Toledo Mud Hens 7, Memphis Redbirds 0 (box)
Logan Shore and a bullpen bolstered by Tigers’ demotions rode a pair of Aderlin Rodriguez home runs to make their record 12-12 on the young season.
Shore went 6 1⁄3 scoreless innings, scattering six hits against four strikeouts. Bryan Garcia and Buck Farmer took over, each collecting four outs to put this one to bed. Renato Nuñez went opposite field for a solo shot in the second inning for the eventual game winner. A Christin Stewart RBI triple in the fifth scored Rodriguez, who had led off the inning with a single. Rodriguez was just getting warmed up. He lined one out to left center field in the seventh for a solo shot, and then cleared the bases with a grand slam in the eighth, his fourth home run of the year, to put this one out of the Redbirds’ reach.
Rodriguez: 3-4, 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR, SO
Gonzalez: 1-3, R, BB
Stewart: 1-4, RBI, 3B, SO
Coming Up Next: RHP Matt Manning (0-2, 7.94 ERA) will look to start righting the ship as he takes on the Redbirds in the first game of a doubleheader to make up for Tuesday’s rain out at 6:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Game two’s starters are still TBD.
Erie SeaWolves vs. Akron RubberDucks (postponed)
Wednesday’s game in Akron was rained out, so they’ll make Friday’s matchup a doubleheader instead. On Thursday, RHP Mark Leiter Jr. (1-2, 4.08 ERA) will take on Akron’s RHP Shane McCarthy (0-0, 2.60 ERA) with a 6:35 p.m. EDT start time.
Great Lakes Loons 5, West Michigan Whitecaps 4 (box)
Tigers catching prospect Dillon Dingler continued his early season assault on top 100 prospect lists everywhere, but it wasn’t enough to bring down the Loons on Wednesday.
The Whitecaps got off to a fast start against a good pitching prospect in RHP Clayton Beeter, with Spencer Torkelson doubling to right field with one out in the top of the first inning. Daniel Cabrera sprayed a double to left, scoring Torkelson, and Cabrera scored on a Dillon Dingler single to left.
Akron came back in the bottom of the second, as a leadoff walk and then an error on Cabrera put two men on for ‘Caps starter Jesus Rodriguez. Both would come across to score on a ground out and a single, respectively, to tie things at two apiece.
Dingler then smoked a line drive home run—his sixth already—to left to lead off the fourth and put the ‘Caps back on top. The stock for the Tigers second round pick in 2020 is rapidly rising.
Unfortunately, an error from 1B Reynaldo Rivera allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in the bottom of the fifth, and he was followed by an RBI double, and then a two-run homer to put the Loons on top. Wenceel Perez, newly promoted from Lakeland, added a solo shot to left to lead off the eighth inning and make it 5-4, where the scoring ended.
Dingler: 2-3, R, 2 RBI, HR, BB, SO
Torkelson: 1-4, R, 2B
Rodriguez (L, 1-2): 5.0 IP, 5 R, 2 ER, 4 H, BB, 3 SO
Coming Up Next: The two clubs meet up again at 7:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday in Midland.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 4, Tampa Tarpons 4 (delayed)
The Flying Tigers and the Tarpons were delayed with no outs in the bottom of the sixth in Lakeland. Kody Clemens two run single in the third started the scoring for Lakeland. They got two more in the fifth on RBI hits from Connor Perry and Gage Workman. Unfortunately, starter Adam Wolf tossed four scoreless innings and then ran into big trouble in the fifth, allowing three runs. A leadoff homer by Austin Wells against Wolf tied things up to lead off the sixth. That came in the nick of time for Tampa, as the skies opened up at that point with the game now deadlocked.
Perry: 2-2, 2 R, RBI, 2 2B
Workman: 1-2, RBI, BB
Coming Up Next: RHP Gio Arriera (1-1, 2.95 ERA) takes on LHP Ryan Anderson (0-0, 12.00 ERA) after the conclusion of Wednesday night’s contest.