Sports stats



IL Toledo Mud Hens

Brant Hurter And The Hens Shine In 5-1 Victory Over Saints

May 9, 2024 - International League (IL)
Toledo Mud Hens News Release


While the weather had many wondering if this game would be played, things cleared up downtown just before the first pitch. Toledo and St. Paul had split their series a game a piece, but Thursday night's 5-1 win gave Toledo the edge.

Brant Hurter had a hot start in his second start of the season on the mound. He sat down his first three batters with two strikeouts and a groundout.

On the offensive side of things, Jace Jung was the only Hen to find a hit in the first inning with his tenth double of the season. The game remained scoreless though as Keston Hiura went down swinging.

The Saints got to swinging to start the second inning. Alex Isola picked up a one-out double as his teammate Tony Kemp had a base hit to right field to Move Isola to third. The baserunners were left stranded though as Hurter picked up strikeouts against Patrick Winkel and Dalton Shuffield.

The Mud Hens seemed to figure out Saints pitcher Louie Varland in their second set of at bats. Bligh Madris found a gap in right field for his tenth double of the season and a wild pitch would move him to third. Justice Bigbie wasted no time bringing Madris home with an RBI triple off the wall. Toledo would finish the inning up 2-0 as Dillon Dingler hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Bigbie.

Hurter continued to work his way through the St. Paul lineup, earning his sixth and seventh strikeouts of the game. He did give the Saints a chance to score though as DaShawn Keirsey Jr. found a base hit and was able to move all the way to third base off of a pick-off attempt gone wrong by Hurter. It all worked out though as Hurter's seventh strikeout kept the Saints scoreless.

The third inning began with Varland walking Gio Urshela and Jung to put the Hens in scoring position with no outs. Urshela is in Toledo on a rehab assignment from the Detroit Tigers. He would score off of a base hit from Madris that also moved Jung to third and brought Bigbie up to bat. Bigbie brought in both Jung and Madris with a base hit that found a gap in shallow center field, giving Toledo the early 5-0 lead.

The Mud Hens would protect that lead with a quick inning featuring another Hurter strikeout and a double play off the bat of Kemp to pick up the pseudo one, two, three.

The bats finally began to cool off for Toledo in the bottom of the fourth. Only Urshela found a base hit as Varland picked up three strikeouts. As Urshela ran to first base, his apparent hamstring injury was nowhere to be found.

Hurter continued to devastate the Saints batting order and kept the Hens up 5-0 in his final inning. He would finish with nine strikeouts while allowing five hits and a walk.

Varland forced a flyout from Buddy Kennedy and picked up his eighth strikeout before ending his day in the fifth inning. Jordan Balazovic took his place on the rubber, picking up the final out of the inning with a line out off the bat of Bigbie.

Tim Federowicz believed that "Hurter probably could've gone the sixth inning," but instead Wilmer Flores took the mound to open the sixth inning. Flores seemed flustered to start, giving up a base hit to Michael Helman and walking Isola before the Hens found three straight outs to escape the inning unscathed.

Balazovic saw some success in the sixth inning, picking up strikeouts against Parker Meadows and Andrew Navigato who replaced Urshela as the Toledo designated hitter.

The seventh inning saw Flores picking up his second and third strikeouts on his way to a one, two, three inning.

St. Paul brought out Scott Blewett to try and halt the Hens in the seventh inning. His offspeed pitches wreaked havoc on the Toledo hitters as Blewett went one, two, three.

Toledo turned to Devin Sweet in the eighth inning to try and get the final six outs of the game. His inning began with a Anthony Prato strikeout, but things quickly changed as Matt Wallner hit a solo-shot to get the Saints their first run. Sweet was able to pull it together though, striking out Helman and forcing a flyout from Isola.

Trying to keep the Toledo lead within their grasp, St. Paul opted for Diega Castillo to take the mound. The MiLB veteran kept the Hens hitless in the eighth, but he would need some help from his team at the plate if he was going to see the mound again.

Sweet went back to the mound as the Mud Hens searched for their final three outs. They found the first in a highlight stop by Jung on a hard-hit grounder to second base. Jung appeared hurt following the stop, but resumed play after speaking with trainers. Sweet then gave up a double to Winkel, but it would be for nothing as Sweet struck out Dalton Schuffield and forced a flyout off the bat of Diego A. Castillo.

The Mud Hens and Saints will meet again Friday at 7:05 p.m. in Toledo. The Hens have a chance to secure at least a split-series with a win on Friday, if not they will see the Saints again on Saturday and Sunday.

Notables:

Brant Hurter (W, 5.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K)

Justice Bigbie (2-4, 3B, 3 RBI, R)

Bligh Madris (2-4, 2B, RBI)

Check out the Toledo Mud Hens Statistics



International League Stories from May 9, 2024


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central