Hao-Yu Lee catches fire while Kevin McGonigle stays hot for Lakeland

Toledo Mud Hens 1, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 0 (Fri)(box)

Toledo Mud Hens 3, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 2 (Sat)(box)

Toledo Mud Hens 7, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 2 (Sun)(box)

The Mud Hens evened the series at 2-2 with an outstanding performance from the pitching staff on Friday night. They then picked up victories on Saturday and Sunday to take the series four games to two and run their record to 30-26, still tied for third behind Louisville and Omaha in their division.

Coming off a rough stretch, Lael Lockhart was outstanding on Friday night and Shelby Miller was solid as he works his way back to the Tigers bullpen.

There were a few hits for both sides in the early innings, but neither team could capitalize. The RailRiders got the leadoff man on in the second inning and Lockhart got Taylor Trammell to fly out and then punched out Jeter Downs. Kevin Smith flew out to Ryan Vilade to end the inning. The RailRiders got a one out single in the third but Lockhart bore down again to strand him.

Bligh Madris and Andrew Navigato had early singles for the Hens. Navigato stole second after a one out single and advanced to third on a 401 foot flyout from Parker Meadows. Ryan Vilade walked, but Madris flew out to end the threat.

Lockhart had the RailRiders well under control from there, departing in the sixth with one out after hitting a batter. Shelby Miller took over and Jose Rosas stole second as Carlos Narvaez struck out swinging. Miller was a little casual about getting out of Dillon Dingler’s throwing lane and the throw clipped him high on the back. Miraculously, it went straight to Andrew Navigato at second base, but Rojas was easily safe. Miller shook it off and froze Oscar Gonzalez with a perfect fastball on the outer edge to turn the RailRiders away.

Jeter Downs doubled in the top of the seventh with one out, but Miller got a ground out and Jack Anderson took over and got a fly ball to end the inning. Anderson really came through again with a strong eighth inning and no stress. The Hens got a leadoff single from Navigato in the bottom half, and Parker Meadows smoked a line drive to the center field wall for an RBI double. Still there would be little margin for error as they went in order and couldn’t get Meadows home.

Anderson walked Gonzalez to open the top of the ninth, increasing the stress levels, but got a couple of hard hit outs and a routine grounder to end it.

Navigato: 2-2, R, BB, SB

Meadows: 1-4, RBI, 2B, K

Lockhart: 5.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 7 K

Another tight, well pitched contest on Saturday resulted in a 3-2 win for the Hens with some Jace Jung heroics in the bottom of the ninth providing an exciting game for the Hens faithful.

Bryan Sammons got the ball for the Hens, and the veteran left-hander has been a key for their rotation this season contrasted against the volatile performance of many of the Tigers top pitching prospects. Sammons only struck out two in this one, but the RailRiders just could not square him up as he spun six innings of one-run ball.

The lone run Sammons surrendered came as a result of a catcher interference call on Anthony Bemboom. A pair of singles followed to score the unearned run, and Sammons otherwise cruised through the rest of his outing.

The Hens finally put a threat together in the fourth when Ryan Vilade led off with a solid single. Unfortunately, a Jace Jung grounder hit Vilade, so he was out and Jung replaced him at first. A Justyn-Henry Malloy ground out got Jung to second, and he was wild pitched to third before Bligh Madris struck out to strand him.

Finally in the fifth, Justice Bigbie and Bemboom led off with singles. A double play ball off the bat of Buddy Kennedy followed, but just when it looked like they’d blown the chance, Andrew Navigato doubled the opposite way to score Bigbie. Parker Meadows and Vilade drew walks, and that left it up to Jace Jung. After a seven pitch battle, Jung was called out on a strike three call in a 3-2 count, but the Hens challenged, Jung was correct, and he took first base with his walk as Navigato trotted home.

Easton Lucas came on in relief in the seventh, and the leadoff hitter reached first base on a wild pitch that got away from Bemboom. Lucas allowed a double and a single that tied the game. He pulled it together and escaped any further trouble, but the Hens couldn’t re-take the lead in the bottom of the seventh or in the eighth.

Devin Sweet handled the top of the ninth, allowing a one-out double by Kevin Smith before bouncing back to strike out the next two hitters.

Navigato led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, and after Meadows struck out, Vilade followed with a single of his own to move Navigato to second. Jace Jung smoked a ground ball single back up the middle for the walkoff knock, and Hensville rejoiced.

Navigato: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, K

Jung: 2-2, 2 RBI, 3 BB

Sammons: 6.0 IP, R, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K

On Sunday, Matt Manning made his first start since May 19 after a little time off to work on some issues. He looked decent in this one, but the offense was the star of the show.

