TOLEDO, OH.: Akil Baddoo lit up the night at the plate with two huge homers and Michael Mariot turned in a solid start as the Toledo Mud Hens capped off a 6-1 victory over the Louisville Bats at Fifth Third Field on Saturday evening moments before the City of Toledo
TOLEDO, OH.: Akil Baddoo lit up the night at the plate with two huge homers and Michael Mariot turned in a solid start as the Toledo Mud Hens capped off a 6-1 victory over the Louisville Bats at Fifth Third Field on Saturday evening moments before the City of Toledo Fireworks show began.
The Mud Hens wasted no time offensively, stringing together consecutive singles from Jamie Westbrook, Baddoo, and Daz Cameron to load the bases in their half of the first. A sacrifice fly from Josh Lester brought in Westbrook for the first tally of the game.
Baddoo kept the good offensive vibes going by swatting his first Mud Hens home run of the campaign in the third inning to increase the lead to 2-0. This marked the first long ball of his career at the Triple-A level.
Toledo scratched across two more runs in the fourth to bump its lead to 4-0. John Valente led off the stanza with a single, later scoring on an RBI knock from Jack Lopez. Westbrook’s first of two doubles on the night sent Lopez to the plate for the other run.
Meanwhile, Mariot (3-0) fired his first scoreless start since May 13 when he was pitching for Lehigh Valley against Buffalo. He surrendered three hits, a walk, and racked up four strikeouts across five frames to earn the win.
A base hit from Cristian Santana fueled a Louisville rally opposite Luis Castillo in the top of the sixth. The Bats were able to load the bases with nobody out, and Santana touched home on a double play hit into by Juniel Querecuto, but Miguel Del Pozo entered and got the final out to limit the damage to just a single tally.
Westbrook doubled again in the bottom of the sixth in front of Baddoo, who smoked a towering blast over the right field fence for his second of the night and a 6-1 Hens edge.
Baddoo is now 10-20 in the set with Saturday’s dynamic 3-5 night at the dish. He has three multi-hit efforts against the Bats and was able to extend his on-base streak to seven games.
Westbrook moved his hitting streak to four consecutive assignments by slashing 3-5. He is hitting .529 (9-17) with five doubles and four RBIs during this hot stretch.
Brandon Williamson (0-1) took the loss for the Bats in his Triple-A debut, yielding nine hits and four runs in four innings of work.
Miguel Diaz and Derek Law flung scoreless frames in the eighth and the ninth to finish off the contest.
John Valente notched his eighth multi-hit effort of the season by going 2-3 at the dish.
NEXT UP: The Mud Hens will conclude the series against Louisville and close the 12-game home stand on Sunday evening. First pitch is slated for 6:05 p.m.