Toledo Mud Hens, Louisville Bats (Sunday)(cancelled)
Louisville Bats 7, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (Saturday)(box)
Alex Faedo put together a decent outing, but the bats were pretty quiet on Saturday. Still, the Hens took four out of five in the shortened series and hold a 9-5 record to date.
Faedo only allowed three hits and a walk in his four innings of work. However, one of them was a solo shot to lead off the second inning, and the Bats put up two runs against him overall, striking out five times. Kervin Castro allowed a fifth-inning solo shot in his two innings of work, while Miguel Del Pozo and Miguel Diaz allowed two runs in the seventh and ninth, respectively.
The Hens got on the board in the second when Andre Lipcius led off with a line-drive double to center field. A Donny Sands ground out moved Lipcius to third, and Andy Ibañez singled him home.
In the seventh, Jonathan Davis singled with one out, and Brendon Davis followed with a double to right. Jonathan Davis scored on a John Valente ground out. A Parker Meadows sacrifice fly plated Ibañez in the bottom of the ninth but it did little but make the score slightly more respectable.
Ibañez: 2-4, R, RBI, 2B
Malloy: 2-3, BB
Faedo (L, 0-1): 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, BB, 5 SO
Coming Up Next: The Hens travel to Columbus for six this week, with first pitch set for 6:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.
Erie SeaWolves 7, Altoona Curve 3 (Sunday)(box)
An excellent bounce-back start from Sawyer Gipson-Long paved the way for the SeaWolves to split the six-game set at home with a 7-3 victory on Sunday.
Gipson-Long went five innings, allowing just a solo shot and no walks, with nine strikeouts on the day. Pretty good.
The SeaWolves staked their starter to a nice early lead as well. A Jake Holton leadoff single in the second was followed by a Gage Workman double as the infielder remained red-hot in this one. Trei Cruz came through with two outs, punching a ground ball through the right side of the infield to score them both and it was 2-0 Erie.
Wenceel Perez, who recently returned from a rehab assignment, got things rolling in the third with a leadoff single. He took second on a wild pitch, and Grant Witherspoon moved Perez to third with a single. A Julio E. Rodriguez ground out allowed Perez to score to make it 3-0.
The Curve got one back in the top of the fourth, but the SeaWolves answered right back. An error allowed Workman to reach third and Mario Feliciano doubled him home. 4-1 Erie.
The capper was Grant Witherspoon’s first homer in the Tigers organization. The three-run shot with Diego Rincones and Perez aboard put this one away for good.
Workman: 2-4, 2 R, 2 2B
Witherspoon: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR
Perez: 1-3, 2 R, BB, SO
Gipson-Long (W, 2-1): 5.0 IP, ER, 3 H, 9 SO
Erie SeaWolves 5, Altoona Curve 4 (F/10)(Saturday)(box)
The SeaWolves were in trouble early on Saturday but battled back to win in 10 innings courtesy of a Mario Feliciano walk-off single.
Ty Madden got the start and was coming off a superb 10-strikeout performance last time out. Things did not go so well in this one. Madden was yanked after the first because his pitch count was 36, and the Tigers have a new policy about pulling pitchers who need more than 30 in an inning. Madden allowed just one run, but issued three walks in the frame, with three strikeouts. Strange outing. Just wild early on and didn’t get the chance to settle in.
Williander Moreno took over and allowed three runs, two earned in the second inning. From there though, the bullpen was nails, allowing just a single and two walks the rest of the way.
The SeaWolves missed some early scoring chances, but finally in the sixth, they broke through. With one out, Rodriguez walked, Witherspoon singled, and then Rincones walked as well, loading the bases. Altoona went to the pen and new reliever Travis MacGregor struck out Josh Crouch for the second out. However, an error on a Feliciano grounder kept the inning alive as Rodriguez came home to score the SeaWolves first run. Gage Workman, a name you’re going to be hearing a lot of the way he’s started the season, ripped a hot shot triple down the first base line, clearing the bases and tying the game at 4-4.
Yaya Chentouf collected the final five outs, locking down the Curve in the tenth inning. A Feliciano single through the left side allowed Trei Cruz to roar home as the game-winner.
