Toledo Mud Hens 3, Rochester Red Wings 2 (Friday)(box)
Rochester Red Wings 12, Toledo Mud Hens 7 (Saturday)(box)
Rochester Red Wings 6, Toledo Mud Hens 4 (Sunday)(box)
Indianapolis Indians 12, Toledo Mud Hens 6 (Monday)(box)
The Rochester series didn’t end particularly well over the weekend, and then they proceeded to lose a Memorial Day matchup at the Indianapolis Indians to open this week’s series. Kerry Carpenter’s rehab didn’t start off well as he went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts on Friday. He was off on Saturday, but on Sunday he did have a single and walk, scoring a run in the losing effort. Carpenter added a single and a walk on Monday with a run scored as well.
On Friday, right-hander Reese Olson spun a great game, continuing his recent roll. Olson’s fastball command was sharp and apart from surrendering a solo shot in the third inning to old friend Derek Hill, the Red Wings couldn’t touch him. Olson struck out 10 in five innings of work without a walk allowed.
The Hens’ offense was quiet most of the game, but they finally broke through with a three-run eighth inning. Justyn-Henry Malloy walked with one out, and Andre Lipcius popped out pinch-hitting for Kerry Carpenter. However Tyler Nevin doubled Malloy to third, and both scored on a Parker Meadows single back through the box. Donny Sands doubled Meadows home with the go-ahead run, and Miguel Diaz earned the save with three strikeouts in the top of the ninth.
Saturday’s contest was forgettable as starter Ashton Goudeau was clobbered for eight runs and knocked out of the game in the second inning. Brendan White allowed three in relief in the fifth inning, and by that point it was 11-0. The Hens rallied for three in the sixth, and four in the seventh, but the comeback stalled out there.
On Sunday, lefty Zach Logue was cruising when his team gave him a three-run lead in the bottom of the third. Corey Joyce led off the inning with a double, and Justyn-Henry Malloy followed with a walk. Kerry Carpenter ripped a single to left too hard to score Joyce, but Parker Meadows gave up with a two-run single, and an Andre Lipcius ground out brought Carpenter home.
However, after striking out seven and on a roll for four innings, Logue came apart in the fifth to allow three runs as Rochester tied the game. The Red Wings got two more before the Hens answered back in the sixth with a a Lipcius single and a Michael Papierski double, but that was as far as they’d get.
A quick turnaround saw the Hens in Indianapolis on Monday for a Memorial Day matchup with the Indians. They got clobbered. Brenan Hanifee gave up five runs, though only one was earned, while Aneurys Zabala and Garrett Hill each gave up three runs in relief.
Parker Meadows tripled and homered in the game, while Kerry Carpenter had a single and a walk. Michael Papierski’s three-hit day paced the Hens’ offense. Justyn-Henry Malloy had a solid weekend racking up singles and walks, averaging a strikeout per game.
Parker Meadows cracks a 410-foot home run to put Toledo up 3-0 in the 3rd inning. It’s his 6th home run of the season, and his 3rd off a left-handed pitcher. pic.twitter.com/Sl7p1Vr3fy
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) May 29, 2023
Coming Up Next: The two clubs are off on Tuesday. The series resumes at 6:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.
Erie SeaWolves 10, Somerset Patriots 4 (Friday)(box)
Erie SeaWolves 17, Somerset Patriots 3 (Saturday)(box)
Somerset Patriots 3, Erie SeaWolves 2 (Sunday)(box)
The SeaWolves had a pretty good week, taking the series with Somerset four games to two, despite Colt Keith being out most of the weekend with an illness.
On Friday, Keider Montero put together a decent outing but still struggled with his control, walking four, though he allowed two runs in five innings of work.
They built a lead with a four-run second inning. Luis Santana walked with the bases loaded, and then Trei Cruz remained hot with a three-run double to clear the bases. Cruz’s power surge, with the long time shortstop now playing a lot of center field, has been an intriguing early development this season. The SeaWolves added runs in the fifth and sixth, and then put together a seventh inning rally for four more to put this one away.
Saturday’s contest saw Ty Madden struggling with his control and walking four, shortening his outing. Still he punched out six, allowed two runs in his four innings of work.
The offense just wrecked Somerset pitching all game long. Trei Cruz started it with a solo shot, his seventh homer, in the first. Andrew Navigato launched a pair of home runs. Jake Holton, Julio E. Rodriguez, and Luis Santana all hit home runs.
On Sunday, the SeaWolves got five scoreless innings from a combo starter of lefty Adam Wolf, and right-hander R.J. Petit. However, they couldn’t take advantage, scoring just two runs, while reliever Billy Lescher surrendered three runs in the sixth that proved enough for Somerset to win.
Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves are in Richmond to tangle with the Flying Squirrels this week. First pitch on Tuesday night is set for 6:35 p.m. ET.
West Michigan Whitecaps 9, Lake County Captains 8 (Fri)(box)
West Michigan Whitecaps 1, Lake County Captains 0 (Sat)(box)
West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Lake County Captains 3 (Sun)(box)
The Whitecaps had a good weekend, bouncing back after losing the first two of six to take the next four and the series.
Hard-throwing right-hander Troy Melton made his High-A debut on Friday, but while he only allowed a run, a long second inning with a couple walks ended his outing early.
Walks to recent addition Brady Allen and Danny Serretti opened the bottom of the second inning. Roberto Campos doubled in a run and Dillon Paulson’s single scored Serretti and Campos. Austin Murr and Jace Jung struck out, ending Ethan Hankins’ outing for Lake County, but his relief immediately gave up an RBI single to rehabbing Ryan Kreidler to make it 4-1.
