Louisville Bats 4, Toledo Mud Hens 2 (Gm1)(box)
Louisville Bats 6, Toledo Mud Hens 5 (Gm2)(F/7)(box)
Toledo Mud Hens 2, Louisville Bats 0 (Sat)(box)
Louisville Bats 2, Toledo Mud Hens 0 (Sun)(box)
The series started off well for Toledo, but the visitors swept Friday’s doubleheader and managed a split in the series with a win on Sunday.
This is going to be the very brief edition. There’s other things to write about and it’s about time for draft coverage to kick in. We’re also waiting for promotion season to hit, and the half season divisional races are over. So these may be a little more brief for a while.
On Friday, the Hens finally got a good start out of Matt Manning. Beleaguered starters finally putting together strong outings would be a theme of the weekend. Manning spun five no-hit innings of shutout ball, walking three and striking out five. Justice Bigbie has been heating up and launched a solo shot, his third homer, in this one. The left-fielder had a three hit game, but the offense didn’t do much and Devin Sweet blew up in the top of the ninth to lose it.
Game 2 on Friday was seven innings, and a bad start from Lael Lockhart Jr. had the Hens behind the eight ball. The lefty allowed five runs in just 3 1⁄3 innings of work. Parker Meadows and Alvaro Gonzalez each tripled in the game, with Meadows going 2-for-3 with a walk and no strikeouts on the day. It was a 5-5 game in the fifth, when Austin Schulfer, a veteran right-hander recently inked to a minor league deal, leaked a run. The Hens offense had no more answers in this one.
On Saturday, a dominant start from Ty Madden was a sight for sore eyes. The right-hander has been a disaster since moving up to Toledo, but in this one he two-hit the Bats over six innings without walking a batter nor allowing a run. He struck out eight and really had the fastball-slider command going like we haven’t seen in a while.
Spencer Torkelson hit a solo shot in the seventh inning off a 3-1 changeup and the bullpen did the rest on another quiet day for the Hens’ offense.
On Sunday, Brant Hurter left his start after one batter due to an injury. The big lefty got a ground ball and appeared to hurt his leg when he collided with the runner while covering first. The bullpen did a great job filling in, allowing just two runs, but the offense was again atrocious. A two-hit game from Alvaro Gonzalez was the only bright spot as they managed no extra base hits and were shut out in this one.
Toledo starter Brant Hurter threw just one pitch today before leaving the game. He appeared to hurt his ankle a bit while trying to cover first base. Really nice play by Torkelson and Hurter, for what it’s worth. pic.twitter.com/23taXUrtYo
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 30, 2024
Coming Up Next: The Hens welcome in the Columbus Clippers for six starting on Monday night for once. They’ll split three at home and then three in Columbus, wrapping up on Saturday afternoon.
Erie SeaWolves 2, Harrisburg Senators 1 (Fri)(box)
Erie SeaWolves 7, Harrisburg Senators 2 (Sat)(box)
Erie SeaWolves 2, Harrisburg Senators 0 (Sun)(box)
Fresh off of snatching the first half division title away from the Senators, the SeaWolves welcomed them into UPMC Park this week and won the last five games of the series to rub salt in their wounds.
On Friday night, Brady Allen launched a two-run shot in the second inning and Angel Reyes spun four innings of one-run ball in place of a regular starter. The bullpen did the rest to claim a 2-1 victory.
Hao-Yu Lee returned from getting hit in the head last weekend, but went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and was replaced by Austin Murr for his final AB in the game. Otherwise there wasn’t much to say about the SeaWolves offense in this one either. Allen’s homer was the only blow landed by either side.
Saturday’s contest was finally a little more productive game from the offense. Lefty Carlos Pena gave them six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, and the offense did more than enough to survive a Jake Higginbotham eruption in relief.
Hao-Yu Lee did not play in this one. Ben Malgeri doubled with two outs in the fourth and Eliezer Alfonzo doubled him in for a 1-0 lead. In the fifth, a two-run single from Chris Meyers and a two-run double from Trei Cruz were the big hits as they scored four runs to take a 5-0 lead.
The Senators hit two solo shots off Higginbotham in the top of the seventh, but Jake Holton and Chris Meyers led off the bottom half with singles, Trei Cruz walked to load the bases, and Malgeri singled in two runs to reach the final margin of victory.
Wilkel Hernandez produced a really good start on Sunday, and the SeaWolves needed only two runs to win. The right-hander spun five no-hit innings with two walks against six strikeouts on the day, lowering his ERA to 3.10 in the process. He’s been coming around pretty nicely but still looks more like a relief project in my book.
Hao-Yu Lee returned and went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base. Hopefully he’s recovered now.
Coming Up Next: A split series with the Akron RubberDucks is on tap this week. They’ll start on the road for three beginning on Monday night. They’ll then play Thursday, July 4 through Saturday in Erie. Not sure why the schedule is altered when the All-Star break isn’t until the 15th through the 18th, but here we are.
West Michigan Whitecaps 4, Lansing Lugnuts 2 (Fri)(box)
West Michigan Whitecaps 10, Lansing Lugnuts 3 (Sat)(box)
West Michigan Whitecaps 10, Lansing Lugnuts 3 (Sun)(box)
The Whitecaps offense came alive over the weekend as they swept the final three games of the series to win it four games to two.