Workman: 2-3, 3 RBI, 3B, BB
Witherspoon: 2-5, R, SO
Madden: 1.0 IP, ER, H, 3 BB, 3 SO
Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves travel to Richmond for six with the Flying Squirrels starting Tuesday with an 11:05 a.m. ET game.
Lansing Lugnuts 9, West Michigan Whitecaps 2 (F/7)(Sunday)(box)
Lansing managed to split the series with a victory on Sunday. They knocked Whitecaps starter Jack O’Loughlin out after two innings with four runs in and pulled away late.
A Roberto Campos double with one out in the fifth set the ‘Caps up for their first run. Outfielder Ben Malgeri, red hot to start the season, tripled Campos home to make it 4-1 Lansing. Danny Serretti led off the sixth with a solo shot, his first homer of the year, to get the ‘Caps to a 4-2 deficit, but that was as close as they’d get. Reliever Gabriel Sequeira was rocked for four runs in the bottom of the seventh, and the Lugnuts added one more against Jack Anderson to close the door on this one.
Campos: 1-2, R, 2B, 2 BB
Jung: 1-3, BB
Serretti: 1-4, R, RBI, HR, 2 SO
O’Loughlin (L, 0-2): 2.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, SO
Lansing Lugnuts 6, West Michigan Whitecaps 4 (Saturday)(box)
The Lugnuts jumped all over Garrett Burhenn in this one, racking up four runs in the second inning and knocking him out of the game. The offense fought back, but runs against the ‘Caps bullpen helped Lansing hold off their charge.
In the fourth, down 4-0 already, Danny Serretti led off with a single and later scored on an Austin Murr single.
In the sixth, Serretti has hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Chris Meyers walked, and then catcher Eliezar Alfonzo was also plunked, loading the bases. Serretti scored on a Justice Bigbie double play ball, but an error cost the Lugnuts another run, making it 5-3 Lansing at that point.
Izaac Pacheco crushed his third home run in as many days in the seventh to make it 5-4 Lansing, but they added a run in the bottom of the inning and held off the Whitecaps the rest of the way without a scoring threat.
Murr: 2-4, RBI, SO
Pacheco: 1-5, R, RBI, HR, SO
Burhenn (L, 0-1): 1.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, BB
Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps welcome in the Dayton Dragons on Tuesday night, with the first of six getting under way at 6:35 p.m. ET.
Bradenton Marauders 7, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (Sunday)(box)
The two clubs exchanged three-run innings early in this one, but Marauders pitching shut down the Flying Tigers the rest of the way as they pulled ahead to take the series four games to two on Sunday.
Seth Stephenson started the bottom of the first with a single and then stole second base. Peyton Graham walked, and Mike Rothenberg tripled them both home with one out. Cristian Santana lifted a sac fly to left to score Rothenberg, and it was quickly 3-0 Lakeland.
However, Flying Tigers’ starter Carlos Marcano was quickly dinged for three runs in the second inning to tie it up. The offense had scoring chances the rest of the way, but couldn’t cash them in. Meanwhile, reliever Garrett Apker allowed three runs in the seventh as the Marauders pulled away for good.
Graham: 0-2, R, 3 BB, SO
Rothenberg: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, 3B, SO
Stephenson: 1-2, R, 2 BB, SO, 3 SB
Marcano: 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 4 SO
Bradenton Marauders 10, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (Saturday)(box)
This one was over early. Flying Tigers’ starter Ulicedes Campos was clobbered for 10 runs on 12 hits, including a pair of homers, and was knocked out of this one with just five outs recorded.
Lakeland got off the schneid in the fifth when Lazaro Benitez led off with a walk. Dom Johnson followed with a single to left, and an error allowed Benitez to score and Johnson to take second base. A one-out single from Graham moved Johnson to third, where he scored on a Rothenberg ground out. Andrew Jenkins followed with a solid single to plate Graham, and it was 10-3. The Flying Tigers had a few scoring chances the rest of the way, but couldn’t cash them in.
Graham: 2-4, R, SO, SB
Jenkins: 2-4, RBI, SO
Benitez: 1-2, R, 2 BB
Campos (L, 0-2): 1.2 IP, 10 ER, 12 H, SO
Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers travel to St. Lucie this week to take on the Mets. Tuesday night’s first pitch is set for 6:10 p.m. ET.