led off with a double, and Kennedy singled him home, so it was 5-2 after three innings. In the fourth, Navigato launched a solo to left at 105.6 mph. 6-2 Hens.
Mason Englert tossed a clean fifth, but Bryce Tassin allowed a run in the top of the sixth. The Hens answered back in the bottom of the seventh courtesy of Jace Jung’s sixth home run of the season. This one went the other way in a nice piece of hitting.
Jace Jung (@tigers) continues to blister the baseball at Triple-A
MLB’s No. 53 prospect swats his 6th homer of the year (.922 OPS) and has 4 multihit efforts in his past 5 contests for the @MudHens. pic.twitter.com/sKhZ3hEdyf
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 8, 2024
Trey Wingenter gave the Hens two excellent innings of relief, and while Brenan Hanifee leaked a pair of runs in the ninth, the outcome was never really in doubt.
Jung: 3-4, 2 R, RBI, HR
Navigato: 3-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, HR
Madden: 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: Game 2 is an 11:05 a.m. ET start at Fifth Third Field on Wednesday.
Quick note that Tigers VP of player development, Ryan Garko, appeared for a pretty long interview on the Days of Roar podcast with Evan Petzold of the Free Press and host Mark Gorosh on Monday. Pretty good conversation with some interesting notes on the difficulties of leveling up, particularly from Triple-A to the majors. Worth a listen.
Erie SeaWolves 7, Richmond Flying Squirrels 1 (box)
Lael Lockhart was back in dominant form on Tuesday as he and the SeaWolves staff carved up the Squirrels while the offense took advantage of seven walks issued by Richmond.
Lockhart allowed three hits and three walks, but no runs over four innings of work, and struck out seven along the way. Adam Wolf and Calvin Coker each spun a pair of scoreless innings, with Jake Higginbotham closing this one out.
This game turned quickly in the second inning as Lockhart stranded a leadoff triple, and the SeaWolves loaded the bases and a Trei Cruz walk drove in the first run of the game. An inning ending double play ball squandered some opportunities, but they came right back out in the third hunting for more.
Gage Workman got them started in the third, drawing a leadoff walk and stealing second. Hao-Yu Lee followed with a walk, and Workman then stole third as Carlos Mendoza struck out. Jake Holton doubled them both in to make it 3-0. A two-run single from Mendoza in the fourth made it 5-0, and Jake Holton did it again doubling with Workman and Mendoza in scoring position to make it 7-0.
Holton: 3-4, R, 4 RBI, 2 2B
Workman: 0-2, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SB
Mendoza: 1-2, R, 2 RBI, BB, K
Lockhart: 4.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 K
Coming Up Next: It’s an 11:05 a.m. ET start in Erie as well on Wednesday.
West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Fort Wayne TinCaps 4 (F/10)(box)
A tight game saw the TinCaps seize control with a two-run 10th inning before the Whitecaps roared back in the bottom half to walk them off courtesy of a two-run double from Max Anderson on Tuesday night.
Dylan Smith got the start and we finally got to see him dial it in this season. Smith didn’t allow a walk, which is big for him, and punched out six, allowing just a second inning solo shot.
The Whitecaps missed on some scoring opportunities early on, but finally broke through in the sixth. Austin Murr led off with a double and took third on a Luke Gold fly out. Cole Turney’s ground out scored him to tie the game at 1-1.
Max Alba allowed the TinCaps to take a 2-1 lead in the eighth, but the Whitecaps answered right back. With two outs in the bottom half, Gold singled and then scored on a Turney double to tie the game.
Matt Merrill took over in the 10th from Alba. He wild pitched the runner on second to third, and a sacrifice fly scored him with two outs. Merrill then walked Homer Bush Jr., who promptly stole second base and scored on a Kai Murphy double before Merrill could shut the door.
The Whitecaps had Josh Crouch at second to start the inning, and Seth Stephenson immediately singled him home to make it a 4-3 Fort Wayne lead. Murr grounded out and Gold struck out, and the TinCaps elected to intentionally walk Turney to pitch to the right-handed Max Anderson. The Tigers second rounder out of Nebraska last summer smashed a double to the wall in center field, and Stephenson and Turney raced home to end this one.
Anderson: 2-5, 2 RBI, 2B, K
Gold: 2-4, R, BB, K
Stephenson: 1-4, R, RBI, BB
Smith: 5.0 IP, ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: First pitch on Wednesday is set for 6:35 p.m. ET. After some scary weather on the west side—love to my folks in Kalamazoo—it should be a beautiful night for a ballgame.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 3, Daytona Tortugas 1 (box)
The Flying Tigers’ offense was pretty quiet in this one, but the pitching had it covered.
The game started with Kevin McGonigle reaching on an error in left field that allowed him to reach third base. Max Clark singled him home and took second on the play after the first baseman clanged the throw coming from shortstop. Brett Callahan doubled him home two batters later, and the 2-0 lead was all they’d need in this one.
Joe Miller got the start and he allowed a solo shot in the bottom of the first, but went on to blank the Tortugas for five innings otherwise. Gabriel Sequeira gave them two scoreless innings, as did Garrett Hill to earn the save.
In the seventh, Clayton Campbell led off with a double to center field. Callahan singled him to third, and Campbell scored on a Samuel Gil double play ball for a little insurance run.
Callahan: 2-4, 2B, K
Campbell: 1-4, R, 2B, K
Miller (W, 2-0): 5.0 IP, ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K
Florida Complex League
Probably not going to do these blow by blow but there are some notes to report. LHP Paul Wilson, the Tigers 3rd round prep pick last summer, made his debut on Monday. He was a little wild, walking four, but allowed just a run over four innings of work.
20th round prep pitcher from last year’s draft, Johnathan Rogers, got the start on Tuesday and was excellent. The big right-hander scattered two hits over four innings with four strikeouts on the day. Andrew Dunford, the 6’7” right-handed prep pick taken last year in the 12th round, got off to a rough start, walking four and allowing four earned runs.
SS/3B Carson Rucker, the Tigers fourth rounder, doubled on Monday, and had two hits, including another double, in Tuesday’s 10 inning victory over FCL Blue Jays.