Indians Drop Both Games of Doubleheader at Toledo

TOLEDO, Ohio – Quinn Priester struck out eight over 4.0 innings pitched and Liover Peguero and Grant Koch smacked their first home runs of the season, but the Toledo Mud Hens won both ends of a doubleheader, 3-2 and 13-4, against the Indianapolis Indians on Saturday at Fifth Third Field.

The Indians (6-8) opened the scoring in the first inning of Game 1 against Mud Hens southpaw Brant Hurter when Peguero narrowly cleared the right field wall with a two-run blast. However, Peguero’s shot was all Indianapolis could muster, as Hurter settled in and Toledo right-hander Drew Anderson (W, 2-1) worked three scoreless innings out of the Mud Hens bullpen.

Toledo (8-6) got its scoring done early in the opener as well, as they jumped on Indians starter Quinn Priester (L, 1-1) with back-to-back doubles by Jace Jung and Keston Hiura in the bottom of the first. One inning later, Akil Baddoo roped a two-out, two-run triple.

After Priester exited at 81 pitches, Kyle Nicolas kept the Indians within one with 2.0 scoreless innings and five punchouts. The offense – which had four batters reach safely in the opening frame – had just four batters reach base over the final six innings. The loss dropped Indy’s record in one-run games to 2-6.

The Mud Hens carried momentum into Game 2 and scored seven runs in the first off Cam Alldred (L, 0-2). Justyn-Henry Malloy launched a two-run shot to get the ball rolling, and Ryan Vilade and Buddy Kennedy added run-scoring singles. Two innings later, Andrew Navigato and Anthony Bemboom hit back-to-back home runs off Kade McClure.

Mud Hens starter Bryan Sammons (W, 1-1) pitched well with the lead and tallied four strikeouts in 5.0 innings of two-run ball, only allowing three hits and two walks.

Indy’s highlights in the nightcap included a Canaan Smith-Njigba two-run triple in the second, a web gem and throw from Malcom Nuñez in the the fourth and Koch’s solo blast in the final inning.

Nick Gonzales singled in the first contest and doubled in his last at-bat of the second affair to extend his on-base streak to 14 games.

The Indians and Mud Hens conclude their six-game series on Sunday at 2:05 PM. In a rematch of Tuesday’s series opener, LHP Michael Plassmeyer (1-1, 4.50) gets the nod for Indy against RHP Austin Bergner (0-0, 6.75).