They got a run off some wildness from the Captains in the third, and in the fourth they broke it open a bit. Jace Jung led off with a solo shot, his fifth home run of the year. Kreidler singled, but was replaced by Izaac Pacheco, who grounded into a fielder’s choice. A wild pitch moved him to second and Brady Allen singled him home. Allen was then wild pitched to second and Danny Serretti followed with an RBI double. Roberto Campos singled Serretti home, and it was 9-1 West Michigan. The bullpen struggled and only managed to hang on to win it.
On Saturday, Jack O’Loughlin one-hit the Captains over five innings with five strikeouts. The bullpen kept it going, blanking the Captains with only two further hits allowed. Austin Murr brought Esney Chacon home with a sacrifice fly in the fifth for the only run in the game.
On Sunday, the Whitecaps built a lead when Ryan Kreidler drew a one-out walk in the third. Izaac Pacheco doubled him home. In the fifth, Pacheco walked with one-out and Danny Serrretti followed with a single and advanced to second on the play. Chris Meyers plated them both with a single to end the scoring for the Whitecaps.
Williander Moreno worked as the opener for two innings in this one. Wilkel Hernandez took over and went four innings, but allowed three runs in the sixth before exiting the game. Erick Pinales collected his first save with a clean ninth inning.
Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps travel to Dayton to take on the Dragons this week. First pitch on Tuesday night’s opener is set for 7:05 p.m. ET.
Daytona Tortugas 6, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (Friday)(box)
Daytona Tortugas 9, Lakeland Flying Tigers 5 (Saturday)(box)
Lakeland Flying Tigers 4, Daytona Tortugas 3 (Sunday)(box)
The Flying Tigers had the Tortugas down 2-1 heading into the weekend, but they lost on Friday and Saturday before salvaging a tie with a 4-3 win on Sunday.
On Friday, Daytona jumped out to the lead with a four-run third inning after the Flying Tigers had scratched across a run in the first. Lakeland only had three hits on the day. The first was Seth Stephenson leading off the game with a triple. Peyton Graham brought him home with a sacrifice fly.
Down 4-1, Mike Rothenberg got a rally started in the fourth with a one-out double. Cristian Santana walked and Abel Bastidas reached on an error. Dom Johnson walked to force in a run, but they couldn’t get the big hit. A Moises Valero ground out pushed Santana home, but they couldn’t get any more, and the offense was very quiet the rest of the way.
On Saturday, Jose De La Cruz hit a solo shot, his second of the year, as the offense had a little better day. Abel Bastidas tripled and he and De La Cruz each had two of the Flying Tigers seven hits. The pitching staff took a beating, however, and they never led in the game.
On Sunday, starter Ulices Campos held the Tortugas to one-run over four innings, and reliever Sean Guenther spun a pair of scoreless innings taking over for Campos to give the offense some room to build a lead. They didn’t do a very good job of it. Tyler Johnson lifted a solo shot in the third inning to make it 1-0 Lakeland, but Campos surrendered a run in the bottom half to tie it back up.
From there, the offense did little over the next five innings. Cameron Brown allowed two runs to Daytona in the eighth as they took a 3-1 lead in the ninth inning. Fortunately, the offense finally woke up.
Cristian Santana led off the top of the ninth with a walk, and Rothenberg singled with one out. Peyton Graham took over as a pinch runner for Rothenberg, but Abel Bastidas flew out for the second out of the inning. A Dom Johnson infield single loaded the bases but didn’t get a run across.
At that point, the Tortugas bullpen melted down. Luke Gold was hit by a pitch to force in a run and make it 3-2 Daytona. They went back to their bullpen for a new reliever, who proceeded to walk Sergio Tapia and Tyler Johnson, forcing it two more runs. Tortugas manager Julio Morillo got himself tossed due to frustration with the strike zone, but it availed him not. Jordan Marks tossed a quick bottom of the ninth with no issues to earn the victory.
Coming Up Next: The Jupiter Hammerheads come to town on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. ET to kick off a six-game set.
Notes
All tolled, it was a pretty quiet weekend on the farm. Reese Olson’s recent run has to be a lead story, and it’ll be interesting to see if the Tigers consider giving him a look with Joey Wentz struggling. Olson has similar issues with fastball quality and command, but he does have better secondary stuff than Wentz does. However, he’s also significantly less experienced and while both are likely bullpen bound eventually, Olson will probably get a little more time to establish himself at Triple-A before that happens, but it’s worth keeping an eye on with the Tigers still waiting for several of their starters to return from injury.
Nice to see Jung crank a homer and have a couple of good games, but he hasn’t broken out significantly yet either. Ryan Kreidler’s rehab in West Michigan went well, so presumably he’ll be back in Toledo shortly. Kerry Carpenter now has a couple of games under his belt, and will presumably return to the Tigers’ lineup this week. They could use the help.
Otherwise, there just weren’t any big standout performances other than the home run barrage Erie put on Somerset on Saturday. Andrew Navigato’s two home run performance led the way there, but Trei Cruz is the story. So far this season he’s followed in Wenceel Perez’s recent steps as a middle infielder with good discipline who finally learned to hit for some power. Cruz was a fringy defender at shortstop, but he’s done a nice job moving around and handling center field a lot. He’ll turn 25 this year, but after several stagnant years, he’s really taking a major step this spring.
Parker Meadows continues to cruise along productively, but no real signs yet that he’s leveled up enough to start thinking about his major league debut. Meanwhile, Justyn-Henry Malloy continues to live on base, but the strikeouts have been a little hard to shake the past few weeks though his production remains good. He’s close, but presumably the Tigers would like to see him heat up again before testing him in the big leagues.