Manning allowed a run on a triple and a ground out in the first. In the fourth, a walk and a pair of singles led to Scranton’s second run. Otherwise, Manning was in reasonably good form though his velocity is still down in the low 90’s. He struck out six in five innings of work, but did allow five hits and two walks.

The Hens tied the game 1-1 in the third when Andrew Navigato tripled and scored on a Ryan Vilade single. The Hens took control in the fourth when Keston Hiura led off with a double and Bligh Madris singled with one out. A red-hot Andrew Navigato stayed that way, blasting a three-run shot to left to make it 4-2 Hens.

They put this game away in the sixth with another three-run inning. Buddy Kennedy and Navigato led off with singles and Parker Meadows drew his second walk of the game. A sac fly from Vilade scored Kennedy from third, and after Meadows stole second, Jace Jung rifled a double to center field to score two and make it 7-2.

Sean Guenther spun a scoreless sixth and earned the victory. Ah pitcher wins. Alex Lange, Bryce Tassin, and Andrew Magno all spun a scoreless inning of work to wrap this one up.

Meadows: 2-3, R, 2B, 2 BB, 2 SB

Navigato: 3-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, 3B, HR

Jung: 1-4, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, 2 K

Manning: 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 K

Coming Up Next: The Hens now head out to Iowa for six with the Cubs starting on Tuesday night.

Richmond Flying Squirrels 2, Erie SeaWolves 0 (Fri)(box)

Erie SeaWolves 14, Richmond Flying Squirrels 1 (Sat)(box)

Erie SeaWolves 8, Richmond Flying Squirrels 4 (Sun)(box)

Richmond evened the series at two games apiece on Friday night with a pretty dominant performance from their pitching staff. The SeaWolves got a really good outing from Carlos Pena as well, but couldn’t capitalize despite out-hitting Richmond seven hits to four.

The first inning set the tone for the offense to a degree as Gage Workman led off the game with a single, but was cut down trying to steal second. With two outs, Hao-Yu Lee stayed hot with a single to right, but Trei Cruz grounded out.

Jake Holton led off the second with a double, but was cut down trying to tag and take third on a Chris Meyers fly out. Eliezer Alfonzo followed this with a single, of course, but no rally developed. Lee grounded into an inning ending double play in the third with Ben Malgeri and Workman on base. And so it went.

Meanwhile, Pena was pitching very well indeed until a quick strike from the Squirrels in the third. They went double, triple, single to open the inning, scoring all the game’s runs. Pena got the next three in order, two of them for swinging strike threes, but that was all it took as the SeaWolves just couldn’t get out of their own way in this one.

Holton: 2-4, 2B, K

Lee: 2-4

Workman: 1-2, 2 BB, K, CS

Pena (L, 0-2): 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, BB, 6 K

On Saturday, a tense well pitched game devolved into an abject rout of the Flying Squirrels as the SeaWolves racked up 15 hits and chased pitcher after pitcher, eventually rolling up the score on a position player at the end.

There were signs of a wild one early. Carlos Mendoza led off the game with a walk and Hao-Yu Lee singled. Trei Cruz moved them over by directing a grounder to the right side of the infield for the first out of the inning. Jake Holton singled them in to make it 2-0.

The Squirrels struck back in the bottom of the first, as Allan Cerda launched a solo shot off of Wilkel Hernandez to make it 2-1 Erie. Hernandez then pitched brilliantly the rest of the way, allowing no more hits and just one walk while striking out five.

As quickly as the game had started, the pitchers had their way for the next three innings until the SeaWolves broke though in the fifth. Gage Workman singled and moved to second on a Carlos Mendoza fly ball. Trei Cruz singled him home to make it 3-1. Eliezer Alfonzo launched a solo shot to left in the sixth. Hao-Yu Lee doubled in Mendoza in the seventh and scored on a Cruz single to make it 6-1.

The SeaWolves’ bullpen had this on lock, and in the eighth the offense finally blew this one wide open. Three walks loaded the bases and Mendoza singled in the first run of the inning. A pitching change couldn’t save Richmond as Lee and Cruz kept the train moving with singles. The defense came unglued as Holton reached on a two-run error and it was 12-1 when the smoke finally cleared. Lee added a two-run shot against one of Richmond’s catchers in the ninth.

Lee: 4-6, 4 R, 4 RBI, 2B, HR

Mendoza: 3-4, 4 R, RBI, 3B, BB

Cruz: 3-6, R, 4 RBI, K, CS

Hernandez (W, 2-1): 5.0 IP, ER, H, BB, 5 K

After Saturday’s drubbing, the SeaWolves’ offense stayed hot to lead them to a 4-2 series victory with an 8-4 win on Sunday.

