St. Paul Saints 8, Toledo Mud Hens 6 (Fri)(box)
St. Paul Saints 11, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (Sat)(box)
St. Paul Saints 10, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (Sun)(box)
This series did not go well. Organizationally the Twins strength is in hitters, the Tigers in pitchers, but the hitters won out, sweeping all three games in Minnesota.
On Friday, Matt Manning hit the injured list with a right lat strain, starting this series off on a bad note. Lael Lockhart Jr. struggled a bit in his outing, and the Saints bombed on the Hens bullpen and then held on against a late push to win.
Lockhart Jr. cruised for three innings, but then had a little trouble with the strike zone, walking three hitters, but the two home runs he allowed in 4 1⁄3 innings of work were the daggers. PJ Poulin gave up five runs in relief, three earned, with an error on Jace Jung at third base contributing to a five run sixth inning for St. Paul.
Akil Baddoo, Jung, and Riley Unroe all had two hits in the losing effort. Spencer Torkelson walked twice, but he and Dillon Dingler were held hitless.
Baddoo: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB, K, SB
Jung: 2-3, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Lockhart Jr. (L, 0-3): 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 K
On Saturday, the Hens went with a bullpen game and the relief corps was shelled for 19 hits and 11 runs. Lefties Sean Guenther and Andrew Vasquez got the worst of it, surrendering four runs apiece.
Bligh Madris had a pair of doubles in the losing effort, while Jung, Justice Bigbie, and Anthony Bemboom all had two-hit games.
Madris: 2-4, R, RBI, 2 2B, K
Bigbie: 2-3, RBI, BB, K
Guenther (L, 3-4): 2.0 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 K
On Sunday, lefty Brant Hurter had a chance to earn a look in the decimated Tigers’ rotation. Instead, he was absolutely clubbed by the Saints for nine runs and couldn’t get out of the fourth inning. Hurter’s worst outing of the year didn’t even feature a home run allowed as the Saints pounded out nine hits and drew four walks against him. Very bad timing for Hurter there, although the Tigers options are so limited it may not matter.
The Hens actually had an early lead in the first when Jace Jung doubled with two outs and Dillon Dingler launched a two-run shot, his 11th on the year, 401 feet to left center field. The offense didn’t have much more to offer in this one, however.
Dingler: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, 2 K
Unroe: 1-3, 2B, BB, K
Hurter (L, 1-4): 3.2 IP, 9 ER, 9 H, 4 BB, 2 K
Coming Up Next: The Hens are home again against Louisville this week. Look for Jackson Jobe to be promoted, perhaps as soon as Thursday or Friday night against the Bats. Jaden Hamm is ready to move to Erie, and the timing is right for promotions.
Binghamton Rumble Ponies 6, Erie SeaWolves 4 (Fri)(box)
Erie SeaWolves 3, Binghamton Rumble Ponies 0 (Sat)(box)
Erie SeaWolves 6, Binghamton Rumble Ponies 3 (Sun)(box)
The SeaWolves took this three-game road set, but the combined no-hitter Jackson Jobe and the bullpen spun on Saturday easily took center stage.
On Friday, Wilkel Hernandez struck out eight hitters over 4 2⁄3 innings, continuing to show signs of a useful future reliever. Unfortunately, he still gave up four runs, and the SeaWolves bullpen cracked first.
Jake Holton singled in Hao-Yu Lee in the top of the first, but Hernandez gave up a solo shot in the bottom half. In the fifth inning, the SeaWolves scored three on RBI knocks from Brady Allen and Gage Workman, with a Lee sacrifice fly in the mix as well.
Again, Hernandez got a lead and couldn’t hold it, giving up three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Things remained deadlocked into the ninth inning. The SeaWolves got a one-out double from Trei Cruz in the top of the ninth, and then Eliezer Alfonzo drew a walk. They were ready to break the 3-3 deadlock, but Ben Malgeri and Brady Allen went down swinging.
Calvin Coker allowed two runs in the bottom half as the Rumble Ponies walked them off.
Mendoza: 2-4, R
Workman: 1-4, RBI, 3B
Alfonzo: 1-3, R, BB
Hernandez: 4.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 8 K
Things were much more entertaining on Saturday, as Jackson Jobe no-hit the Ponies for six innings, striking out five against two walks that were, as they often are with Jobe, really questionable work by the home plate umpire. They really are just trying to give these kids a chance to hit him, and they can’t really do so. Jobe threw 49 of 70 pitches for strikes and was in easy mode all game long.
Gage Workman singled, stole second, and then scored on an error on a Jake Holton grounder in the first inning. Three walks and a Holton sac fly plated their second run in the third inning. Eliezer Alfonzo launched a solo shot, his sixth homer of the year, in the ninth for a little emphasis.
Jake Higginbotham, Matt Seelinger, and Garrett Hill were excellent in relief to finish off the combined no-no.
Alfonzo: 1-4, R, RBI, HR
Workman: 1-3, R, BB, SB
Jobe (W, 2-1): 6.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB, 5 K
On Sunday, lefty Carlos Pena two-hit the Ponies for five scoreless innings, continuing the pitching staff’s dominance over from Saturday.
