IL1 Toledo Mud Hens

Hens Hit Around in the Ninth to Defeat Bats

Published on June 2, 2016 under International League (IL1)
Toledo Mud Hens News Release


Pitching was the name of the game Thursday night. Well it was for eight innings, as Toledo's offense awakened in the ninth inning and erupted for a season high eleven run inning, all with two outs.

Keyvius Sampson struck out a season high twelve batters while not allowing any runs and scattering two hits through his seven innings of work, and Sampson has still yet to allow a run as a starter for the Bats. Matt Crouse, pitching in his second career triple-A start, was superb, as he shut-out Louisville through 7.1 innings of work, while striking out five and scattering four hits.

The Bats threatened in the second but Matt Crouse, as he did all night, found a way to escape the jam by inducing a 6-4-3 double play.

The Bats seemed destined to score in the sixth inning, but the Hens' savvy southpaw managed to maneuver his way to the seventh with the scoreless score still in tact. Juan Perez led off the sixth with a double, but he was quickly erased with a dazzling defensive play by Crouse's battery mate, John Hicks, who threw behind Perez and picked him off at second. Following the nifty defensive play, Jose Peraza tripled to right field, but a zoned in Crouse got the job done by striking out Carlos Triunfel and getting Jesse Winker to groundout.

Louisville threatened once more in the bottom of the eighth, as they put two on with one out. Lloyd McClendon made the call to the Hen pen for his stingy righty, Preston Guilmet who proved his 0.69 ERA was no fluke, by getting a line out double play to end the inning.

Wandy Peralta, who came on in the eighth for the Bats, got the first two outs in the ninth inning rather quickly, but Steven Moya got things going with a scorching single to center. Following the single, Chad Huffman walked, which set up an RBI single off the bat of Tyler Collins, to make it 1-0 in the top of the ninth. Peralta, who hadn't walked a single runner this season until the ninth, followed up the Collins hit by walking Casey McGehee and Wynton Bernard with the bases loaded to make it 2-0 Toledo. Louisville called upon Drew Hayes to stop the bleeding in the ninth, but John Hicks welcomed him to the game by destroying the first pitch fastball to left field for a grand slam and his fourth home run of the season to make it 6-0 Mud Hens. The two-out rally continued as Argenis Diaz walked, Anthony Gose singled, and Dixon Machado reached first safely via a Bats' error scoring Diaz to make it 7-0. A Moya soft line drive RBI single to left made it 8-0 as Gose raced around to score. Huffman joined the party as he blasted a three-run shot to left field for his eighth home run of the season, to make it 11-0.

An eleven run ninth was more than enough as Preston Guilmet came back on in the ninth to shut it down and give the Mud Hens the win.

Toledo returns home tomorrow night for a four game series against the Indianapolis Indians, with Friday's first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. at Fifth Third Field, as Thad Weber toes the rubber looking for his sixth win of the season.

Toledo Tidbits:

STREAKING- Toledo tied their season high winning steak at three Thursday night, a feat they have accomplished three other times during the 2016 season. This is also the third straight series victory for the Mud Hens.

Can We Keep Playing Louisville?- Toledo has 25 wins now on the 2016 season and is 10-4 against Louisville, meaning 40% of the Mud Hens' victories have come against the Bats.

Hot Hens Hitters- Leading the way offensively once again were Chad Huffman (.317) and Steven Moya (.311) each with two hits. Moya got the two out rally started in the ninth, and Huffman shut the books on it with a blast to left field.

Check out the Toledo Mud Hens Statistics

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International League Stories from June 2, 2016


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