Hao-Yu Lee got them started in the first. Against a tough starter in Hayden Birdsong, Lee launched a two-run shot, his eighth of the year, with Carlos Mendoza on board after a walk. The 21-year-old Lee now holds an .829 OPS and is starting to find the power stroke of late.

After the homer, Trei Cruz walked and Jake Holton reached on an error. Eliezer Alfonzo doubled them both home to make it 4-0.

Garrett Burhenn allowed a run in the second and another in the third. RJ Petit took over for him in the fourth and cleaned up the mess, then spun a clean fifth inning. Angel Reyes allowed an unearned run in the sixth on a Gage Workman error that made it 4-3 Erie, but that was the wakeup call.

In the seventh, with two outs, Cruz and Holton singled and Chris Meyers smoked a double to right field to score them both. 6-3 Erie. Richmond got a run in the bottom of the eighth, but Meyers closed the door for good with a two-run shot, his eighth of the year, in the top of the ninth inning.

Meyers: 2-5, R, 4 RBI, 2B, HR, 2 K

Lee: 1-5, R, 2 RBI, HR, K

Holton: 2-3, 3 R, 2 BB

Burhenn: 3.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: The 28-21 SeaWolves welcome in the New Hampshire Fisher Cats for six starting Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Great Lakes Loons 3, West Michigan Whitecaps 1 (Fri)(box)

West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Great Lakes Loons 2 (Gm1)(Sun)(box)

West Michigan Whitecaps 3, Great Lakes Loons 2 (Gm2)(Sun)(box)

After winning three straight, the ‘Caps fell on Friday night due to a rough night for the offense. They were rained out on Saturday, but the Whitecaps rallied to sweep the doubleheader on Sunday to win the series five games to one.

Colin Fields had a short outing in this one. He struck out two, but allowed a pair of runs in the second inning. Chris Mauloni allowed a solo shot in the third, and otherwise the bullpen did its job. Tanner Kohlhepp put together another strong outing, spinning two hitless innings with a walk against three strikeouts. Max Alba handled the seventh with ease. Zack Hess walked two, but didn’t allow a run over the final two innings…

The offense just couldn’t put anything together. They scattered a couple of singles early on, but didn’t get two runners on until the seventh. Luis Santana led off the bottom of the inning with a double, and Izaac Pacheco followed with a walk. Peyton Graham struck out and Danny Serretti lined into a double play with Santana caught off second base.

Finally, Josh Crouch led off the eighth with a solo shot to put the Whitecaps on the board. Down 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Luke Gold led off with a double to center field to give a glimmer of hope, but they couldn’t produce a rally.

Santana: 2-4, 2B, 2 K

Crouch: 1-3, R, RBI, HR

Fields (L, 1-3): 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K

The two clubs were rained out on Saturday, so they played a pair of seven inning contest on Sunday instead.

In Game 1, Joe Miller gave the Whitecaps a decent outing. The Whitecaps took an early 2-0 lead on a Luis Santana home run, but Miller allowed two before departing in the fifth. Marco Jimenez took over to clean things up.

With the game tied up in the sixth, the ‘Caps broke through again. Roberto Campos walked with one out and Santana singled him to second. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Izaac Pacheco singled them in. Peyton Graham lined one to left field for an RBI double that had to feel good considering his struggles, and it was 5-2 ‘Caps.

Jimenez spun a clean sixth, and Michael Bienlien collected the save in the seventh.

Santana: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, K

Graham: 2-3, RBI, 2B

Campos: 1-1, 2 R, 2 BB

Miller: 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K

Carlos Marcano gave the Whitecaps a good start in Game 2. He went five scoreless innings with two hits and two walks.

Seth Stephenson got the offense started with a leadoff single in the bottom of the first and stole second base. A single from Max Anderson moved him to third, and a Roberto Campos sac fly scored him to give West Michigan an early 1-0 lead. In the second, Peyton Graham was hit by a pitch and scored on a Danny Serretti double.

Despite plenty of baserunners, they couldn’t get any more runs across. Matt Merrill surrendered two seventh inning runs that tied the game, but Max Alba and Tanner Kohlhepp locked down the eighth and the ninth innings. Cleiverth Perez came on in the top of the 10th inning and did a nice job keeping the inherited runner on second.

Dom Johnson started on second base in the bottom half. A blown pickoff play allowed Johnson to take second, and Max Anderson came through with a ground ball up the middle for the walkoff winner.

Serretti: 2-4, RBI, 2B, K

Anderson: 2-5, RBI, K

Marcano: 5.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps head out to South Bend to tangle with the Cubs this week.