The SeaWolves built an early lead in the top of the third inning. Julio E. Rodriguez led off the inning with a single and Ben Malgeri doubled him to third. A walk to Carlos Mendoza came on a wild pitch that scored Rodriguez and moved Malgeri to third. Mendoza promptly stole second base to get into scoring position. Hao-Yu Lee lifted a sacrifice fly, and Mendoza scored on a Gage Workman ground out to make it 3-0.
In the fifth, Malgeri singled, stole second, and scored on an error. A Jake Holton single later plated Mendoza to make it 5-0. Doubles from Chris Meyers and Malgeri made it 6-0 in the eighth. Joel Peguero allowed three runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it interesting.
Holton: 3-4, RBI, 2B, BB, K
Malgeri: 3-4, 2 R, RBI, 2 2B, K
Pena (W, 5-4): 5.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves welcome in the Altoona Curve this week. My guess is you’ll see RHP Jaden Hamm join the rotation this week. We’ll see if the Tigers want to put things off a bit longer.
West Michigan Whitecaps 3, Dayton Dragons 0 (Fri)(box)
West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Dayton Dragons 0 (Sat)(box)
Dayton Dragons 4, West Michigan Whitecaps 2 (Sun)(box)
The Whitecaps got really good pitching to take this three game set. They held the Dragons to just four runs total, taking the series two games to one.
On Friday night, Colin Fields spun five no-hit innings and the bullpen took over to allow only two hits all game as they cruised to a 3-0 victory.
The Whitecaps offense wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders either. They were blanked for five innings until breaking through in the bottom of the sixth.
Jim Jarvis, Seth Stephenson, and Max Anderson led off the inning with three straight singles to load the bases. Roberto Campos cleared them with a three-run double. That was pretty much it for the offense on either side.
Cleiverth Perez spun two scoreless innings of relief, while Jack Anderson handled the eighth, and Yosber Sanchez collected his first save since moving up to West Michigan.
Campos: 2-3, 3 RBI, 2B, K
Max Anderson: 2-4, R
Fields: 5.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB, 5 K
On Saturday, it was Joe Miller’s turn to dominate. He spun five shutout innings, allowing two hits and no walks against four strikeouts.
Luis Santana powered the offense in this one on his birthday. He led off the fourth with a double that led to a three run inning. Patrick Lee, Bennett Lee, and Seth Stephenson had RBI hits in the inning. In the fifth, Campos led off with a single, and Santana smoked his fifth home run of the year to make it 5-0. The bullpen did the rest.
Santana: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR, K
Patrick Lee: 2-4, R, RBI, K, SB
Miller (W, 1-2): 5.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K
The Whitecaps again got good pitching on Sunday, but the offense couldn’t get much going as they lost 4-2.
Jaden Hamm had a little trouble with his control in this one, walking three. He also struck out six and allowed only two runs in 4 1⁄3 innings, so as a poor outing, it wasn’t too bad.
They were down 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth when the offense briefly came alive. Max Anderson singled with one out, and Luis Santana was hit by a pitch. Luke Gold singled in Anderson and then Danny Serretti walked to load the bases. A walk to Bennett Lee scored Santana and tied the game, but that was all they’d get.
Max Alba allowed two runs in the top of the seventh, and the Dragons held that lead the rest of the way.
Gold: 2-4, RBI
Hamm: 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: As we wrote about on Sunday, Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle have been promoted to West Michigan. They’ll be home against the Lansing Lugnuts starting Tuesday night for their first look at High-A.
Dunedin Blue Jays 4, Lakeland Flying Tigers 1 (Fri)(box)
Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, Dunedin Blue Jays 5 (Sun)(box)
They split this abbreviated series after they were rained out on Saturday.
The Flying Tigers got a good start from Hayden Minton on Friday, but the offense was quiet. The right-hander punched out six against one walk allowed, giving up two runs in five innings of work.
In the fourth, Samuel Gil singled in Brett Callahan to give Lakeland a 1-0 lead. That was all they could manage as Kevin McGonigle was held hitless in a rare occurrence.
Garrett Apker and Cam Brown each allowed a run in relief.
Gil: 2-4, RBI, K
Peck: 0-1, 3 BB, 2 SB, CS
The Flying Tigers got a good outing from their fairly electric young lefty, Gabriel Reyes and held on to win on Sunday.
They spotted Reyes to a six-run lead as Max Clark hit his seventh home run in the first inning. The Flying Tigers then scored five in the second as McGonigle cracked a three-run shot with Peck and David Smith aboard.
Reyes allowed two runs in the fourth, and the bullpen leaked three more as Duque Hebbert allowed two home runs in relief.
In the eighth, holding a one-run lead, Max Clark led off with a single and stole second base. An Andrew Jenkins single scored him to make it 7-5, where it ended.
Really strong final games for Clark and McGonigle as their time with the Flying Tigers ended.
Clark: 3-4, 3 R, RBI, 2B, HR, BB, K, SB
McGonigle: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, BB, SB
Reyes: 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, BB, 7 K
Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers will need new leadership as they head out to Bradenton to play the Marauders this week.