(F/10) Lehigh Valley IronPigs 8, Toledo Mud Hens 7 (box)
The Toledo Mud Hens had plenty of chances to end their three-game opening series against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs with a win, but some late mistakes from the bullpen led to an 8-7 walk-off loss.
Max Clark notched his first hits of the season and continued to be a threat on the bases, while Keider Montero put together a good short start. Despite some command issues, Ty Madden was solid in relief. He’ll need to tone down the walks, but he only gave up one hard hit.
Old friend alert… kind of?
Ryan Cusick spent all of one inning with the Tigers organization last year. He threw 19 pitches and walked one batter before being designated for assignment, so this is a revenge game of sorts. Cusick gave up three runs on five hits and three walks over four innings against the Mud Hens on Sunday. He struggled against the top of the order, but settled down midway through his start.
Toledo scored two in the first after loading the bases on the first three batters. Wenceel Perez drew a leadoff walk, and Max Clark singled softly into left field for his first hit of the season. It was more of a bloop shot that was helped by the left fielder getting a bad jump, but a hit’s a hit. Jace Jung walked, and Max Anderson singled in Perez after an Eduardo Valencia strikeout. Corey Julks walked, bringing in Clark from third.
Cusick retired the next three Mud Hens in a row. Perez singled with one out in the second and moved over to third after swiping second and forcing a bad throw from Ricketts behind the plate. Clark drove him in on a 110.8 mph double past the diving shortstop and into left-center. Clark legged out a double, but the throw was close. Good speed from him. That’s also the hardest hit ball we’ve seen him record on Statcast. The raw power has come a long way.
Then Cusick finally settled in. He retired eight of the next nine batters he faced, allowing just one base hit — an infield single from Julks in the third.
Montero looks sharp in first start
Keider Montero is starting the year in Triple-A, but he should get back to Detroit at some point, especially if most of his starts go the way this one did. Montero provided four innings of one-hit ball, striking out three to one walk. He only needed 48 pitches to get through the outing, which is efficient. He didn’t get to stretch out after the WBC, so it may take a few outings before they turn his loose.
That one hit was a double from Sergio Alcantara — another old friend — to lead off the third. Alcantara put a good swing on an inside four-seamer, to no real fault of Montero. The only mistakes the Toledo starter made were losing control of a sinker that hit Christian Cairo and walking Cade Fergus back-to-back to open the second. Everything else was clean.
Montero didn’t miss a ton of bats. He drew just four whiffs on 19 swings (21.1%), but he landed 11 called strikes for a 44.1% called-strike-plus-whiff rate. His four-seamer averaged 94.1 mph, 0.2 faster than last year, and his slider was the most efficient pitch, drawing a pair of whiffs and finding the zone three more times.
Madden struggles with command in relief
Ty Madden took over for Montero in the fifth. He got into trouble right away, giving up a leadoff double to Paul McIntosh and a two-run home run to Robert Moore. Both swings came on stuff left in the middle of the zone, but Julks misplayed the double in left, which should have been an out. Not good.
Madden found his groove after that, retiring 10 of the next 12 batters he faced, including five of his six strikeouts on the day. He drew plenty of whiffs — 15 on 35 swings (42.9%) — including six apiece on his four-seamer (13 swings) and slider (nine swings). Madden’s velocity was down overall, but it’s still early in the year.
Leaving Madden out there for a fourth inning might have been a mistake, though. He walked Pedro Leon to start the eighth, and leadoff walks usually mean bad news. Leon stole second and scored on a two-out single by Caleb Ricketts. Credit Madden for almost getting out of his own mess, but almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. He left the game tied at 3-3 with two men on after walking Cairo.
Jack Little got the final out of the eighth, a line drive to center. Clark made a nice diving play on a ball that went 330 feet to left-center.
Mud Hens can’t hit IronPigs middle relievers
Meanwhile, Toledo’s hitters struggled to figure out Lehigh Valley’s relief arms. Griff McGarry went 1-2-3 in the fifth. Tucker Davidson got an inning-ending double play to work around a leadoff, four-pitch walk (Julks) and a one-out, hit-and-run single from Tomas Nido in the sixth. Davidson worked around another leadoff walk in the seventh, stranding Clark on second, who hit into a fielder’s choice and stole second — his third swiped bag of the year.
Jonathan Hernandez took over for Davidson with one out in the eighth. Hernandez walked Cal Stevenson on four pitches, but a long backswing (interference) from Nido led to an inning-ending out as Stevenson swiped second.
Toledo finally scored a run to break the 3-3 tie in the top of the ninth. Perez got on base for the fourth time with a single up the middle. Clark hit into another fielder’s choice, but he ended up scoring this time thanks to a double from Jung — and some bad defense in center field.
Little returned in the ninth to finish off the win, but he couldn’t get the job done. Moore led off with a single into right field, and Little walked Alcantara. Fergus moved both runners over on a sacrifice bunt, and Leon drove in the run on a sacrifice fly. Excellent small ball from Lehigh Valley there.
Felix Reyes eventually grounded out to end the inning, but with the score tied, the Mud Hens and IronPigs headed to extra innings.
Things looked good for Toledo in the top of the 10th. Valencia started on second and scored immediately off Anderson’s first double of the year.
Julks hit a ground-rule double that brought Anderson around, and Nido hit the third double of the inning to make it a three-run game. Julks’ ball wasn’t deep. It just snuck inside the right-field line and bounced into the stands. Nido crushed his double off the wall in dead center.
The Mud Hens were three outs away from their first win of the year, but the bullpen completely melted down.
Woo-Suk Go took over on the mound and promptly walked Bryan De La Cruz to bring the tying run to the plate. He got Ricketts to fly out to center, but a pitch clock violation sped up a four-pitch walk to Cairo, loading the bases. Go couldn’t find the zone at all in this inning. He walked Paul McIntosh to bring a run across, leading to a pitching change.
Brenan Hanifee took over with the bases loaded. He traded a run for a 6-4 groundout to bring Toledo one out away from the win. Hanifee walked Alcantara on four pitches to reload the bases, and Fergus doubled softly into right to bring in the tying and walk-off runs.
Pérez: 2-4, 2 BB, 2 R, SB
Clark: 2-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI, SB (3)
Anderson: 2-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI
Montero: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Madden: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, HR
Next Game: It’s a 4:05 p.m. ET start in Syracuse on Tuesday.