On Friday night, Joe Adametz gave the ‘Caps a decent start despite walking four to just one punch out. The lefty went 4 2⁄3 innings, allowing two runs, one earned.
Jim Jarvis led off the game with a single and then stole second. Max Anderson singled him in for an early lead. The Lugnuts got a run in the bottom half of the inning on a Max Anderson throwing error, so there was some symmetry early on.
Roberto Campos blasted his sixth home run with the bases empty in the second inning. Singles from Jarvis and Seth Stephenson plated a run in the third with the help of a Lugnuts throwing error. Jarvis then homered for the second time with the Whitecaps in the seventh inning to open up a 4-2 lead that was the final margin. Marco Jimenez continues to pitch well out of the bullpen, offering hope of a future high powered relief arm.
Jackson Jobe’s rehab start on Saturday didn’t produce quite as nice a line as you’d hope, but the game’s top pitching prospect hit 100 mph and dealt with a really tight strike zone. The first batter he faced struck out swinging, but got all the way to third base on a Bennett Lee throwing error. A triple and a sacrifice plated two runs, both unearned. From there, Jobe was Jobe, and the Lugnuts could do nothing with him. It’s time for him to return to Erie.
Colin Fields allowed a run in relief of Jobe, but the rest of the pen was on lockdown mode. The ‘Caps offense tied the game in the middle innings, and then scored two in the sixth and two more in the seventh to pull away. A three-run ninth inning in garbage time was just for fun.
Danny Serretti, Roberto Campos, Jim Jarvis, Dom Johnson, and Luis Santana all had two hit games in this one.
Joe Miller put up a decent four innings of scoreless ball for the Whitecaps on Sunday, but this one was pretty much decided in the first inning.
Lugnuts lefty Will Johnston was absolutely shelled, giving up six runs in the first while only collecting one-out. His relief would allow two more runs before finally escaping with an 8-0 deficit. It was a parade of walks, hit batters, singles, and wild pitches, as only Josh Crouch’s two-run double in the inning was even hit that hard.
Max Anderson brings home two more runs with this liner to center. The Whitecaps have scored 8 runs in the first inning. pic.twitter.com/nUzTkZLCwC
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) June 30, 2024
Max Anderson and Seth Stephenson had two-hit games for the Whitecaps.
Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps will welcome in the Great Lakes Loons for three starting Monday night, before following them up to Midland for three more from Thursday to Saturday.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 8, Dunedin Blue Jays 1 (Gm1)(F/7)(Sat)(box)
Lakeland Flying Tigers 3, Dunedin Blue Jays 2 (Gm2)(F/8)(Sat)(box)
Dunedin Blue Jays 5, Lakeland Flying Tigers 0 (F/6)(Sun)(box)
The Flying Tigers swept Saturday’s doubleheader to win the series four games to two with a loss in a rain shortened game on Sunday.
In Saturday’s Game 1, right-hander Hayden Minton was outstanding. He allowed a solo shot in the first, but then blanked the Blue Jays the rest of his five innings of work, allowing just one more hit and a walk while striking out six.
Brett Callahan, who was running pretty hot before an injury, returned from the FCL this week and he launched a two-run shot in the bottom of the first, his sixth on the year.
The Flying Tigers got two more in the third when Abel Bastidas and David Smith started the inning with singles. Max Clark drove in one, and Callahan the other for a 4-1 lead.
In the sixth, the Blue Jays walked in two runs with the bases loaded. A Clark sac fly scored one more, as did an Eduardo Valencia grounder that went for an error. The offense wasn’t doing much damage, but they led 8-1 and won easily in seven innings.
Game 2 was tighter, but right-hander Zack Lee was really good again. Lee spun 5 2⁄3 innings of two-hit ball, allowing two runs, one earned, while punching out eight. He now has a 1.82 ERA with a 30 percent strikeout rate and five percent walk rate. Time for West Michigan for last summer’s undrafted free agent signee.
Lakeland only managed five hits in this one, so they were not swinging the bats well over the weekend at all, including Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle, who each got a game off, but weren’t doing too much anyway.
In the fourth, McGonigle led off with a double and scored on a Jose De La Cruz single. Brett Callahan doubled in the sixth and scored on a Jose De La Cruz single as well, so Jose De La Cruz was at least there with the key knocks.
Still, this was tied into the eighth, which meant extra innings ball. Cam Brown kept the Blue Jays off the board in the top of the eighth, and in the bottom half, an Archer Brookman sac bunt moved the runner on second to third, where a Clayton Campbell proved a walkoff sacrifice fly.
On Sunday, Andrew Sears lost the plot in the third inning, walking a pair and hitting a batter with two outs. Connor Holden came on and immediately allowed a two-run single. Holden allowed two more in the fourth, and this one was over.
The Flying Tigers managed just three hits on the day. Yes, one of them was from Kevin McGonigle.
Coming Up Next: It’s a split series against the Tampa Tarpons this week. They’ll start in Tampa Mon-Wed, and then come home to Publix Field from Thur-Sat.