Toledo Mud Hens 5, Louisville Bats 2 (box)

After going down 1-0 in the first inning, Toledo responded with the bases loaded in the top of the second. The Mud Hens nearly stranded the bases loaded with a pair of strikeouts, but Andrew Navigato singled in Jace Jung, who led off with a single, and Ryan Kreidler, who walked.

Akil Baddoo opened up the third inning with a solo home run, his 10th of the year, giving Toledo an early 3-1 lead.

Randy Dobnak made his second start for Toledo since coming over at the trade deadline. Louisville hit him well over 3.2 innings, but he only gave up two runs — a first-inning home run and a trio of singles in the fourth. No walks and five strikeouts are a plus, too. He’s not really a starter in that he never goes more than four innings, but this works until Detroit calls him up as a long-relief guy.

A parade of relief arms came out of the bullpen after Dobnak. RJ Petit cleaned up the final out of the fourth, stranding a pair of inherited baserunners. He came back out for the fifth and worked through a leadoff double and walk, inducing an inning-ending double play. Petit earned the win as the primary relief man.

Alex Lange needed just 11 pitches to get through the sixth. Chase Lee also retired the side in order in the seventh, striking out a pair. Tanner Rainey retired the first two batters he faced in the eighth but then walked the bases loaded. Jordan Blazovic came on for the four-out save and got out of the jam with a strikeout.

Lange (4), Lee (1) and Rainey (6) all recorded holds, and Blazovic held on for his first save of the season.

Toledo added two more runs in the eighth to make things comfortable. Baddoo singled in Navigato, and Justyn-Henry Malloy singled in Hao-Yu Lee.

The Mud Hens have now won six in a row and 10 of their last 11 games.

Baddoo: 3-5, HR(10), R, 2 RBI, K

Navigato: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, K

Dobnak: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K; 75 pitches (47 strikes)

Richmond Flying Squirrels 8, Erie SeaWolves 6 (box)

Andrew Sears’ Double-A debut didn’t go well. The 22-year-old southpaw maintained a 2.95 ERA over 82.1 innings in High-A, but Richmond got to him for 10 hits and six earned runs over 4.2 innings on Saturday.

After working around an error in the first inning, Sears got into trouble with two men in scoring position and one out in the second. A shallow fly ball to center field kept everyone in place. Max Clark’s throw was up the third base line, but the threat of his arm was enough to stop the sacrifice fly. It didn’t matter, though, as Sears sailed one to the backstop, allowing a run to score, and then gave up an RBI single through the left side.

Sears bounced back in the third, inducing a double play to face the minimum. The fourth was a different story. Scott Bandura singled against the outfield shift to the right field corner, scoring Turner Hill, who led off the inning with a single. Sabin Ceballos drove in Bandura to give Richmond the lead, 4-3.

More of the same from Sears in the fifth: two quick outs, and back-to-back singles to set up a two-run triple.

Welcome to Double-A, Andrew.

Sears is still developing his stuff, and command comes and goes. Give him some time to settle into what is typically considered the toughest level of the minors to succeed at.

Erie’s offense kept them in the game all night. Max Clark singled and scored in the first, and Josue Briceno hit an opposite-field, two-run homer, his fourth in Double-A, in the third. Briceno has the kind of effortless power that’s going to carry him to the majors. There are defensive questions, but Briceno threw out one of two runners on the night.

By the time Austin Bergner replaced Sears in the fifth, Richmond led 6-3. Clark scored again in the bottom of the fifth, walking and crossing the plate on a sacrifice fly from Max Anderson. Thayron Liranzo singled in the middle there, one of three hits for him.

Roberto Campos brought Erie within one run, leading off the sixth with a double and later scoring on a Clark groundout. Bergner, who went 1-2-3 in the sixth, gave up the deciding runs in the seventh. A leadoff double, two walks and an error set up Richmond to score a pair. The first came on a wild pitch, and the second on a double play ball that didn’t really have a chance.

The SeaWolves spat out another run in the bottom of the seventh, bringing the score to its eventual final of 8-6. Carlos Mendoza singled in Ben Malgeri, who doubled with two outs. Too little, too late.

Yosber Sanchez gave Erie two good innings on the mound. Just one hit and a strikeout over the final two frames.

Clark: 1-4, 2 R, RBI, BB, K

Briceno: 2-4, HR (4), R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K

Liranzo: 3-5, 2B (12), R, 2 K

Sears (L, 0-1): 4.2 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, BB, K; 85 pitches (57 strikes)

West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Cedar Rapids Kernels 4 (box)

Andrew Jenkins was the big hero for West Michigan on Saturday night, delivering a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning to win, 5-4, over Cedar Rapids.

The Whitecaps built up a healthy four-run lead early in the game. In the first, Seth Stephenson walked, stole his 42nd base of the year and moved to third on a bad throw by the catcher. John Peck drove him in with a sacrifice fly.

