Late Grand Slam Pushes Toledo Past Clippers

A morning slugfest today at Huntington Park went the Toledo Mud Hens way, as they knocked off the Columbus Clippers 8-5 in the final game of their four-game series.
A trio of Clippers homeruns from Eric Stamets, Yu Chang and Nellie Rodríguez were not enough, as a seventh inning grand slam off the bat of Chad Huffman propelled Toledo to victory.

The Mud Hens pounced out to a four-run lead in the first inning against Clippers starter Matt Whitehouse. It started with a Jaimer Candelario single to make it 1-0, and continued when Chad Huffman roped a two-run double, extending the lead to 3-0. Kade Scivicque then contributed a sacrifice fly to score one more, making it 4-0.
The Clippers waited until the third when Stamets mashed a solo shot to lead off the inning.
Down 4-1, the Columbus didn't score again until the sixth, when they took the lead. Chang started the inning with a solo homerun to right, which Brandon Barnes followed with a walk. Mike Papi then doubled in Barnes to make it 4-3. A few batters later, Rodriguez clubbed a two-run bomb to left to grab a 5-4 lead.
Toledo came back in the seventh, loading the bases for Huffman. He turned around a Matt Belisle pitch, depositing it in the left field bleachers to take an 8-5 lead.
The Clippers continued to fight in the eighth as Yandy Díaz roped an RBI double to right with two men on, and Chang lifted a sac-fly to deep center, pulling Columbus within 8-7.
Toledo dashed the spirits of the Clippers' faithful when they tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Huffman knocked a solo homerun over the right field wall, his second blast of the day, to make it 9-7.
Johnny Barbato came on in the ninth to win the game for Toledo and even the series at 2-2 on getaway day.
The Clippers will travel to Georgia to face off against the Gwinnett Stripers at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow.