Troy Melton injured in SeaWolves victory

Worcester Red Sox 5, Toledo Mud Hens 4 (box)

The Hens had an early lead in this one, but the bats went quiet and they let it slip away to fall behind two games to none in the series.

Things started well. With two outs in the top of the first, Bligh Madris singled and then stole second base. Andrew Navigato singled him home and took second on the play, moving to third on an Eddys Leonard single moments later. Stephen Scott doubled them both home and that was a 3-0 lead.

Austin Bergner moved up to make a short start, but got into early trouble and allowed a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Ryan Vilade opened the second inning with a solo shot to open a 4-2 lead, but a walk and four straight singles against Bergner in the third tied things up again.

At that point, the Hens bats got ice cold the rest of the way, and while the bullpen was solid, Andrew Magno allowed a run in the seventh that ended up being the game winner.

Vilade: 1-3, R, RBI, HR, BB, K

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

Malloy: 1-3, BB, 2 K

Bergner: 3.0 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 5 K

Erie SeaWolves 3, Richmond Flying Squirrels 1 (box)

The SeaWolves built an early lead and held it despite pretty minimal offense to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Unfortunately, one of the Tigers top pitching prospects, Troy Melton, left the game after 2 ¹⁄₃ innings of work with an injury.

Ben Malgeri sparked the SeaWolves offense in the bottom of the first with a triple, scoring on a Gage Workman single. Melton allowed a solo shot in the top of the second, but the SeaWolves came right back with two runs in the bottom of the second.

Liam Hicks led off with a single up the middle and Austin Murr followed with a double to get Hicks to third. They both scored on a Brady Allen single, and it was 3-1.

Melton looked fine early, but after a strikeout to open the third inning, he was shaking his right arm and stretching out his shoulder or back. Gabe Alvarez and the training staff came out and took him out of the game, but there’s no word on Melton’s status yet.

Jake Higginbotham had to get ready in a hurry and yet he acquitted himself quite well, collecting five outs without a run allowed to get them into the fifth inning. Joel Peguero took over from there and the hard-throwing right-hander punched out four in two innings of work. Eric Silva and RJ Petit took it from there, with the latter collecting his third save and continuing to look like a possible bullpen arm for the Tigers next year.

Hicks: 4-4, R, K

Allen: 1-2, 2 RBI, BB

Melton: 2.1 IP, ER, H, BB, 3 K

Dayton Dragons 5, West Michigan Whitecaps 3 (box)

The Whitecaps built an early lead, but the bullpen couldn’t hold it as Dayton evened the series on Wednesday.

Jaden Hamm got the start, but in his first full year of pro ball the Tigers are trying to keep his innings under control after a stellar campaign that has seen him get a bit of top 100 prospect consideration. He cruised for three innings, but ran into a little trouble in the fourth, giving up two runs.

The Whitecaps still held the lead at that point. In the top of the second, Luke Gold led off with a double and took third on a John Peck single. Jim Jarvis lifted a fly ball out to center fielder for Gold to tag and score the game’s first run on. Bennett Lee lined into a double play to snuff a bigger inning, but in the third, Dom Johnson singled and took second on an error. Max Clark grounded out to move Johnson to third, and Max Anderson singled him home. Thayron Liranzo lined out to center field, but Roberto Campos ripped a double to left to score Anderson for a 3-0 lead.

Hamm allowed two in the fourth before departing the game. In the fifth, Tanner Kohlhepp, who has shown signs of finally putting his command together, really struggled with those issues again. A hit batter and a walk led to a three run inning for the Dragons that proved the difference in this one. Marco Jimenez and CJ Weins were much better, but the offense wasted a few chances in the late innings.

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

Liranzo: 1-3, BB

Peck: 2-4, K

Hamm: 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K

Lakeland Flying Tigers 4, Dunedin Blue Jays 2 (F/8)(box)

With a lot of rain in the area, it was a tricky day in Dunedin as they waited out a three hour delay that ended up pushing the second game of the planned doubleheader off until Thursday. The Flying Tigers persevered with an rally in extra innings to win.

Zack Lee got the start, but with a run in due to a double steal of second and home by the Blue Jays, the game was delayed for lightning and then rain. When they resumed, Cam Brown took over from Lee and allowed the inherited run to score before shutting things down.

The Flying Tigers got on the board in the third on a wild play in which Nomar Fana scored all the way from first on a wild pitch that was strike three on Jose De La Cruz. He reached first as the Blue Jays catcher threw the ball away and the Fana took advantage to come all the way around to score. They tied the game up in the fourth when Andrew Jenkins, Peyton Graham, who is still working his way back to West Michigan after a pair of finger fractures, and Jackson Strong all walked. A Fana sacrifice fly plated Jenkins to knot things at 2-2.

2024 draft pick Micah Ashman was excellent again in two innings of relief with a pair of punchouts, and Eiker Huizi matched him with a pair of scoreless frames.

Ultimately they went to extras in what would have been a seven inning game. Jose De La Cruz started the top of the eighth on second and moved to third on an Eduardo Valencia single. David Smith pinch ran for Valencia, and a wild pitch scored De La Cruz and got Smith to second. Andrew Jenkins reached on an infield single to get Smith to third, and Samuel Gil walked to load the bases. Jackson Strong grounded into a double play, but Smith scored to make it 4-2 Lakeland.

Ronny Chalas had a fairly uneventful bottom half to earn his first save.

Jenkins: 2-3, R, 2B, BB, K

Graham: 1-3, BB

Ashman: 2.0 IP, 0 R, H, 0 BB, 2 K