Toledo Mud Hens 15, Worcester Red Sox 6 (box)
Ty Madden had a rough outing, but the bullpen and offense had his back in Toledo’s 15-6 Saturday night win over Worcester.
The Red Sox took an early 5-0 lead, scoring three in the first and two in the second. It was 2-0 before Madden recorded his first out, and the first four batters reached safely. The command just wasn’t there today. He gave up five hits, three of which went for extra bases, three walks and hit two batters. Madden got the hook after a one-out walk in the third.
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The Mud Hens didn’t ride Madden too long because the offense showed signs of life in the third after going six up, six down in the first two frames. Corey Julks sparked the rally with a leadoff single, and Tomas Nido followed up with a one-out double to put runners on the corners for Max Clark.
The former third overall pick found the gap in right-center for a two-run double, and Max Anderson followed with a two-run homer to cut the deficit to just one.
Beau Brieske picked things up for Ty Madden and worked through the fourth. Brieske retired all five batters he faced, including two strikeouts.
Toledo found more offense in the fifth, when Anderson led off with a single. Gage Workman followed with his own base hit, and Eduarado Valencia walked to load the bases. Trei Cruz tied the game up with a liner to left, and the WooSox’s bullpen walked in the go-ahead run.
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Anderson, Workman and Valencia got things going again in the sixth, hitting back-to-back-to-back doubles. Brett Callahan lined out to snap the streak, but Cruz doubled to keep things moving.
Worcester should have gotten out of the inning with the score at 9-5, but a fielding error by the pitcher led to a three-run homer for Jace Jung. 12-5, Toledo.
Cole Waites, Tyler Mattison and Nick Sandlin kept the Red Sox hitless through the next four innings. Waites had to work around a pair of walks in the fifth, and the other two walked a batter each. No harm done, though.
Valencia hit into a double play to score Clark in the seventh, Anderson led off with a solo homer in the ninth and Julks doubled in Valencia a couple of batters later, making it 15-5. That’s Anderson’s fifth hit of the day for those keeping track.
Scott Effross gave up a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth, but Worcester wasn’t scoring another nine runs to keep this game going. Gee, it’d be nice to have that kind of run support and bullpen confidence in Detroit….
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Clark: 2-6, 2B (15), 2 R, 2 RBI, K
Anderson: 5-6, 2 HR (9), 2B (10), 4 R, 3 RBI
Jung: 2-5, HR (14), R, 4 RBI, BB
Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:05 p.m. ET start on Sunday, as Toledo goes for a seventh win in a row and the sweep.
Erie SeaWolves 8, Binghamton Rumble Ponies 1 (box)
Erie took care of business on Saturday against Binghamton, as the Erie SeaWolves beat the Rumble Ponies 8-1.
Andrew Sears gave another four-inning effort, throwing a season-high 60 pitches. Two of the four hits he allowed, and one walk, came in the first inning. Sears worked around those with a successful pickoff and one strikeout, though. He retired nine in a row after that, but a pair of two-out hits in the fourth led to the lone Binghamton run scoring.
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The SeaWolves gave Sears a five-run cushion to work with by the third. Garrett Pennington and Andrew Jenkins set things up in the second with back-to-back singles. E.J. Exposito doubled in Pennington, and Aaron Antonini brought Jenkins home on a sacrifice fly.
Pennington singled in Chris Meyers, who doubled with two outs in the third. Jenkins walked, and Max Burt made it 4-0 with a grounder through the left side. Expositio walked to load the bases, and Antonini got hit by a pitch for a free run.
Dariel Fregio worked through the sixth in relief of Sears. He dealt with a baserunner in each inning but got through it all unscathed. Trevin Michael went 1-2-3 in the seventh, keeping the score at 5-1 while the offense went through a cold spell.
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Erie’s bats came alive again in the bottom of the seventh. Justice Bigbie homered to open the frame, and Exposito hit a sac fly with the bases loaded. 7-1, SeaWolves.
Michael came back out for the eighth and worked around a one-out single. Meyers gave Erie one more insurance run in the bottom half, doubling in Peyton Graham.
