Colt Keith hits for the cycle with two home runs

Toledo Mud Hens 9, Omaha Storm Chasers 2 (box)

The Mud Hens blew this game open with a six-run second inning and cruised to victory in this first of six on Tuesday night in Omaha.

Starter Ashton Goudeau tossed the first inning and gave up a run before departing after issuing three walks in the inning. However, that lead for Omaha didn’t last long. Andre Lipcius cracked a solo shot with one out in the top of the second for his third homer on the season. That tied things at a run apiece, but after Donny Sands grounded out for the second out in the inning, that looked like all they’d get.

Then they broke out again as Andrew Knapp singled and Jonathan Davis doubled him home. Davis took third on a wild pitch as Corey Joyce drew a walk. Justyn-Henry Malloy singled home Davis, and Parker Meadows launched a three-run shot, his fourth on the year, to right center field. The Hens never looked back.

Omaha got a run off Layne Henderson in the third, so it was 6-2 Hens through the middle innings. Knapp led off the sixth with a solo shot to make it 7-2. Meadows led off the seventh with a double and later scored on an error on a Steele Walker ground ball. Sands doubled Walker home, and it was 9-2 where it stayed.

Heath Hembree, Sam Clay, and Aneurys Zabala each tossed two innings of scoreless ball in relief. Hembree took the win, while Zabala struck out four in his two innings of work.

Meadows: 2-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR, 2B

Lipcius: 2-5, R, RBI, HR, SO

Knapp: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, HR, 2 SO

Coming Up Next: The two clubs will meet up again on Wednesday night at 7:35 p.m. ET. LHP Zach Logue (1-2, 4.23 ERA) takes on LHP Daniel Lynch (1-0, 2.16 ERA).

Erie SeaWolves 18, Harrisburg Senators 8 (box)

This was the Colt Keith show, but the rest of the SeaWolves rode his wake quite well as they just pummeled Senators pitching all evening long.

Erie jumped all over Senators’ starter Mitchell Parker. Trei Cruz led off the game with a double to left to remain on a nice tear this season. Colt Keith stepped to the dish and unleashed a monster home run to right center field.

Wenceel Perez kept it going with a single after Keith’s blast, and Dillon Dingler drew a walk. Grant Witherspoon struck out, but Jake Holton also walked to load the bases. That set up Andrew Navigato, who ripped a two-run double to left. Catcher Julio E. Rodriguez singled in Holton, Ben Malgeri walked, and then after Trei Cruz popped out, Keith came to the dish for the second time in the inning and unleashed a triple to right, clearing the bases. Keith had five RBI in the first inning, and it was 8-0 SeaWolves.

The game was already a rout at that point, and the SeaWolves would go on to pound out hit after hit, scoring two or more runs in each of the next four innings. Witherspoon and Dingler homered along the way, but the star of the show was just getting warmed up.

Keith hit for the cycle with a single in the seventh inning, added another single in the eighth, and totaled six hits, two home runs, and seven RBI in the contest. Good grief. We’d love to know if a Tigers’ minor league player has ever had a better game.

Ok, so it was basically the Colt Keith show. However, his team racked up 22 hits in the contest, and there was this Dillon Dingler blast with Wenceel Perez aboard in the seventh inning as well.

Ty Madden had a pretty messy outing allowing four runs, two earned, in four innings of work. He wasn’t sharp, throwing 47 of 82 pitches for strikes. The bullpen leaked four runs in the ninth, but no one was paying attention to the score by that point.

Keith: 6-6, 3 R, 7 RBI, 2 HR, 3B, 2B

Witherspoon: 4-6, 3 R, RBI, HR, 2B, SO

Cruz: 3-6, 2 R, RBI, 3B, 2B, SO

Dingler: 1-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, HR, 2 BB, 2 SO

Madden: 4.0 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 SO

Coming Up Next: It’s an 11:00 a.m. ET start on Wednesday as the Senators look to erase the taste of this beatdown.

West Michigan Whitecaps 11, Great Lakes Loons 10 (box)

Starter Williander Moreno was knocked around early in this one, surrendering six runs over the first three frames. However, the offense really got in going in the middle innings as the Whitecaps stormed back to win on Tuesday afternoon.

The Caps did get on board first, as Roberto Campos started the game with a line drive double to left, moved to third on a Justice Bigbie single, and scored on Eliezer Alfonzo’s single to make it 1-0. From there it was all Loons until the fourth, when Austin Murr pulled a two-run shot over the wall in right center field.

In the fifth, Izaac Pacheco led off with a solo shot, his fifth homer on the year. Chris Meyers was hit by a pitch, and Alfonzo singled before Danny Serretti came up with a two-run double that tied the game at 6-6.

In the sixth, the Caps took their first lead when Carlos Mendoza led off with a walk, and Roberto Campos ambushed a 97 mph inside and smoked it just fair down the left field line for a two-run shot, his fourth on the year. The almost 20-year-old is holding his own nicely so far this season.

Angel Reyes allowed three runs in the bottom of the sixth as the Loons took a 9-8 lead back, but in the eighth the offense got loose once again. Campos walked with one out, and took second on a wild pitch. Pacheco singled him to third, and he scored on a Justice Bigbie single moments later. Pacheco took third, and Bigbie advanced to second on the play, and Meyers singled them both in to make it 11-9.

The bullpen leaked a run in the bottom half, but they held on to win as Trevin Michael struck out three in the ninth to earn the save.

Campos: 2-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, HR, 2B, BB

Pacheco: 2-5, 2 R, RBI, HR

Murr: 1-5, R, 2 RBI, HR

Moreno: 4.0 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, SO

Coming Up Next: RHP Wilkel Hernandez (1-2, 4.23 ERA) takes on LHP Maddux Bruns (0-1, 9.28 ERA) on Wednesday night at 6:05 p.m. ET in Midland.

Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 6, Lakeland Flying Tigers 5 (box)

Starter Cole Patten was knocked around a bit in this one, and while the offense turned it on late, they fell short on Tuesday night.

The Mighty Mussels struck early, dropping three runs on Patten in the third, and another in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fourth, Jose De La Cruz drew a one out walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Mike Rothenberg singled him home to get the Flying Tigers on the board. Fort Myers got another run against reliever Cleiverth Perez in the top of the fifth, but Moises Valero cracked a solo shot in the bottom half of the inning to make it 5-2 Fort Myers. Carlos Pelegrin added a solo shot, his first of the year, an inning later to make it 5-3.

Reliever Chris Mauloni allowed an unearned run in the top of the seventh courtesy of a walk, a double, and a De La Cruz error in left field. So the score was 6-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Rothenberg singled with one out and Adinso Reyes and Luke Gold followed with doubles to make it 6-5 Fort Myers, and a wild pitch moved Gold to third with one out. The Flying Tigers couldn’t get him home as Valero struck out, and Seth Stephenson lined out to end the game.

De La Cruz: 1-2, R, 2B, 2 BB

Rothenberg: 2-4, R, RBI

Patten (L, 1-2): 4.0 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 H, BB, 5 SO

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET first pitch scheduled for Wednesday night.