TOLEDO, OH.: The Mud Hens capitalized on two early home runs, a dynamite performance from Chase Anderson, and the bullpen escaped big jams in the seventh and eighth innings to guide Toledo to a 6-2 win against the Worcester Red Sox on Friday evening at Fifth Third Field.
Before Worcester
TOLEDO, OH.: The Mud Hens capitalized on two early home runs, a dynamite performance from Chase Anderson, and the bullpen escaped big jams in the seventh and eighth innings to guide Toledo to a 6-2 win against the Worcester Red Sox on Friday evening at Fifth Third Field.
Before Worcester starter Brian Keller could even blink, Zack Short belted his first pitch over the left field fence for his fifth home run of the season. Daz Cameron doubled two batters later to keep the momentum going in front of Josh Lester, who promptly slammed a two-run blast, also his fifth of the year, for a 3-0 Mud Hens lead after an inning.
Cameron advanced his hitting streak to eight straight games, also recording his first multi-knock effort of the season by swatting 2-4 at the dish. He has raised his average 53 points from when this streak first began.
The Red Sox answered in the second with a long ball of their own. Ryan Fitzgerald swatted a two-run dinger against Anderson to cut their deficit to 3-2.
That was the only mistake Anderson (2-2) would make in his quality start. He secured the victory for the Mud Hens, yielding five hits, two runs, a walk, and piling up six strikeouts.
Toledo put four consecutive runners on with one down in the fourth, tacking on two runs in the process. Jacob Robson walked, Dane Myers reached on a fielder’s choice, and John Valente singled to load the bases for Short, who drew a walk to push the lead to 4-2. Kody Clemens also knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly, plating Myers, to make it 5-2.
Keller (0-2) was saddled with the loss for Worcester, giving up five runs on five hits and three walks over 3 and 1/3’s stanzas.
Clemens was 1-3 at the plate and has now hit safely in three straight since his 12-game hit streak ended on Wednesday.
Valente’s first two-base hit of the season was a big one. With two down in the eighth, he pushed a double down the right field line to score Dylan Rosa and give the Hens a 6-2 edge. With his 2-4 performance on the night, Valente moved his hitting streak to six consecutive assignments. He is 8-21 during this stretch, maintaining a .381 batting average.
Nolan Blackwood entered in relief of Anderson in the seventh, sidestepping two walks and an error while fanning Johan Mieses and Yolmer Sanchez to keep the WooSox off the board.
After Blackwood issued a free pass to begin the eighth, Angel DeJesus walked two and recorded two outs in advance of Miguel Del Pozo, who came on to strike out former Mud Hen Christin Stewart and wiggle Toledo out of another bases loaded jam.
Derek Law didn’t let a single phase him in his scoreless ninth inning on the bump.
NEXT UP: Game five of this series against Boston’s Triple-A affiliate takes place Saturday evening at Fifth Third Field. First pitch is slated for 5:05 p.m.