Luke Taggart closed things out with a 1-2-3 ninth. A really good performance from the pitching staff, and plenty of offense for a comfortable win.
Pennington: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, BB
Bigbie: 1-5, HR (5), R, RBI, K
Meyers: 2-4, 2 2B (15), 2 R, RBI, BB
Sears: 4.0 IP, 4 H, R, ER, BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Sunday. Erie leads the series, 4-1.
Gm 1: West Michigan Whitecaps 8, Dayton Dragons 1 (box)
It was a great day for West Michigan’s pitching staff, starting with a one-hitter in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. The Whitecaps beat the Dayton Dragons 8-1, breaking through in the fifth for a six-run frame.
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Things went pretty quickly until then. Clayton Campbell had the only hit through the first four innings, although there were five walks between both teams. Jake Miller was good through 3 2/3 innings, even if four of those walks belonged to him. Five strikeouts and no hits allowed balanced the level there.
Thomas Bruss took over for the final out of the fourth, and then West Michigan’s offense got going. Samuel Gil led off the fifth with a single, and Patrick Lee notched his own base hit with one out. Cristian Santana walked to load the bases, and Woody Hadeen grounded into a 4-6 out that brought in the first run of the day.
It’s quite fortunate that ball avoided being an inning-ending double play. Bryce Rainer homered in the next at-bat, making it 4-0. When we saw he homered, we mean he hit this ball into the stratosphere.
West Michigan wasn’t done either. Campbell and Jackson Strong walked, setting up a two-run single from Andrew Sojka.
Bruss went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth to get the offense back out there. Santana moved Lee (walk) into scoring position with a single, and Hadeen grounded out for another RBI. Productive outs today from him.
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Juanmi Vasquez lost the shutout and no-hitter on one swing in the sixth, allowing a solo homer for the only Dayton run of the day. It could have gotten a lot worse, with Vasquez walking a pair and throwing a wild pitch, but he recovered to keep it a one-run frame.
Gil and Lee singled to bring another run in. Lee tried to stretch it into a double but was tagged out at second. Zack Lee went 1-2-3 in the ninth to close out a convincing win.
Rainer: 1-2, HR (7), R, 3 RBI, 2 K, 2 BB
Lee, P: 2-3, 2 R, RBI, BB
Miller: 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 5 K
Gm 2: West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Dayton Dragons 1 (box)
The Whitecaps picked up where they left off and threw another gem as a staff against the Dragons, winning 5-1 in Game 2 of the doubleheader. This time, there were two hits, which means West Michigan allowed a total of three base hits over 14 innings on the day. That’s good stuff at any level of this game.
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Charlie Christensen worked the first two innings in his High-A debut and Carlos Marcano took the last five. Christensen struggled with his command, walking five batters to just one strikeout. The lone base hit he allowed came with two outs in the second, and he followed up with three straight walks to give up a free run. It was a pretty bad spiral, but the Whitecaps had already scored a run, so all it did was tie the game.
Stephen Hrustich homered to get West Michigan on the board, and Ricardo Hurtado gave the Whitecaps the lead back in the third with an RBI single.
Arcano took control of the game after that. He retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced, and got a double play to erase a walk in the sixth. Samuel Gil gave him an insurance run to work with in the sixth, hitting a sac fly with Rainer on third.
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Hurtado came up big in the seventh, widening the gap with an RBI single and scoring on a double from Campbell. Marcano hit a batter in the final frame, but everything else was great from him.
Rainer: 1-3, R, BB, K
Hurtado: 2-5, R, 2 RBI
Hrustich: 1-1-, HR (2), R, RBI, 2 BB
Marcano (W, 1-1): 5.0 IP, H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:05 p.m. ET start on Sunday. West Michigan leads the series, 3-2.
Daytona Tortugas 7, Lakeland Flying Tigers 1 (box)
Well, one of these teams had to lose, right? Lakeland only had four hits in its 7-1 loss against the Daytona Tortugas on Saturday. The Flying Tigers walked six times, too, but nothing ever got strung together.
