Mud Hens Outlast Indians in 10th, 8-7

INDIANAPOLIS – The Toledo Mud Hens scored four unanswered runs, including one in the top of the 10th inning, to defeat the Indianapolis Indians 8-7 in extras on Saturday night at Victory Field.

With the game knotted at 7-7 after Toledo (15-17, 50-56) tied the game in the eighth, Detroit Tigers’ No. 3 prospect Jace Jung singled home Andrew Navigato with two outs against Ben Heller (L, 2-3) to plate the game-winning run.

Trailing 4-0 after an inning and a half, the Indians (16-14, 49-54) bats heated up with seven runs in their next two offensive frames. With one run in courtesy of a Billy McKinney single to score newly-acquired Billy Cook, the offense sent 10 batters to the plate in the third inning. Nick Yorke and Jake Lamb tightened the deficit to one with RBI knocks before a single off the bat of Malcom Nuñez and subsequent throwing error by right fielder Riley Unroe plated the game-tying and go-ahead runs. Another throwing error, this time by catcher Anthony Bemboom, and an RBI single by Andrés Alvarez capped the frame.

Domingo Germán settled in after a four-run second, retiring 12 of his next 14 batters before former Indian Drew Maggi took him deep in his final inning. In total, he allowed five runs on seven hits across 7.0 innings, with just one walk and seven strikeouts.

Trey Sweeney tied the game on a two-run double with two outs in the eighth inning. Austin Schulfer (W, 1-0) tossed 2.0 perfect innings at the tail end of 7.0 shutout frames by the Mud Hens bullpen.

Yorke and Cook, two acquisitions for the Pirates at the trade deadline, each went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.

The Indians will look for a series victory as they close out the six-game series with the Mud Hens tomorrow afternoon at 1:35 PM. Neither team has named a starting pitcher for the closing contest.