Clearwater Threshers 3, Lakeland Flying Tigers 2 (Fri)(box)

Lakeland Flying Tigers 2, Clearwater Threshers 0 (Sat)(box)

Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, Clearwater Threshers 3 (Sun)(box)

In what is turning into a fun duel in the Florida State League West division, the Flying Tigers took the first two games of this series to close within a game of first place, but the Threshers won on Thursday and Friday to distance themselves three games once again. The Flying Tigers rallied back with victories on Saturday and Sunday to close the gap to one game in the division and win the series in Clearwater’s house.

The Flying Tigers got another strong start from right-hander Zack Lee on Friday. Lee looks like a nice find last summer as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Kentucky. Throwing with a bit of crossfire from a low three-quarters angle, the 24-year-old locates sinkers and fourseamers pretty well and continues to throw a lot strikes. He built up to throwing 94-96 mph with a quality slider as he settled into his outing, tossing five scoreless innings with just two hits and two walks allowed. He struck out six and ran his ERA to 1.67 with a 0.90 WHIP.

The Threshers countered with a hard-throwing pitching prospect in George Klassen, who matched Lee most of his outing. The Flying Tigers finally scratched out the first run of the game when Patrick Lee walked and Kevin McGonigle reached on an error. Lee took third on the play and scored on a Jim Jarvis ground out.

Thomas Bruss allowed a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh inning that tied the game. The Flying Tigers recaptured the lead when the Threshers bullpen lost the plot and walked three hitters and hit one in the eighth inning.

Cam Brown couldn’t hold the one run lead in the bottom of the eighth and they went to the ninth tied 2-2. The Flying Tigers failed to score and Eiker Huizi allowed a walkoff single in the bottom half.

McGonigle: 2-5, K

Jarvis: 2-5, RBI, 2B

Lee: 5.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K

The Flying Tigers struck back on Saturday to pull within two games of the Threshers. Kevin McGonigle was again the driving force in the Flying Tigers offense.

Lefty Andrew Sears, the Tigers 10th rounder out of Connecticut last summer, got the start in this one and was quite effective. He did walk four, but he also held Clearwater hitless for 4 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Lakeland put together their first threat in the second inning when Clayton Campbell walked with one out and Jose De La Cruz singled him to second. That went nowhere, and a McGonigle single to lead off the third saw him unable to advance as Max Clark and Ryan Kreidler struck out, while Eddys Leonard flew out.

Finally in the fifth, David Smith led off with a single and McGonigle, who is relentlessly spraying the outfield with hard line drives and fly balls, smoked a fly ball to center field for an RBI double. In the seventh, Smith led off again and drew a walk. He then stole second base and McGonigle ripped a one-hopper through the right side of the infield to score him.

There wasn’t much offense remaining for either team. Blake Pivaroff and Donye Evans pitched well in relief of Sears, and Yosber Sanchez, pumping out 97-98 mph gas, collected the save with two innings of work, though he walked three hitters.

McGonigle: 3-4, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, K, SB

Smith: 1-3, 2 R, BB, K, SB

Sears: 4.1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 4 BB, 3 K

On Sunday, the Flying Tigers rode another strong outing from hard-throwing right-hander Rayner Castillo. The big 19-year-old allowed a solo shot but was otherwise tough on Clearwater, spinning five innings of one run ball with no walks and five strikeouts on the day. His sinker topped out at 97 mph and he was steadily 95-96 all outing long while mixing in some good sliders. Tigers may have a good reliever here in another year or two.

The Threshers led 1-0 when Max Clark singled to lead off the top of the fourth and then stole second base. He later scored on a wild pitch. Otherwise, there wasn’t much run scoring until the eighth inning.

Archer Brookman and Patrick Lee led off the eighth with singles for the Flygers. Jim Jarvis walked, and then Clark drew a bases loaded walk that made it 2-1 Lakeland. Kevin McGonigle entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Eddys Leonard in the fifth, and he followed Clark with a sacrifice fly that made it 3-1.

Thomas Bruss continued to have home run troubles in the eighth, allowing a solo shot that cut the lead to one run.

Finally, in the top of the ninth, the Flying Tigers blew this one open. Jose De La Cruz led off with a single. Alvaro Gonzalez lined out, but Brookman singled and a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. Patrick Lee walked to load the bases, and Jim Jarvis came through with a two-run single. Clark ripped a sharp line drive single to center to score Lee, and McGonigle again did the job, lifting a sacrifice fly that made it 7-2. Eiker Huizi allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth, but eventually shut the door.

Clark: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, BB, SB

Lee: 3-3, 2 R, 2B, BB, SB

Brookman: 2-4, 2 R

Castillo: 5.0 IP, ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers come home to welcome in the Jupiter Hammerheads on Tuesday night.