Toledo comes from behind and walks it off in the Eleventh

Toledo and Indianapolis met for the third game of their six-game series Friday night. This game featured an exciting pitching matchup between the Mud Hens’ Keider Montero and the Indians’ Paul Skenes.

Toledo started with a three-batter inning, thanks to Anthony Bemboom catching Ji Hwan Bae trying to steal second. The Indians would return the favor with the Hens up to bat, catching Justyn-Henry Malloy stealing. Both teams would end the first inning scoreless after only seeing three batters each.

The second inning was a lot of the same. The Hens saw another three batters that resulted in a ground out to Buddy Kennedy, a line out to Justice Bigbie, and Montero’s third strikeout. Skenes would see four batters, striking out three and walking Bigbie.

To open the third, Toledo got a quick two outs with a pop fly and Billy McKinney was caught stealing. Things looked dodgy for the Hens when Nick Gonzales got to base off of an error by Andrew Navigato. Montero walked Bae to load the bases but escaped the jam with a quick three strikes to Liover Peguero.

Skenes would strike out the first two batters in the bottom of the third, but gave up two singles to Akil Baddoo and Malloy. Skenes pulled it back together though, striking out Jace Jung.

With the Indians up to bat, Montero picked up another two strikeouts and Billy McKinney hit a pop out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Skenes opened the inning with his eighth strikeout of the game, but that would be the end of the day for the MLB’s third-ranked prospect. Brady Feigl took over for Skenes and finished out the inning without taking any damage.

To open the fifth, Toledo brought out Sean Guenther to take Montero’s place on the mound. Montero’s day would close with 2 H, 3 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, and 6 K through 4.0 innings pitched. Guenther would find himself with bases loaded after a walk, a flyball that Jung lost in the lights, and a hard-hit grounder that Navigato couldn’t make a play with. Indianapolis picked up their first run of the night off of a sacrifice fly from Peguero to take the 1-0 lead. Guenther would escape the inning, as Canaan Smith-Njigba laid a soft grounder for the final out.

In the bottom of the fifth Navigato hit a single to center field and took second off of a wild pitch. Toledo wouldn’t be able to capitalize on the scoring opportunity, going into the sixth inning still down 1-0.

With two outs and Gilberto Celestino on second, Guenther looked to end the inning. It looked like exactly that would happen when Grant Koch hit a ground ball to Navigato. Navigato scooped up the ball, but a bad throw allowed Celestino to score and Koch to reach first. Toledo then took out Guenther and brought out Bryce Tassin. Tassin was quick to give up an RBI double to Sergio Alcantara. A flyout from Gonzales would end the inning, but Toledo would go down 3-0 off of two unearned runs.

Indianapolis made another change on the mound bringing in Ryder Ryan. Ryan had played in four games with the Pittsburgh Pirates this season and picked up a win with a 6.75 ERA. The Hens started to find some life with Ryan on the mound. Bligh Madris hit a solo home run over 400 feet into right field to make it a 3-1 game. Bigbie followed the homer up with a single, but a groundout from Kennedy would end the inning.

To open the seventh, Tassin would pick up two strikeouts and Bemboom would catch Peguero stealing to keep it a 3-1 game.

With the Hens heating up, the Indians made another change on the mound, electing to bring in Carmen Mlodzinski to try and keep their lead. Bemboom continued his day with a double off of the wall to bring the game-tying run to the plate. Following two outs, Malloy put the Mud Hens on his back with a two-run homer to tie the game.

In the top eighth, Toledo brought out Wilmer Flores to try and keep it a tie game. Flores would give up a double to McKinney and allow him to get to third off of a wild pitch but would end the inning with a strikeout against Koch.

Finding momentum was no longer on their side, the Indians put Connor Sadzeck on the rubber and Matt Gorski in at center. The changes would pay off for the Indians as they went one, two, three to end the inning.

To open the ninth, Brenan Hanifee would take the mound. The Indians would put three batters up, and the Hens would take all three down with ease. Things would go just as smoothly for the Indians, so the game went into extra innings.

Hanifee would dismiss Peguero to start the tenth and Bemboom would catch Indian’s free baserunner, Gorski, trying to steal third. Hanifee would then walk Smith-Njigba on a close pitch that Hanifee challenged but to no avail. The Mud Hens would escape the inning by striking out Celestino.

With two outs and runners on second and third, Toledo was in great scoring position with Keston Hiura at the plate. There would need to be more baseball played as Hiura hit a fly ball to the moon to end the inning.

Getting the nod in the eleventh inning, Andrew Vasquez got Joe Perez to hit a pop-out straight to Baddoo. This would move Celestino to third, but two more flyouts would end the top of the inning.

With the bases loaded and only one out it would finally happen. With Bemboom up to bat, the Hens won the game with a hit that dropped short in the outfield.

Toledo is home again Saturday at 2:35 for a doubleheader to make up for Thursday’s game.

Notables:

Keider Montero 4.0 IP, 3 BB, 0 R, 0 ER, 6 K

Justyn-Henry Malloy 2-4, HR, BB, 2 RBI, R

Justice Bigbie 2-3, BB

Anthony Bemboom 1-5, R, RBI

Brenan Hanifee 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K