LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The Gwinnett Stripers lost the opener of a three-game series against the Toledo Mud Hens by a 7-4 final Tuesday night at Coolray Field.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The Gwinnett Stripers lost the opener of a three-game series against the Toledo Mud Hens by a 7-4 final Tuesday night at Coolray Field.
Michael Reed provided three of Gwinnett's runs with RBI singles in the first, sixth and eighth innings. His 3-for-3 night pushed his average back up to .411 through 17 games with the Stripers this season.
But Toledo's balanced offense got the best of left-hander Max Fried, as the Mud Hens scored runs in each of the first three innings to secure the win.
Toledo jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the first. Mikie Mahtook doubled to lead off the game and moved to third on a groundout. Dawel Lugo doubled to bring Mahtook home for the first run. Lugo would move to third on a wild pitch, then score on a Christin Stewart fielder's choice.
In the second, Edwin Espinal and former Striper Kade Scivicque each singled to start the inning. After a groundout moved Espinal to third and eliminated Scivicque, No. 9 hitter Harold Castro hit into a fielder's choice to bring the run home and make it 3-1.
Toledo got an unearned run in the third as the Stripers committed two errors, with Lugo scoring on one of them. In the sixth, Scivicque launched a home run (2) to center in his first game back at Coolray Field off his former battery mate Fried for a 5-1 lead.
Fried (L, 2-4) was done after 6.0 innings with eight hits, five runs - four earned - and two walks allowed with four strikeouts.
Reed's sixth-inning RBI single cut the deficit to 5-2, but the Mud Hens got two back against David Peterson in the eighth. Castro reached on a one-out single, then Mahtook took Peterson deep for a two-run homer (5) and a 7-2 lead.
Rex Brothers got the final out of the eighth, then Evan Phillips racked up his 49th and 50th strikeouts of the season through 34.0 innings of work with his scoreless ninth inning.
Gwinnett scratched back with runs in the final two frames, including Xavier Avery's solo shot (3) to lead off the ninth against Johnny Barbato. But Barbato closed the door, retiring the next three hitters.
Artie Lewicki (W, 4-3) pitched 5.0 innings and allowed one run on four hits and two walks while striking out one for the Mud Hens. Four Toledo relievers combined to allow three runs over the final 4.0 innings.
Rio Ruiz ended the night 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Avery was also 2-for-4 with the long ball.
For Toledo, Mahtook was 2-for-5 with two runs and the two-run homer. Scivicque and Castro also added two-hit games as every Mud Hen recorded at least one hit.
The Stripers (31-37) will look to bounce back in game two vs. Toledo (41-28) on Wednesday behind lefty Luiz Gohara (0-2, 8.03 ERA), making his first Triple-A start since May 2. He'll face fellow southpaw Tyler Alexander (1-2, 6.61 ERA). First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Dave Lezotte will have the play-by-play call on 97.7 FM and 93.5 FM The Other Side of the River beginning at 6:35 p.m.
