St. Paul Saints 9, Toledo Mud Hens 7 (box)
Another night, another high scoring game, and another Saints victory.
Jack O’Loughlin got the start and dominated the Saints for five innings while his offense built a lead. The very first batter of the game was one Parker Meadows, and he got things going immediately with his 15th home run of the season. Justyn-Henry Malloy walked, and then Colt Keith ripped a screaming line drive over the right field wall. 3-0 Hens.
We don’t mind seeing those two mashing a lefty, eh? Brent Headrick nearly let this one get out of hand. Tyler Nevin followed the two homers with a screamer right at the center fielder for the first out, but Nick Solak walked. Wenceel Perez grounded into a force of Solak, but Michael Papierski walked as well. They had Headrick on the ropes a bit, but Andrew Knapp grounded out to end the inning.
Solak launched a solo shot in the top of the third to make it 4-0 Hens, but the Saints got on the board in the bottom half with a single and a double to make it 4-1. O’Loughlin had one run allowed, no walks, and five strikeouts after five, but unfortunately they sent him back out for the sixth and he ran out of gas, allowing three straight singles and then a double before collecting the first two outs of the inning and getting lifted for Blair Calvo, who allowed one inherited runner to score. 5-4 Saints.
Keith singled in Corey Joyce in the seventh to tie the game, but Calvo was a complete debacle, walking the first two batters and allowing a Jorge Polanco single before Kyle Garlick crushed a grand slam to right that just about ended this one.
Tyler Nevin homered with Keith aboard in the top of the ninth to pull within two, and then Solak was hit by a pitch. Perez doubled him to third to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with two men in scoring position, but Papierski lined out to center field to end it.
Keith played third base and Wenceel was at second in this one.
Keith: 2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR, 2 BB
Meadows: 2-5, R, RBI, HR, 2 SO
Perez: 2-5, 2B
Coming Up Next: RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (3-5, 6.18 ERA) starts for the Saints on Thursday at 8:07 p.m. ET. These :07 start times are cute. Anyway, the Hens haven’t announced a starter yet.
Erie SeaWolves 7, Akron RubberDucks 5 (box)
Brant Hurter gave the SeaWolves a good start and they took advantage in this one.
The lefty tossed six innings of two run ball, striking out seven to two walks issued. He departed with a 6-2 lead as the offense was on the ball early and RubberDucks pitching was not.
Hurter allowed a run in the top of the first. Trei Cruz led off the bottom half with a single, was forced on a Justice Bigbie ground ball, but Jace Jung, Chris Meyers, and Jake Holton were all walked, tying the game at 1-1. Mario Feliciano grounded into a force that scored Jung, but Ben Malgeri struck out to end the threat.
Two more walks in the second led to two more runs as Jung dumped a bloop RBI single for his first Double-A hit, and Chris Meyers followed with a solid RBI single to make it 4-1.
Hurter allowed a solo shot in the top of the third to make it 4-2 Erie, but they scratched out another run in the bottom half to make it 5-2. They’d get two more in the fifth, and held on from there through a shaky relief appearance from RJ Petit in the eighth.
Jung: 2-4, R, RBI, BB, SO
Cruz: 1-4, R, RBI, BB
Meyers: 2-4, RBI, BB
Hurter (W, 5-5): 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 SO
Coming Up Next: They’ll get back at it with a 6:05 p.m. ET start on Thursday. The SeaWolves haven’t announced a starter while Akron will go with LHP Doug Nikhazy (3-5, 3.41 ERA).
West Michigan Whitecaps 1, Fort Wayne TinCaps 1 (suspended)
Angel Reyes allowed a run in the second inning in his start for the Whitecaps, and struck out four in those two innings of work. Roberto Campos doubled and scored on a Josh Crouch single in the bottom half, so things were all tied up when the weather got real hairy, real quick. They’ll finish this one before playing tomorrow’s regularly scheduled game. We’ll see but presumably they’ll both be shortened to seven inning games.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 6, Daytona Tortugas 3 (box)
Starter Carlos Marcano pitched through a fair bit of trouble in this one, and only recorded one strikeout, but he limited Daytona to two runs on seven hits and a walk over six innings.
The offense had a good day as second rounder Max Anderson became the first of the 2023 draft class to debut in full season ball. It went well for the second baseman out of Nebraska. He had a single, a double, and a walk, picking up an RBI along the way. Good start.
Marcano allowed two in the top of the first, but back-to-back doubles from Seth Stephenson and Anderson in the bottom half cut the lead in half. In the third, Stephenson led off again and was hit by a pitch. He stole second and then Anderson walked. Mike Rothenberg drilled a single to right, and Jose De La Cruz drew a walk, scoring Stephenson to tie the game. Unfortunately they then struck out in order to squander a really good scoring chance. Anderson singled in Stephenson in the bottom of the third to tie the game. A regular dynamic duo in this one.
Chris Williams Jr. allowed a run in the top of the seventh, but in the bottom half, Cristian Santana led off with his seventh home run of the year. Please get hot, Cristian.
Abel Bastidas followed with a double and advanced to third on a balk. Manuel Sequera walked and a wild pitch scored Bastidas. Another wild pitch moved Sequera to third, and he scored on a Stephenson ground out to complete the scoring in this one.
Stephenson: 3-4, 3 R, RBI, 2B, SB
Anderson: 2-4, RBI, 2B, BB
Bastidas: 2-4, R, 2B, SO
Marcano: 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, BB, SO
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start set for Thursday evening.