Candelario shines in Mud Hens loss to Clippers

Climbing back to the .500 mark for the first time in months and reaching second place, the Mud Hens were looking to close out their series with the Columbus Clippers in victorious fashion.
Despite a hot first inning of offense that was powered by Omar Infante, Jim Adduci and Jeimer Candelario, the Mud Hens fell by a count of 14-3 to their International League West Division foes.

Daniel Norris was the starter for Toledo and was once again roughed up. The left-hander lasted just two innings while allowing five earned runs and striking out just two.
Tanner Tully was his opponent for Columbus and faired much better, going seven strong in his Triple-A debut and allowing three earned runs.
Despite the final score, the Mud Hens were able to get off to a great starter in the top of the first and gave Tully a rough welcome to his Triple-A career. Omar Infante led off with a double and Jim Adduci and Jeimer Candelario followed up with the same to make it 2-0 early on. Newest Mud Hen Grayson Greiner added a double of his own to make it 3-0 in the blink of an eye.
The Clippers struck back in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs as Daniel Robertson led off with a single and Michael Martinez came through with a double. Mike Papi walked to load the bases and Adam Moore took a walk as well to make it 3-1, and a wild pitch made it 3-2.
Columbus was able to walk their way into another scoring opportunity as the next inning rolled around and Nellie Rodríguez and Martinez each took walks. Tyler Naquin doubled to tie the game while Ronny Rodríguez singled to make it a 5-3 Columbus lead.
The game stood there until the bottom of the sixth when the Clippers were able to add to their lead as Josh Wilson led off the frame with a double. Robertson singled to push him over to third and Martinez singled to bring him home.
The bottom of the seventh brought more of the same from the Columbus offense, as Papi walked to lead things off and Eric Stamets singled to move him up to second. Nellie Rodriguez bombed a three-run homer to blow the game wide open as the Clippers then lead 9-3.
As the bottom of the eighth came along, Mud Hens manager Mike Rojas opted to save his bullpen for the weekend and turned to outfielder Matt den Dekker to handle pitching duties. It was a long day for the lefty, as he walked both Martinez and Naquin to get things started which Papi then followed up with a double to score Martinez. Moore singled to make it 11-3 and Stamets homed to push it to 14-3. Shortstop Brendan Ryan was brought on to get the final out and he did just that; inducing a flyout to end the nightmare inning.
Trailing by 11 going into the ninth inning, Jason Krizan was able to single to lead things off but the Mud Hens were retired from there; falling 14-3 and moving back below the .500 mark.
Toledo returns home for their last home stand of the season on Friday night. Artie Lewicki is scheduled to get the start for the Mud Hens; first pitch is slated for 7:05 with fireworks going off after the game!