TOLEDO, OH.: The Toledo Mud Hens pitching staff was up to the challenge on Tuesday evening, but the offense couldn’t get going in a doubleheader sweep to the St. Paul Saints, 2-1 and 1-0, at Fifth Third Field.
GAME 1: In a contest that was suspended on July 17th due
TOLEDO, OH.: The Toledo Mud Hens pitching staff was up to the challenge on Tuesday evening, but the offense couldn’t get going in a doubleheader sweep to the St. Paul Saints, 2-1 and 1-0, at Fifth Third Field.
GAME 1: In a contest that was suspended on July 17th due to rain in St. Paul, the Mud Hens were neutralized to just three hits in the loss. One of the three was a lead-off triple in the first inning off the bat of Derek Hill before the game was suspended. He would then come across on a sacrifice fly from Josh Lester to give Toledo the 1-0 edge. Josh would be the last batter that night before the game resumed on Tuesday at Fifth Third Field.
Three consecutive Saints base hits in the home half of the second led to their first run of the game. Michael Helman touched the plate on an RBI knock from Mark Contreras to even the score at 1-1.
St. Paul went ahead for good on a solo blast from Chris Williams in the bottom of the fifth, his first of the season.
Elvin Rodriguez (4-3) accepted the setback, allowing seven hits and two runs while mixing in six strikeouts across five frames of work.
Miguel Diaz worked around two free passes and contributed two scoreless stanzas on the hill.
Ariel Jurado and Devin Smeltzer (2-2) each held the Hens to a single hit and racked up four punch outs, with Jurado twirling 3 and 1/3’s innings and Smeltzer throwing three frames to snag the win. Michael Feliz and Brad Peacock slammed the door on the Hens over the final two innings of the contest.
GAME 2: Joe Navilhon set the tone for another pitcher’s duel in the night cap. He retired all nine Saints batters that he faced and fanned four of them in his first Triple-A appearance of the season.
Shea Spitzbarth came up clutch in relief of Navilhon, working into and out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth. He then set down two batters in the fifth before Angel De Jesus came on to get the final out, stranding the go-ahead runners in scoring position in the process.
Cole Sturgeon busted the Saints onto the board in the sixth, swatting an RBI single that plated Contreras for the decisive run. The Saints outhit the Hens 5-3 in the contest.
De Jesus (1-1) received the losing end of the decision for Toledo, yielding a hit, a walk, and an unearned run over four outs.
Drew Carlton turned in a scoreless top of the seventh for the Mud Hens.
Mario Sanchez struck out three through the first four innings for the Saints. Drew Strotman (3-2) swiped the win by keeping the Hens off the board in the fifth. Jharel Cotton secured his first save by finishing the final two frames.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES: Rehabbing Tigers infielder Jonathan Schoop registered hits in both ends of the doubleheader, going 1-3 with a double in game one and 1-2 with a walk during game two. Tuesday marked his first appearance in a Triple-A game since 2018 when he was with the Orioles organization.
Andre Lipcius bagged hits in both games, going 2-6 on the night and extending his on-base streak to 10 straight games.
NEXT UP: Game three of the seven-game set between the Saints and Mud Hens commences with a 6:35 p.m. first pitch on Wednesday evening.