Mud Hens club six homers in 21-4 rout of Cubs

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Toledo Mud Hens scored early and often against the Iowa Cubs on Saturday, erupting for six home runs en route to a 21-4 victory at Principal Park.

The series-clinching win gives the Mud Hens (66-47) a three-game lead over Omaha in the Midwest Division standings following the latter’s 21-4 shellacking at St. Paul.

In total, the Mud Hens set season highs for runs scored (21), hits (21), XBH (14) and margin of victory (17). Daz Cameron was one of seven Toledo batsmen to record two or more hits, going 4-for-5 with a double, two solo homers and three runs. Josh Lester added a pair of solo shots for his second consecutive multi-homer game, while Kody Clemens ended the night 3-for-5 with three doubles, a walk, six RBI and two runs. Isaac Paredes went 3-for-5 with a double, a three-run homer and four runs, as Ryan Kreidler finished 1-for-1 with a three-run homer, a sacrifice fly and a walk.

Ricardo Pinto recorded a season-high eight strikeouts in six innings of work as he tied for the Triple-A East lead with his 10th win of the campaign, becoming the first Toledo pitcher to reach double-digits in a single season since Chad Bell won 10 games for the club in 2016. Meanwhile, Locke St. John and Joe Navilhon each contributed a scoreless inning out of the Hen Pen.

The Mud Hens homered three times in the top of the first inning to seize a commanding 6-0 lead. Cameron began the hit parade when he sent the game’s first pitch over the wall in center for his fifth home run of the year. The line kept moving as Riley Greene singled through the right side before Spencer Torkelson walked on four pitches to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Paredes then lined a three-run homer to left to give Toledo a 4-0 advantage.

The opening frame continued as Clemens ripped a double to right-center, advanced to third on a Zack Short flyout and scored when Kreidler lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center. From there, Lester promptly crushed a solo homer to left-center to build a 6-0 cushion.

The Mud Hens picked up where they left off with seven more runs an inning later. Cameron slugged a leadoff homer for the second time in as many innings to make it a 7-0 ballgame. With the bases loaded and one down, Greene came home on a wild pitch later in the frame to extend Toledo's lead to 8-0. Clemens then put the visitors in double-figures when he smashed a two-base hit to left to plate Torkelson and Greene. After Short reached on a walk, Kreidler lifted a three-run homer to right-center to open up a 13-0 margin.

The Mud Hens scored twice in the top of the third before adding a pair of runs in the fourth. Clemens added another two-run double to plate Torkelson and Paredes to make it 15-0. In his next trip to the plate, Clemens drew a bases-loaded walk to bring home Grayson Greiner, while Cameron eventually scored Toledo's 17th run on a wild pitch.

The Cubs (46-67) got on the board with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, but Lester answered with his second solo homer of the game in the top of the fifth to give the Mud Hens an 18-2 lead.

Now ahead by an 18-3 count, Toledo added a three-spot in the top of the eighth. After loading the bases with nobody out, the Mud Hens pushed a run across as Clemens grounded out to first to bring home Greene. Short then hammered a two-run double off the left-field wall to push the lead to 21-3. Trayce Thompson's second homer of the night wrapped up the scoring in the bottom of the same stanza as the Mud Hens cruised to a 21-4 result.

What’s Next:
The Mud Hens conclude their 13-game road trip on Sunday with their final regular-season meeting against the Cubs. First pitch from Principal Park is set for 2:08 p.m. EDT.