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Win Scott got his first start after 13 2/3 scoreless innings with Lakeland. He struck out the side in the first, but things turned in the second. Scott retired a pair of batters after allowing a leadoff double, but that third out was elusive. A walk, single and back-to-back doubles made it 4-0 in a flash. He got the first two out of the third just fine, but that was the end of the line for him at 52 pitches.
Yendy Gomez was sharp through the fourth, but he spiraled in the fifth inning. A leadoff double and one-out RBI single were bad enough, but three straight walks to bring in another run are unacceptable. Duque Hebbert took over with the bases loaded and gave up an RBI single before getting out of the jam.
At that point, Lakeland had already made it through its only offensive spurt of the day. Nick Dumesnil broke the shutout with a ground-rule double over the fence in left. Zach MacDonald and Anibal Salas had both walked before that, but only the former scored. Jack Goodman stranded the bases loaded, and nothing came of a one-out single in the fifth.
Hebbert retired six of the next seven batters he faced, getting Lakeland through the seventh, but the offense was lifeless. Donye Evans worked around a one-out walk in the eighth, and the Flying Tigers went down 1-2-3 in the ninth. Not great, Bob.
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Yost: 0-4, BB
Warwick: 2-4, 2 K
Dumesnil: 1-4, 2B (5), RBI
Scott (L, 0-1): 2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, BB, 4 K
Coming up Next: It’s a 1:05 p.m. ET start on Sunday. Daytona leads the series, 4-1.
FCL Tigers 1, FCL Phillies 0 (box)
Rookie ball is usually where everyone hits the ball, but not today in Lakeland. The Tigers beat the Phillies, 1-0, as the visiting Phils only saw four baserunners reach.
Owen Hall threw the bulk of this one for the Tigers. He went five scoreless innings and struck out six without walking anyone. Both of the Phillies hits came off him, but I’d say he’s ready for Single-A after this performance.
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Zach Swanson, Detroit’s ninth-round pick in 2024, got the start and made his professional debut after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Swanson was one of the Tigers big bonus prep picks, and so his progress will be closely followed. He threw 21 pitches and struck out three over 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Swanson allowed one walk. Yoan Valdez struck out the only batter he faced, getting the final out of the second.
Offensively, the biggest note is Josue Briceno being back. He went 0-3 as the designated hitter today, but it’s good to see him back in the batter’s box after spring wrist surgery.
Ronald Ramirez had the only multi-hit day for the Tigers, singling in the second and fifth. Michael Oliveto had a base hit in the fourth. Santiago Pinto had a hit in the fifth, but he was caught stealing. Ramirez tried to score on a single from Luis Aguilera in the fifth, but he was thrown out at home.
Cristian Perez had the big swing in the sixth, a solo homer to decide the game.
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Briceno: 0-3
Perez: 1-3, HR (9), R, RBI, K
Hall (W, 1-1): 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a rematch against the Phillies at noon ET on Monday.
DSL Tigers-2 9, DSL Phillies 5 (box)
The DSL Tigers 2 club beat the DSL Phillies 9-5 on Sunday.
Starter Alexander Bertiz had a rough day on paper with five runs scoring, but only two of them were earned. He struck out four and didn’t walk anyone. All things considered, that’s not so bad. Raimi Mueses threw two innings of one-hit ball, walking one and striking out one. Abelardo Medrano closed things out in the seventh, working around a one-out error.
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Samuell Sanchez got the Tigers on the board early with a two-run homer in the first. Manuel Bolivar grounded out for an RBI, and Willian Berti doubled in another run in the third. Diego Orro gave the Tigers their fifth run with a sac fly in the third.
Eduardo Tusen broke a 5-5 tie in the fifth with a double, scoring Orro, who tripled the at-bat before. Tusen stole third and came home on a wild pitch. Orro had another RBI in the seventh on a single.
Tusen: 3-5, 2B (7), 3 R, RBI, K
Sanchez: 1-2, HR (4), R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, K
Orro: 3-3, 3B (2), 2 R, 2 RBI
Bertiz: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: Both DSL Tigers clubs play on Monday at 11 a.m. ET. The No. 1 team is on the road against the DSL White Sox, and the No. 2 team is at home against the DSL Rockies.
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