St. Paul Saints 11, Toledo Mud Hens 6 (box)
Keider Montero was knocked out of this one early, and the bullpen took a beating throughout the middle innings to lose on Wednesday.
Montero’s inning unraveled with two outs in the second inning. A walk was followed by a Diego A. Castillo single and then Castillo stole second base. Montero couldn’t make the play on a comebacker that scored the first run. A two-run triple followed, and Montero was lifted as his pitch count in the inning got out of hand. Angel Reyes took over, hit the first batter he faced and then gave up the Saints second triple of the inning before finally getting out of the jam. Reyes would allow the Saints sixth run in the top of the third before the Hens offense got going.
In the bottom of the third, Parker Meadows ripped a single to right field, stole second, and scored on an Akil Baddoo single. 6-1 St. Paul.
The Hens finally made a push in the bottom of the sixth. Baddoo reached on the ever more common catcher interference call, stole second, and took third on a Jace Jung ground out. Keston Hiura singled in Baddoo, and Bligh Madris and Buddy Kennedy each reached to load the bases. Justice Bigbie singled in Hiura and Madris to make it 6-4.
That was as close as they’d get. Sean Guenther allowed a run in the seventh, and Beau Brieske couldn’t command anything in the eighth and was shelled for four runs.
The Hens scratched out a run in the eighth, and a Baddoo triple led to one more in the ninth, but this was out of reach.
Bigbie: 3-4, 2 RBI
Baddoo: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 3B, 2 SB
Montero (L, 0-1): 1.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: A 6:35 p.m. ET start time is set for Thursday evening.
Erie SeaWolves 4, Richmond Flying Squirrels 1 (box)
Lefty Carlos Pena put together a good start in taking Jackson Jobe’s spot in the SeaWolves rotation. The command artist blanked the Flying Squirrels for four innings, allowing three hits and a walk, striking out four.
The SeaWolves offense wasn’t doing a whole lot either until the fourth. Gage Workman reached on a ground ball that was thrown away by Richmond’s third baseman. A Carlos Mendoza bunt was thrown away by pitcher Ryan Murphy, getting Workman to third where a wild pitch scored him. Jake Holton doubled in Mendoza and the SeaWolves had a 2-0 lead.
Brendan White took over in the fifth as he looks to work his way back to Toledo from some arm trouble this spring. He walked four hitters, with a throwing error on a double steal from catcher Stephen Scott allowing a run before R.J. Petit came on to shut the door on the inning.
In the sixth, Workman pulled a ground ball double down the right field line and scored on a Mendoza single. In the eighth, Ben Malgeri doubled to lead off the inning and a pair of fly balls brought him home, with Workman collecting the sac fly RBI.
Joel Peguero spun two good innings of relief, and Andrew Magno, who has really cut down the walk so far, picking up the save without issue.
Mendoza: 2-3, R, RBI, BB
Workman: 1-3, 2 R, RBI, 2B, K
Pena: 4.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Thursday as the SeaWolves look to make it three in a row.
West Michigan Whitecaps 4, Fort Wayne TinCaps 0 (box)
Fresh off a walkoff victory on Tuesday, the Whitecaps remained thirsty on Wednesday, my friends. Colin Fields put together a good outing, and the Whitecaps racked up eight hits to smother the TinCaps in this one.
Fields spun five shutout innings, scattering a double and three singles while walking one against four punch outs.
The Whitecaps didn’t exactly come out swinging the heavy lumber in this one either. Catcher Bennett Lee received a quick promotion up to West Michigan yesterday, and he drew a walk in the third as their first baserunner. The former Wake Forest catcher was the Tigers sixth rounder in the 2023 draft, and the Tigers appear pretty pleased with his progress on both sides of the ball after a somewhat shaky short debut in Lakeland last summer.
Luke Gold walked with one out in the bottom of the fourth, and stole second base. Outfielder Cole Turney, still rocking an outlandish 1.037 OPS, was hit by a pitch, and the pair then pulled off a double steal. Max Anderson went oppo for a line drive double that scored them both. 2-0 Whitecaps. The loaded the bases on an Izaac Pacheco walk and a Peyton Graham single, but Dom Johnson and Lee each lined out.
Lee’s auspicious day continued in the seventh when he led off with a line drive over the left field walk to make it 3-0 Whitecaps. Turney led off the eighth with a double and late scored on a Johnson single to complete the scoring.
The Whitecaps bullpen allowed only three baserunners over the final four innings to lock this one up.
Lee: 1-3, R, RBI, HR, BB, K
Anderson: 2-4, 2 RBI, 2B, K
Pacheco: 2-3, BB
Fields (W, 1-2): 5.0 IP, 0 R, 4 H, BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Thursday as the Whitecaps look to make it three in a row in the series.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 14, Daytona Tortugas 7 (box)
This was a wild back and forth game on Wednesday afternoon until the Flying Tigers went off in the ninth for seven runs and crushed a pesky Tortugas squad.
It was all Lakeland early on. With one out in the first, Max Clark and Jose Briceño were walked and then advanced on a wild pitch. A Clayton Campbell walk loaded the bases, and Brett Callahan dumped a little pop-up into right field that was misplayed. Clark and Briceño scored and Campbell reached third. Samuel Gil reached on a walk to re-load the bases, but they couldn’t push another run across as Daytona’s starter was knocked out and reliever Jonah Hurney struck out Jim Jarvis and Cristian Santana.
In the second they got right back at it. David Smith drew a leadoff walk and Kevin McGonigle singled him to third. Max Clark ripped a double to right field, scoring Smith, though McGonigle was thrown out a third base. Clark took third on a Briceño ground out, and Campbell drove him in with a single to make it 4-0.
Meanwhile, Joe Adametz cruised through four scoreless innings of work. Things were well in hand until he gave up a walk and three straight singles in the fifth. The Tortugas scored two, and they knocked in two more of Adamez’s baserunners against reliever Patrick Pridgen to tie the game.
In the sixth, Daytona got a solo shot from Yerlin Confidan off of Lakeland’s Carlos De Los Santos to take a one-run lead.
The Flying Tigers were just getting warmed up, however. In the eighth, Smith and McGonigle singled with one out. Max Clark grounded into a force of McGonigle at second but avoided the double play. Briceño spanked a single to right to score Smith. A catcher’s interference call allowed Campbell to reach and then Callahan was hit by a pitch to force in the go-ahead run. Samuel Gil drew a walk to force in Briceño, and it was 7-5 Lakeland.
The Tortugas struck right back against Yosber Sanchez in the bottom half. A Gil error helped them put up two runs and tie the game again.
The back and forth ended there as the Tortugas just melted down completely in the top of the ninth. Walks, errors, stolen bases, it was a steady parade for the Flying Tigers offense, punctuated by a two-run single from Briceño and a Jim Jarvis triple as they scored seven runs to bury Daytona. Thomas Bruss continues to be a really interesting relief prospect, striking out the side for the second straight outing to close this one out.
McGonigle: 3-6, R, K
Clark: 1-4, 4 R, RBI, 2B, 2 BB
Briceño: 2-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB
Callahan: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, K, 2 SB
Adametz: 4.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Thursday.