After a back-and-forth victory over the Louisville Bats in last night's contest, the Mud Hens were looking to keep the ball rolling in Wednesday night's matchup.Guided by three hits from John Hicks and a pair from both Omar Infante and Michael Almanzar, Toledo was able to accomplish just that with
After a back-and-forth victory over the Louisville Bats in last night's contest, the Mud Hens were looking to keep the ball rolling in Wednesday night's matchup.
Guided by three hits from John Hicks and a pair from both Omar Infante and Michael Almanzar, Toledo was able to accomplish just that with an impressive 8-5 win.
Anthony Vasquez was on the mound for Toledo hoping to build off of a strong outing against Columbus on June 30th in which he threw six innings and allowed just two runs. In this one he did not fair quite as well; lasting five innings and allowing four runs while striking out just two batters.
Cody Reed was his opponent for Louisville and was not very sharp all night long. The left-hander went just 4.1 innings and allowed seven hits and five earned runs while walking six batters.
The Mud Hens were retired in short order to lead off the game, but Louisville did not go down quite as easily. Dilson Herrera singled with one out and Brandon Dixon followed with a double to drive him home and give the Bats an early 1-0 leading.
That lead stood until the top of the second inning when the Mud Hens were able to strike back through a two-out rally. Michael Almanzar singled and Jason Krizan walked to put two runners on and Juan Perez came through with a single up the middle to knot it up at 1.
The Mud Hens were able to add to their lead in their next at bats as JaCoby Jones led off reaching second on an error by Dixon. Jim Adduci didn't let the opportunity go to waste, as he singled to push Toledo into the driver's seat for the first time in the game.
Just as Toledo was able to hit themselves back into the game, Louisville was able to do the same in the bottom of the third. Herrera was able to reach with another single and Dixon followed up with the same. Darnell Sweeney added the third single of the inning to score Herrera and make it a 2-2 game.
In what was a back and forth game all night, the Mud Hens struck right back in the top of the fourth. Krizan and Brendan Ryan walked while Omar Infante singled to load the bases with one out. Jones was able to wait on a walk of his own to score Krizan and push the Mud Hens right back into the lead.
Vasquez was able to quickly work through the bottom of the fourth, but his opponent Reed was not able to get through the fifth. After a single by Efren Navarro, a double by Almanzar and Krizan's third walk of the game, Reed was forced out of the game with the bases loaded. While Alejandro Chacin struck out the first batter he faced, he was not so lucky against Ryan; who doubled to score two. An Infante sac fly later and the game stood at 6-2.
That lead held until the bottom of the sixth inning in which the Louisville offense exploded and chased Vasquez from the game. Sweeney singled and Phillip Ervin doubled to put two runners in scoring position with no one out, which brought on Logan Kensing. Chad Wallach immediately greeted Kensing to the game by hitting a three-run homer to make it 6-5.
After 1-2-3 innings on both sides during the seventh, the Mud Hens hit back in the 8th. Infante and Jones led off with singles to put runners on the corners with no one out and John Hicks came through with a single that scored both of them to push the Toledo lead to 8-5.
Jeff Ferrell entered in the eighth and the All-Star delivered with a 1-2-3 inning that included two strikeouts.
Once the Mud Hens were set down in the top of the ninth, flamethrowing right-hander Joe Jiménez was tasked with closing out the game for Toledo. For the fourth time this season, he was able to do just that to secure the Mud Hens victory.
The Mud Hens continue their series in Louisville on Thursday night. Drew VerHagen is set to take the hill for Toledo; first pitch is scheduled for 7:05.
