Omaha Storm Chasers 7, Toledo Mud Hens 1 (box)
On the plus side, Matt Manning returned to the mound on Thursday. On the negative side, the Hens offense couldn’t do much to back up their pitching staff.
Manning tossed three innings, allowing two runs in the bottom of the first on a walk and a two-run homer. His velocity was good, sitting 94-95 mph, and he struck out three while throwing 30 of 41 pitches for strikes.
The Hens got on the board in the fourth. Eddys Leonard and Justice Bigbie singled, and a pair of fly balls allowed Leonard to tag and take a base twice. It was 2-1 Omaha at that point, but things rapidly went downhill from there.
Jack Anderson allowed four runs, three earned, in relief, and the Hens managed just five singles and an Andrew Navigato double in the game, and couldn’t string much together.
Bemboom: 2-3, K
Manning (L, 2-5): 3.0 IP, 2 ER, H, BB, 3 K
Bowie Baysox 2, Erie SeaWolves 1 (box)
The SeaWolves offense was smothered in this one as Bowie won a low scoring contest on Thursday evening.
Lefty Jake Miller got the start and he was pretty good, spinning five scoreless frames. Eric Silva allowed a run in the sixth, but the SeaWolves came right back to tie the game in the bottom half. Austin Murr walked with one out, stole second, and took third on a throwing error. Gage Workman drew a walk, and then a wild pickoff throw advanced him to second and scored Murr for a 1-1 tie.
The Flying Tigers had just two hits in the game, so this was mainly on the offense.
The game was tied into the top of the ninth. Jake Higginbotham came on and got the first out, but an error on Max Anderson allowed the eventual game winning run to reach. Higginbotham allowed an RBI double before shutting things down, and the SeaWolves couldn’t answer back in the bottom half.
Miller: 5.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 3 K
Lakeland Flying Tigers 6, Clearwater Threshers 1 (box)
Gabriel Reyes put together a spectacular outing in the biggest game of his young career, and the Flying Tigers rode big games from Jack Penney, Jose De La Cruz, and Josue Briceño to close out the Clearwater Threshers and advance to the Florida State League championship game.
Reyes is one of the most exciting young Tiger pitching prospects, and the lefty had it all going in this one. He punched out 10 hitters in six innings, allowing just one run on three hits and two walks. Outstanding stuff.
The Flying Tigers weren’t doing well at the plate early on either. They wasted a De La Cruz double in the fourth, and Reyes allowed his lone run in the bottom half of that inning.
Finally, in the top of the sixth, Briceño sparked things off with a leadoff triple and scored on a De La Cruz single to tie the game 1-1. Then they took over in the seventh.
Clearwater walked Eduardo Valencia and Samuel Gil to open the inning. Jackson Strong pinch-hit for David Smith and reached on an error to load the bases. Jack Penney cleared the bases with a three-run triple, and Briceño singled him home to make it 5-1.
Right-hander Ronny Chalas spun two scoreless innings, and lefty Micah Ashman, the Tigers 11th rounder back in July, close things out with a perfect ninth inning and the celebration was on.
The championship game is set for Sunday, September 15th against the Palm Beach Cardinals, who took down the Daytona Tortugas in a two-game sweep. This is pretty fitting as the Cardinals 83-47 record, and the Flying Tigers 80-50 record were the two best in the Florida State League this season.
Penney: 2-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 3B
Briceño: 2-5, R, RBI, 3B, K
De La Cruz: 2-3, RBI, 2B, BB, K
Reyes (W, 1-0): 6.0 IP, ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 10 K
Crash Davis come on down
In other Lakeland Flying Tigers news, the cats find themselves caught up in a bizarre story from the Minnesota Twins farm system.
Minor league catcher Derek Bender, just drafted back in July with the Twins sixth round pick, apparently informed several Flying Tigers hitters what pitch was coming back on Friday, September 6 in the second game of a double header against the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. That game ended up securing a postseason spot for Lakeland as they won 6-0 to lock up first place in their second half divisional standings over the Mighty Mussels. Their starter Ross Dunn was the specific victim, surrendering four runs in 1 2⁄3 innings of work as the Flying Tigers took a 4-0 lead and went on to win 6-0.
Sources told Jeff Passan of ESPN that Bender had mentioned simply wanting the season to come to an end in the days before this game. Bender was cut by the Twins after the Flying Tigers coaching staff got wind of this and informed the Twins organization that he’d told several hitters what pitch was coming. There are no indications that the Flying Tigers did anything wrong. Bender will retain the $297,500 signing bonus he got from the Twins.