Jackson Strong doubled and scored on an Izaac Pacheco single in the fourth. Later on in the inning, Woody Hadeen drove in Peck (walk) and Pacheco.

Rayner Castillo worked around the occasional baserunner for the first four innings, but he couldn’t get out of the fifth unscathed. That four-run lead West Michigan built up evaporated. Walk, single, walk, out, single, single. That’s all it took to tie the game up, and in came Dariel Fregio to get the final out of the frame.

Fregio worked through the sixth without any trouble. Marco Jimenez gave up a pair of singles in the seventh, but neither of them crossed. Moises Rodriguez also had to deal with a pair of baserunners, but he got through it without breaking the tie. The ninth went a lot smoother for him; 1-2-3 (with a little help).

West Michigan had a chance to finish it in the bottom of the ninth, getting Hadeen to third with a steal and an error, but Strong struck out to send it to extras. That’s okay. Jenkins came up big after Cedar Rapids walked Ruddy Gomez to get to him.

Strong: 2-4, 2B (1), 2 R, BB, K

Castillo: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K; 86 pitches (56 strikes)

Game 1 (F/7): Bradenton Marauders 4, Lakeland Flying Tigers 2 (box)

After being rained out yesterday, Bradenton and Lakeland played a seven-inning doubleheader to make it up. Lakeland dropped both games, with the first being the more competitive, 4-2.

Bradenton got on the board first. Wilmer Flores struggled through his opener role, walking three in the first inning, but he left the bases loaded to keep the 0-0 tie. Kelvis Salcedo wasn’t as fortunate, giving up two runs in the second. After getting the first two out of the inning around a walk, Salcedo got tagged for a triple and a single.

Lakeland cut into the 2-0 lead in the third inning. Cristian Santana doubled to start the rally, but Junior Tilien and Clayton Campbell recorded two quick outs. Zach MacDonald came up big with a liner into left field. Santana isn’t the swiftest afoot, but Bradenton didn’t even try to get him at home.

Salcedo started to settle in after an inning-ending double play in the third. He retired nine in a row before walking Richard Ramirez in the sixth. The slider and changeup are promising, but the fastball could use some work. Command is also an issue — three walks — but he’s a guy to watch in the lower minors moving forward. and a good slider (WATCH).

Santana homered in the fifth to tie the game up at two runs apiece, which held until the seventh.

Duque Hebbert took over in the sixth with two outs and did just fine, but things fell apart for him in the seventh. A leadoff single and a walk set up Bradenton to retake the lead. Actually, the single wasn’t really a single. Clayton Campbell didn’t get his foot down on a slightly elevated ball from third, but the official scorer didn’t give him the error. Campbell botched a potential double play sent his way, and Hebbert barely got to first in time to get the lone out.

Yordany De Los Santos drove in a pair of runs with a liner to the left-center gap. Santana cut it off well, but the throw didn’t get there in time to stop the insurance run from crossing. A line drive to Campbell provided an opportunity for redemption. He snagged it and doubled up De Los Santos, who was frozen 10 feet from the bag.

Carson Rucker started the comeback bid by reaching on a dropped ball in right field, making it all the way to second. Santana walked to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but Tilien struck out and Campbell lined it back to the pitcher to end it. Campbell’s ball gets through 50% of the time there, but self-defense kicked in for Greiber Mendez and he made the snag to secure the save.

Santana: 2-2, 2B (8), HR (13), RBI, BB

Salcedo: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; 79 pitches (50 strikes)

Game 2 (F/7): Bradenton Marauders 6, Lakeland Flying Tigers 2 (box)

Lakeland’s second game effort was lackluster, to say the least. Despite responding to Bradenton in the opening frame and leading 2-1, the Flying Tigers had just three hits.

None of those three hits came in the first inning. Zach MacDonald, Samuel Gil and Stephen Hrustich all walked; MacDonald scored on a fielder’s choice, and Gil scored on a double play. Carson Rucker singled in the third, Jude Warwick singled in the fourth and Enderson Delgado singled in the seventh. None of them made it to second base.

Eric Silva made his third start for Lakeland since being called up from the FCL club. Besides the one run in the first, he was solid. He dealt with a baserunner in every inning except the fourth, but he managed it well. A 50% called strike/whiff rate on his four-seamer is notable, too.

Ronny Chalas took the loss after giving up the lead in the fifth. It’s strange to think that Lakeland led most of this game with zero offense, but the baseball gods took care of things. Yordany De Los Santos singled in the tying run, and Chalas balked the go-ahead run in.

Jorger Petri didn’t fare much better in the sixth. Back-to-back singles to open the inning usually mean a run crossing. Edgleen Perez got the job done with a sac fly. Shay Timmer gave up a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 6-3.

Tough day for the Flygers.

Silva: 4.0 IP, 3 H, R, ER, 3 BB, 4 K; 78 pitches (48 strikes)