The Toledo Mud Hens shut out the Omaha Storm Chasers on Friday night for their third straight win. It was their third shutout of the year.
Sawyer Gipson-Long started for the Hens tonight and was completely dominant. Through 6.0 innings, the only hit he allowed was a weak pop up
The Toledo Mud Hens shut out the Omaha Storm Chasers on Friday night for their third straight win. It was their third shutout of the year.
Sawyer Gipson-Long started for the Hens tonight and was completely dominant. Through 6.0 innings, the only hit he allowed was a weak pop up that fell in fair territory between the left fielder and third baseman. He also struck out 12 Omaha batters, which ties a season high for the most by a single Mud Hens pitcher, last accomplished by Joey Wentz on July 21st against Lehigh Valley. It was a career high number for Gipson-Long in his professional career.
Blair Calvo, Sam Clay, and Aneurys Zabala pitched the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings respectively. All three of them pitched themselves into jams with multiple runners on base, but they were all able to escape each jam to preserve the shutout. Calvo and Clay escaped bases loaded jams in the seventh and eighth, and Zabala pitched around runners on second and third with no outs in the ninth.
The four Hens pitchers tonight combined for 17 strikeouts, which ties a season high for most by the entire pitching staff. This mark of 17 Ks has now been achieved four times this year, last done just one week ago on August 11th vs Columbus.
Every player in the Mud Hens lineup recorded exactly one hit tonight, except for Justyn-Henry Malloy, who had two. As a team they saw the ball well, walking six times compared to just five strikeouts at the plate.
Colt Keith opened up the scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo home run to right field, his sixth of the year with Toledo. Michael Papierski knocked in two more runs later that inning with a two-RBI single.
Tyler Nevin picked up the final two RBIs of the night, one from a single in the fifth inning and one from a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Nevin finished 1-1 with a single, two walks, and a sac fly. Nevin is batting almost .500 in the month of August (.462), and has raised his OPS over .100 points during that time (from .815 on July 31st to .934 after tonight’s game). Among qualified hitters, he’s seventh in the International League in batting average (.328).
The Hens have won three straight and are now 12-4 in the month of August. They’ll play the Storm Chasers again tomorrow night at Fifth Third Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 P.M.
Notables:
Sawyer Gipson-Long: W, 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 12 K
Justyn-Henry Malloy: 2-4, 2B, R
Tyler Nevin: 1-1, 2 RBI, R, 2 BB, SF
Colt Keith: 1-4, HR, RBI, R
Parker Meadows: 1-4, 2B, R, BB, SB
Michael Papierski: 1-3, 2 RBI, BB