Mud Hens fall short in series finale with Red Sox

Toledo came into Sunday’s game at the top of the International League East with a record of 16-10. After last night’s exciting rally, the Mud Hens lost the final game of the series 8-5, despite a late-game rally.

Today would be a bullpen day for Toledo with Bryce Tassin starting on the mound. Tassin gave up a base hit to Vaughn Grissom, who is with Worcester on a rehab assignment from Boston.

Also on rehab assignment, Andy Ibanez led off for the Mud Hens with a fly out to right field. Justyn-Henry Malloy got things started early when he snuck a ball fair going down the left field line. Following Malloy’s double, Jace Jung drew a walk to give Toledo a great chance to score. The Hens were left stranded on second and first though, as a Justice Bigbie fly out ended the inning.

The Mud Hens went to the bullpen early, bringing out Michael Bienline to begin the second inning. This was Bienline’s AAA debut after appearing in five games with the West Michigan Whitecaps. He picked up two strikeouts and allowed no hits in his first inning as a Mud Hen.

The bottom of the second inning was big for Toledo. Bligh Madris was walked by Justin Hagenman to lead off. Ryan Vilade then found his sixth double of the season, which also moved Madris to third. Dillon Dingler then doubled to bring in the two baserunners and put T-Town on top 2-0.

Bienline was brought back out to continue his debut, but he may have had a little beginners luck on his side in the inning prior. Corey Rosier cranked one over the right-field wall to cut it to 2-1. Bienline then walked Chase Meidroth and gave up a single to Grissom, putting the Red Sox back into scoring position. Bases were then loaded by former Mud Hen Jamie Westbrook. Keston Hiura had a great stop on the Westbrook hit, but Bienline couldn’t cover first base quick enough to get the out. An Eddy Alvarez sacrifice fly brought in Meidroth to tie the game 2-2. Bienline found the final out of the inning on a groundout from Mark Contreras.

Another Jung walk and a Hiura pop out brought an end to Hagenman’s day. Worcester brought out Robert Kwiatkowski to take over on the mound. This would be Kwiatkowski’s first game with Worcester, previously having played for the Portland Sea Dogs. Kwiatkowski kept the Hens quiet, with a forceout and a strikeout.

Despite his struggles and Wilmer Flores warming up in the bullpen, Bienline returned to the mound to begin the fourth inning. Bienline’s day in Toledo came to an end following a walk and a hit by pitch. Flores quickly found himself with bases loaded after Andrew Navigato made a spectacular stop, but couldn’t get the ball to second base in time for the out. The Red Sox took the lead with an RBI single from Meidroth. Bienline will be credited with his fourth run of the day as Flores walked Grissom to bring in Elih Marrero. Toledo was able to escape the top of the fourth only down 4-2, thanks to a double play from Jung, Ibanez, and Hiura.

Kwiatkowski continued his Red Sox debut with a walk followed by three-straight outs.

Flores quickly found two outs, but struggles with his third and fourth batters convinced Toledo to start warming up Andrew Vasquez. Hiura ended the top of the fifth picking up a grounder off of the bat of Rosier.

Kwiatkowski finished his final inning by allowing a Jung double, but held the Hens from scoring.

Despite Vasquez warming up, the Mud Hens stayed with Flores to start the sixth. Flores found a second strikeout, before being pulled. The pitch clock seemed to stump Flores as he had three violations in his 2.1 innings pitched. Vasquez gave up back-to-back singles to begin his day. Westbrook hit the ball right at Vasquez, who was able to swat it with his glove. Ibanez got it to Hiura in time for the out, but was not able to get the double play. Alvarez hit a two-RBI single off of the right-field wall that put the Red Sox up 6-2.

Luis Guerrero would take the mound for Worcester in the bottom of the sixth. He struck out two Toledo batters in just six pitches, but then gave up a base hit to Dingler.

The seventh inning opened with Vasquez picking up the pace, trying to work Niko Kavadas. Kavadas bested him this time though, taking him 442 ft into center field to make it a 7-2 game. Rosier was then able to get a base hit and then make his way to second on a Meindroth ground out. Grissom brought in Rosier with a line-drive single to center field, but he would be thrown out by Dingler.

Now down 8-2, Toledo desperately needed to find some runs. Guerrero hit Ibanez on the shoulder and then walked Jung to put runners on first and second base, but the Hens were once again unable to bring in their base runners.

The eighth inning opened with Ty Adcock taking over on the mound. Adcock was quick to go one, two, three as he picked up two strikeouts and helped cover first base to get the final out.

Jorge Benitez came out to try and close out the game for the Red Sox. Benitez forced a Madris ground out, but then walked Vilade. This would come back to haunt him as Navigato hit an RBI double to make it an 8-3 game. Malloy had an opportunity to cut into the Red Sox lead even more with runners on first and second base. Malloy moved Corey Joyce to third and brought home Navigato on an RBI single to make it 8-4. Jung then brought in Joyce with an RBI single and reached second base on an error. This brought Hiura, the game tying run, to the plate. Hiura was unable to hit it past third baseman Alvarez as the Hens went into the ninth inning down 8-5.

Hoping to keep their deficit within their reach, the Mud Hens put Mason Englert on the mound to open the ninth inning. He forced a flyout from Contreras and struck out Kavadas and Marrero to give his team one last chance.

Lucas Luetge came to the mound in the bottom of the ninth with a 7.04 ERA. Bigbie hit a lead-off double to keep the game alive, but outs from Madris and Vilade made things look bleak for Toledo. It came down to Dingler to try and keep the game going. Dingler hit a line drive to right field that fell short of Westbrook, bringing the tying run to the plate in Navigato. Navigato picked up two quick strikes, but continued to battle with Luetge. Navigato made solid contact on a curveball, but hit it right to left fielder Rosier to end the game.

Toledo fell short 8-5, but still won the series as a whole four games to two. The Mud Hens will begin a new series in Columbus against the Clippers on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m.

Notables:

Jace Jung 2-2, 2B, 3 BB, RBI

Ty Adcock 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Mason Englert 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K