Ficociello's home run powers Mud Hens by Red Sox

Coming into the game as losers of eight of their last ten games, the Mud Hens were looking to get back on track at home against the visiting Pawtucket Red Sox.
Powered by a two-run home run in the second inning off the bat of Dominic Ficociello -- his first as a Mud Hen -- Toledo was able to do just that, picking up the 3-0 victory.

Josh Turley was up from Lakeland to make a start for the Mud Hens and impressed all despite his lack of rest heading into the start. The left-hander went five innings and allowed no runs while striking out three batters by mixing his knuckleball and fastball well.
Hector Velázquez was his opponent for the Red Sox and pitched well aside from a few baserunners. He lasted seven innings and allowed two earned runs while striking out five.
The scoring kicked off in the bottom of the second inning after a two-out walk from Tyler Collins. In his first at bat in Toledo with the Mud Hens, third baseman Dominic Ficociello hit a home run deep to left field to give the Mud Hens an early 2-0 lead.
While the Mud Hens were able to get on the board early, the Red Sox were not so lucky. Despite throwing seven innings and allowing one run on 101 pitches this past Friday with Lakeland, Turley was able to hold Pawtucket scoreless throughout the game's first five innings.
The bottom of the fifth inning rolled around and the Mud Hens were able to mount a scoring threat for the second time in the game. Ficociello walked and Brendan Ryan singled to right field to put runners on first and second with only one out, but a strikeout and a flyout induced by Velazquez got him out of the jam and held the 2-0 game.
They were able to threaten once again in the bottom of the sixth as Omar Infante and Efren Navarro led off the inning with singles while an error put runners on the corners with one out. By way of another strikeout and a groundout however, Velazquez was able to get out of trouble once again.
For the third consecutive inning the Mud Hens threatened again with two hits in a row from Bryan Holaday and Ryan to lead off the inning, but the pattern remained the same with three straight ground outs to help Velazquez get out of the jam without any damage done.
Navarro led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a skyscraping triple to right field off of Red Sox reliever Chandler Sheperd and unlike previous innings the Mud Hens were able to capitalize; this time in the form of a single from John Hicks.
Edward Mujica entered the game in the ninth inning in an attempt to pick up his tenth save of the season and he was able to do just that; securing the 3-0 victory for Toledo.
The Mud Hens return to action on Tuesday afternoon against the Red Sox. Anthony Vasquez is set to take the hill for Toledo; first pitch is set for 12:05.