Worcester Red Sox 5, Toledo Mud Hens 4 (box)
The Mud Hens had a pretty good series in Worcester. They lost the first game on Tuesday, then ripped off four straight wins before falling 5-4 on Sunday. Starting this Tuesday, they’ll welcome the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in for six.
On Sunday, they got a good short outing from Garrett Hill, who struck out six in three scoreless innings of work. Hill allowed a leadoff double in the first, but then struck out the next four batters he faced, eating them up with his riding 92-93 mph fourseamer at the top of the zone. Worcester got a double against Hill in each inning, but Hill was nails each time and didn’t allow a run. Logan Shore had the other half of the outing, and that did not go so well, as Shore coughed up three runs in the fifth.
The Hens finally got on the board in the sixth when Akil Baddoo tripled and scored on a Jeimer Candelario sacrifice fly. Candy will rejoin the Tigers in Boston on Monday.
Ricardo Pinto allowed two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-1, and the Hens three-run rally in the top of the ninth fell just short. Josh Lester doubled with one out and scored on a John Valente single. A Brady Policelli ground out forced Valente at second, but Jack Lopez walked and Derek Hill reached on an infield hit. Baddoo came through with a two-run single to right to cut the lead to one, but Candelario grounded out to end the game.
Baddoo: 3-5, R, 2 RBI, 3B
Valente: 3-4, RBI, CS
Hill: 3.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 6 SO
Erie SeaWolves 2, Altoona Curve 1 (box)
The SeaWolves fell behind in this series with a loss on Friday night, but then stormed back with victories on Saturday and Sunday to take the series 4-2. The SeaWolves will welcome the Bowie Baysox into UPMC Park this week for six starting Tuesday night.
Chance Kirby certainly wasn’t overpowering, but other than a fourth inning solo shot he kept the Curve off the board over four innings with three strikeouts. Kerry Carpenter’s 22nd home run of the season, yep, he’s still running real hot, gave the SeaWolves the first lead of the game in the top of the fourth prior to Kirby allowing the home run to the Curve in the bottom half.
That home run gave Carpenter the lead at any level of the minor leagues, by the way. The left fielder holds a 1.024 OPS as well, and going back to last year he also has 171 games played at the Double-A level with 37 home runs and 36 doubles. It’s almost July. What’s a guy gotta do to get promoted around here?
Things stayed knotted at 1-1 until the seventh. With one out, Andre Lipcius and Parker Meadows drew back-to-back walks. A ground out from Chris Rabago moved both runners over and Lipcius then scored on a wild pitch for the eventual game winning run. Yaya Chentouf, Brendan White, Adam Wolf, and Zac Houston combined for five scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory, Houston collecting his third save.
Carpenter: 2-4, R, RBI, HR
Lipcius: 0-2, R, 2 BB, SO, SB
Kirby: 4.0 IP, ER, 2 H, 3 SO
West Michigan Whitecaps 7, Peoria Chiefs 5 (box)
The Whitecaps victory on Sunday gave them a convincing series win over Peoria, five games to one. West Michigan will stay on the road this week in Cedar Rapids.
Dylan Smith allowed a solo shot in the third, and two runs overall, striking out four in five innings of work. His command still hasn’t been as sharp this month as earlier in the season, but overall he’s still having a nice pro debut season.
The Whitecaps took their first lead on Eliezer Alfonzo’s second home run of the year, a two-run shot with Trei Cruz aboard in the top of the third. In the fourth, Ben Malgeri walked with one out and Austin Murr singled him over to third, where Malgeri scored on a Corey Joyce sacrifice fly. Ulrich Bojarski and Carlos Mendoza then drew back to back walks, and Murr scored on a fielder’s choice to make it 4-1 at that point.
Peoria scored one in the fifth, but West Michigan came back to score in the seventh and the eighth innings. Malgeri singled home Alfonzo in the seventh, while Ulrich Bojarski homered with Joyce aboard in the eighth. Andrew Magno allowed three runs in the bottom of the ninth, but Elvis Alvarado came on to get the final out and pick up the save.
Alfonzo: 3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR
Bojarski: 1-2, R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, HR, SB
Malgeri: 1-4, R, RBI, BB, 2 SO
Smith (W, 6-4): 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 SO
Daytona Tortugas 5, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (box)
The Flying Tigers took the first three of this series in Lakeland, but dropped all three games this weekend to split the series. They’ll welcome in the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels for six this week.
Carlos Pena gave the Flying Tigers another excellent outing in this one, spinning five inning of one run ball. He allowed just two hits, while striking out six and walking one.
Daytona got that run off Pena in the fourth, but Lakeland did battle back to seize the lead with a two-run bottom of the sixth. Cristian Santana and Manuel Sequera singled with one out, and advanced 90 feet on a Roberto Campos ground out. Justice Bigbie then came through with a two-run single to right field.
Reliever Cameron Brown got into a little trouble in the top of the seventh, and Aaron Haase took over only to allow a two-run shot, and that was pretty much the ball game. Lazaro Benitez doubled home Jose De La Cruz, who led off the bottom of the inning with a single in the bottom of the eighth, and that was all for the offense.
Bigbie: 1-4, 2 RBI, SO
Sequera: 2-4, R, SO, CS
Santana: 2-4, R, 2 SO
Benitez: 2-3, RBI, 2 2B, SO
Pena: 5.0 IP, ER, 2 H, BB, 6 SO