Riley Greene and Parker Meadows homer in Mud Hens loss

Louisville Bats 9, Toledo Mud Hens 5 (box)

The Hens didn’t win on Thursday night, but there was plenty of good in the results. Riley Greene played center field most of the game and he crushed a solo shot to center field in the fifth. Based on A.J. Hinch’s comments on Thursday, Greene will likely be evaluated one more time on Friday. If he feels good to go, there’s a good chance he’s back with the Tigers during the Toronto Blue Jays’ series.

Things started off pretty badly as starter Brenan Hanifee gave up a run in each of the first two innings before the Bats dropped five on him in the third and knocked him out of the game.

The Hens fought back in the bottom of the third as Corey Joyce and Parker Meadows led off the frame with back-to-back home runs. Rony Garcia gave up a run in the top of the fourth, but Donny Sands responded with a solo shot in the bottom half of the inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, Riley Greene entered the chat, launching a deep blast to center field to keep the home run parade going. Justyn-Henry Malloy followed Greene’s shot with a double, but the Hens went in order the rest of the inning. They just couldn’t sustain a rally all night.

Corey Joyce smacked his second homer of the night in the bottom of the sixth, but that was five home runs total, all solo shots. That made it 8-5 Bats, and when they added on a run in the seventh, the Hens had no more answers to dig themselves out of the early hole they were in.

Joyce: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR, BB

Malloy: 3-3, 2 2B, BB

Sands: 1-3, R, RBI, HR, BB, SO

Greene: 1-3, R, RBI, HR, SO

Hanifee (L, 2-6): 2.2 IP, 7 ER, 8 H, BB, 2 SO

Coming Up Next: LHP Jack O’Loughlin (1-1, 4.30 ERA) takes on RHP Michael Mariot (3-0, 2.59 ERA) on Friday night with the Hens holding a 2-1 game advantage in the series.

Just a sidenote to mention that I’ll be gone to the Upper Peninsula for the next week, so the Tigers Prospect Daily will be taking a short break until I’m back.

Erie SeaWolves 5, Altoona Curve 3 (box)

Wilmer Flores up and down season continued with a mediocre outing on Thursday, but he limited the damage and the offense poured it on late to win.

It was a short outing for Flores as he tossed four innings of two-run ball with three strikeouts. The SeaWolves erased that deficit in the top of the fourth when Trei Cruz led off with a single and Justice Bigbie mashed his third home run since his call up to make it 2-2. Wenceel Perez followed with a single, stole second, and then was balked over to third. Dillon Dingler singled to center and it was 3-2 Erie.

They had a chance for some insurance in the seventh when Diego Rincones singled to lead off and Danny Serretti and Trei Cruz both walked in the inning. Unfortunately Bigbie and Perez struck out, and in the bottom half Altoona tied things up against Layne Henderson.

Rincones came back for more in the top of the eighth. Dingler singled with one out, and after Chris Meyers popped out, Rincones smoked a 1-2 pitch to left for a two-run homer. Adam Wolf locked down the eighth, and Andrew Magno collected his fourth save of the year in the bottom of the ninth.

Cruz: 3-4, R, BB

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

Rincones: 2-3, R, 2 RBI, HR, BB

Perez: 2-5, R, SO, SB

Flores: 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, BB, 3 SO

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves hold a 2-1 lead in the six-game set as LHP Brant Hurter (4-3, 3.07 ERA) takes on RHP Andrew Shortridge (4-5, 5.14 ERA) at 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday night.

Fort Wayne TinCaps 5, West Michigan Whitecaps 2 (box)

Lefty Carlos Pena had a rare rough outing and the bats were pretty quite in this one for the Whitecaps on Thursday.

Pena went five innings, allowing five earned runs on nine hits as the balls kept finding the gaps and the TinCaps hit two home runs against him. It was 5-0 Fort Wayne when the Whitecaps got on the board in the top of the fourth. A two-out single from Roberto Campos was followed by a drive to center field that was misplayed a bit into a double off the bat of Izaac Pacheco. Dillon Paulson led off the fifth with a single and scored after a Carlos Mendoza single moved him to third and a pickoff attempt by Fort Wayne pitcher Adam Mazur went awry and allowed him to score.

That was it for the offense, however. The offense locked down the sixth through eighth innings with nice work from Jack Anderson and Conner Holden, but the offense couldn’t get anything else going.

Campos: 2-4, R, SO

Mendoza: 2-4

Pena (L, 1-6): 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 4 SO

Coming up Next: To salvage a split, the Whitecaps need to take all three weekend games from Fort Wayne. RHP Garrett Burhenn (4-3, 3.59 ERA) takes on RHP Ryan Bergert (4-2, 2.70 ERA) on Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 4, St. Lucie Mets 2 (F/7)(Gm 1)(box)

Lakeland Flying Tigers 13, St. Lucie Mets 6 (F/7)(Gm 2)(box)

The Flying Tigers swept Thursday’s doubleheader with St. Lucie to take a 3-0 lead in the series.

In Game 1, the Flying Tigers opened a 2-0 lead over St. Lucie in the third inning. They didn’t have to do a whole lot other than avoiding Mets’ starter Douglas Orellana’s scatterball. Orellana hit two batters and walked three in the inning, forcing in two runs.

Flying Tigers’ starter Ulices Campos allowed two runs in the top of the fourth, but the offense recaptured the lead for good in the sixth. Seth Stephenson drew a two out walk and stole second, before riding home on Luke Gold’s fifth home run of the season. Gold and Stephenson both are likely headed to West Michigan in the next few weeks.

Gold: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR

Jenkins: 1-2, RBI, BB

Campos: 4.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 SO

Game 2 was all offense as they went with a bullpen game on the pitching side. After St. Lucie scored two runs in the top of the first inning, the Flying Tigers scored three in the bottom half and never looked back.

Abel Bastidas got them going with a one out single and Daniel Cabrera, Jose De La Cruz, and Archer Brookman all walked, forcing in one run. Cristian Santana struck out, but Moises Valero belted a ground rule double to score Cabrera and De La Cruz.

Alvaro Gonzalez led off the second inning with a solo shot, his second of the year, and Lakeland was off to the races. They went on to score five in the inning, with the dagger a Cristian Santana three-run shot, his fourth of the year. Good to see Santana warming up a little. Three walks issued by St. Lucie led to three more runs in the third. In the fourth, RBI hits from Sergio Tapia and Carlos Pelegrin capped the Flying Tigers’ scoring. Franklin Perez allowed three runs in relief —it’s not going well there— but the outcome was never in question.

Bastidas: 2-3, 3 R, BB

Santana: 1-2, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR, BB, SO

Gonzalez: 1-1, 3 R, HR, BB

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers look to make it four in a row over the Mets on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. ET.