Toledo Mud Hens at Louisville Bats (susp)
Brant Hurter got the start in this one and held the Bats to just a solo shot, though he did have to scatter five hits over three innings to do it. Hurter struck out five, but rains washed this one out in the fourth inning.
The Hens got a Buddy Kennedy solo shot in the top of the third, then came back for more in the top of the fourth. Jace Jung led off with a double and he would score on an Akil Baddoo single. Justice Bigbie walked and the Bats went to their bullpen, but it didn’t help them. Baddoo and Bigbie took the new reliever by surprise and pulled off a double steal. They both scored on Bligh Madris single to make it 4-1.
The game was suspended in the middle of the fourth. They plan to finish it before Thursday night’s regularly scheduled matchup.
Altoona Curve 2, Erie SeaWolves 0 (box)
Garrett Burhenn spun a good game on Wednesday, but he was matched by Altoona pitching. Neither team could get much going offensively until the Bats rallied for two runs against Calvin Coker in the eighth to win it.
Burhenn didn’t rack up the strikeouts in this one, but he really had Altoona under wraps. He scattered four hits and a walk over five innings of work with three punchouts. Collecting double play balls in the first and the third snuffed any hope of a Curve rally, but unfortunately the SeaWolves’ offense was having similar trouble stringing anything together.
The SeaWolves got a single in each of the first three innings and couldn’t make anything happen. A Chris Meyers double in the fourth came with two outs.
Altoona finally put two on in the sixth with a pair of singles against reliever Tim Naughton, but the SeaWolves right-hander popped up Dustin Peterson and got a line out to center field to turn them away.
The intermittent rain finally forced a bit of a delay after the sixth inning and when things resumed the SeaWolves finally mustered a real threat when Trei Cruz led off the inning with a single and stole second base. Ben Malgeri singled up the middle but Cruz held at third. He and Malgeri then tried to pull off the delayed double steal, and Cruz was thrown out at the plate.
Coker allowed a Seth Beer solo shot to lead off the eighth, and that would be the game winning run. Altoona scratched out another run in the inning, and the SeaWolves got a runner to second in the eighth and the ninth but couldn’t get the knock when they needed it.
Cruz: 2-4, SB, CS
Burhenn: 5.0 IP, 0 R, 4 H, BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Lake County Captains 12, West Michigan Whitecaps 3 (box)
Starter Carlos Marcano got knocked around on Wednesday, and the bullpen did no better as the Captains won easily.
Marcano allowed a run in the first, but settled down for a few innings. Doubles from Seth Stephenson and Roberto Campos tied the game in the top of the fourth. However it was all Lake County from there.
Marcano allowed two in the fourth and three more in the fifth. He didn’t walk a batter in the outing but still doesn’t have enough weapons to go with a solid sinker. The contact kept coming, as did the hits. It was 6-1 when Zack Hess took over in the sixth and he was rocked for five runs in the inning before Erick Pinales took over and cleaned up the mess.
The Whitecaps offense put up two more runs in the seventh when Luke Gold singled and scored on a Campos triple. A Peyton Graham ground out scored Campos to make it 11-3. Pinales allowed a solo shot in the bottom half of the inning but this was long over by then.
Campos: 2-3, R, 2 RBI, 2B, 3B, BB
Stephenson: 1-4, 2B
Marcano (L, 1-4): 5.0 IP, 6 ER, 10 H, 0 BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.
Palm Beach Cardinals 4, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (box)
One rough inning for lefty Jake Miller doomed the Flying Tigers in a game where they had traffic on the bases all game but struggled to drive them in.
The wonderfully named Darlin Saladin got the start for Palm Beach, and the Flying Tigers had trouble with him in this one. Saladin allowed just one hit over four innings of work, striking out seven.
However, a walk to David Smith in the bottom of the third helped Lakeland to an early lead when Smith stole second and scored on a Max Clark single. Ryan Kreidler began a rehab assignment in this one, and drew a walk after Clark, but Brett Callahan grounded out to end the inning.
In the fourth, Miller allowed a pair of singles to open the inning, and Palm Beach would go on to score three on a pair of RBI doubles. The lefty settled down and had no trouble closing out his day with a 1-2-3 fifth, but the Flying Tigers were down 3-1.
David Smith came through again when he led off the fifth with a line drive to left that went for a triple. Kevin McGonigle singled through the right side of the infield, and it was 3-2 Palm Beach. Max Clark hit a rocket right to the Cardinals right fielder, and the Cardinals were able to snuff any further trouble in the inning.
Cam Brown allowed a run in the seventh to make it 4-2 Palm Beach. Clark doubled with one out in the seventh but was stranded. The Flying Tigers narrowed that lead in the eighth. Jim Jarvis singled with one out and Clayton Campbell drew a walk. Alonzo Rubalcaba struck out, but Smith came through again with a single through the left side to plate Jarvis and get Campbell to second. Unfortunately, this was not McGonigle’s day as he struck out for the third time.
Clark led off the bottom of the ninth by beating out an infield single. Alvaro Gonzalez pinch-hit for Kreidler and flew out to center field. Clark then stole second base and all they needed was a single to tie the game, but Jose De La Cruz and Samuel Gil struck out to end it.
Clark: 3-5, RBI, 2B, K, SB
Smith: 2-3, 2 R, RBI, 3B, BB, K, SB
Miller (L, 1-1): 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start on Thursday night with the series tied at a game apiece.