LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Dustin Peterson's two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Gwinnett Stripers their first walk-off victory of the season Thursday, 7-6 over the Toledo Mud Hens at Coolray Field.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Dustin Peterson's two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Gwinnett Stripers their first walk-off victory of the season Thursday, 7-6 over the Toledo Mud Hens at Coolray Field.
After the Mud Hens had scored three runs in the top of the ninth, Danny Santana walked to lead off the bottom of the frame against right-hander Phillippe Aumont. Aumont (L, 2-2) immediately threw an errant pick-off attempt past first baseman Edwin Espinal, but fortunately for Toledo the ball bounced into the stands, holding Santana at second. Following two outs, Carlos Franco was intentionally walked. That's when Peterson came up and drilled a grounder up the middle, bringing Santana home with the winning run.
The celebratory single capped a back-and-forth battle between the two teams.
Kolby Allard got the start for Gwinnett and battled a tough Toledo lineup over 6.0 innings, recording his 10th consecutive quality start.
Allard finessed the Mud Hens' potent lineup - which features International League home run leader Christin Stewart - to match a season high with eight strikeouts. Three of those punch-outs came against Stewart.
Toledo got to Allard early as Mikie Mahtook led off the game with a single and Mike Gerber followed with a two-run home run (6). Allard then struck out the next three batters to end the first.
Gwinnett got a run back in the bottom of the first against righty A.J. Ladwig. Rio Ruiz and Michael Reed both reached with one-out singles, and Franco drove Ruiz home with a single to take back the International League lead with 44 RBIs and cut the deficit to 2-1.
Mahtook hit a long solo homer in the top of the third to extend the lead to 3-1, but that would be all Allard would surrender the rest of the way.
In the fourth, Espinal reached on a single, and with two outs Allard walked Pete Kozma. Harold Castro hit a hard single up the middle and Espinal was sent home. The centerfielder Reed fired the ball home to nab Espinal at the plate, keeping it a two-run deficit.
The Stripers took their first lead of the three-game series in the bottom of the fourth. Peterson led off with a single and moved to second on a groundout. Phil Gosselin hit a ball in the left-center gap, scoring Peterson and drawing the game to 3-2. Two batters later, Tyler Smith cranked a home run (3) off Ladwig over the left-field fence to give Gwinnett a 4-3 lead. It was Smith's first homer since May 19 at Toledo, also off Ladwig.
Ladwig was done after 4.0 innings with eight hits, four earned runs and three strikeouts to his line.
Allard departed after the sixth having allowed seven hits, three earned runs, two homers and two walks with eight strikeouts on 101 pitches.
Gwinnett extended its lead to 6-3 in the seventh with a Franco sacrifice fly and a Peterson RBI single.
That score remained until the ninth, when Evan Phillips was called in for the save opportunity. After getting two flyouts, Phillips uncharacteristically lost command of his off-speed pitches. He walked Mahtook, then Gerber hit his second two-run homer (7) of the game. Dawel Lugo singled, Stewart walked and Jim Adduci brought in the game-tying run with a single up the middle, giving Phillips his first blown save of the year.
But Peterson's heroics in the latter half of the inning gave Phillips (W, 4-4) the win.
Offensively for the Stripers (32-38), Peterson was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored in the game. Smith was 2-for-3 with the long ball, two RBIs and two runs scored. Santana was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and a walk.
For Toledo (42-29), both of Gerber's hits went for homers, as he finished 2-for-5 with four RBIs. Mahtook was 2-for-3 with a homer, three runs, two walks and an RBI. Adduci, Espinal and Castro each had two-hit efforts.
Gwinnett looks to carry the momentum into a four-game weekend series against the Columbus Clippers beginning Friday with a doubleheader as a makeup for a rainout on May 28. Righty Matt Wisler (2-3, 4.00 ERA) is scheduled for Gwinnett against Columbus southpaw Adam Wilk (2-5, 3.70 ERA) in game one starting at 5:05 p.m. Game two will follow approximately 35 minutes after the first game, with righty Wes Parsons (2-1, 3.45 ERA) on the hill for the Stripers against lefty Matt Whitehouse (0-1, 9.17 ERA) of the Clippers. Tony Schiavone will have the play-by-play call on 97.7 FM and 93.5 FM The Other Side of the River beginning at 4:35 p.m.
