IL1 Toledo Mud Hens

Hens Make It Two Straight over LHV with Timely Hitting

Published on April 30, 2017 under International League (IL1)
Toledo Mud Hens News Release


In the final matchup of the 2017 season, the Toledo Mud Hens ousted the Lehigh Valley IronPigs by a final of 6-4. The Hens offense used a big four-run third inning to take the game and end the season series knotted up at 3-3.

Hens' starter Warwick Saupold battled through early struggles to end up going six strong innings and earning his first victory of the season for Toledo. He allowed three runs on five hits, walking three, and striking out three.

Saupold ran into trouble in the top of the first inning as he walked two and hit one to load the bases with nobody out. A sacrifice fly from Dylan Cozens and a single from Rhys Roskins gave the IronPigs an early 2-0 lead. Saupold limited the damage after inducing a lineout double play to end the inning.

James Loney and Bryan Holaday walked to start the bottom of the second to give the Hens its first threat. However, Pigs' starter Ricardo Pinto got Argenis Diaz to ground into a double play.

As Saupold began to settle in during the middle innings, the Toledo offense came to life in the bottom of the third. With one out, Brendan Ryan walked and Alex Presley singled to start things off. JaCoby Jones singled to left to bring Ryan around to score. Efren Navarro hit one deep to right that nearly carried over the wall, but it was good enough to double home Presley. Loney followed with a sac fly to center field to plate Jones and Holaday finished off his good week at the plate with an RBI single up the middle. After three innings, the Hens jumped out a 4-2 lead.

After the shaky start to the game, Saupold retired 12 straight Lehigh Valley hitters until they got to him with three straight two-out hits in the fifth. The last of which came on a J.P. Crawford singled that scored Taylor Featherston to cut the Toledo lead to 4-3.

Saupold stranded two runners in the sixth to finish his day, although Jesmuel Valentin 's liner was snagged nicely by Navarro at first base. If it gets by him, it would likely score two runs.

The Hens added two runs in the bottom half of the sixth against Pigs' reliever Adam Morgan . Jason Krizan tripled to the gap in right-center field that brought Loney around to score. Diaz followed with a sac fly to right that gave the Hens a 6-3 advantage when Krizan crossed home.

Toledo used three pitchers in the top of the seventh and despite an IronPigs threat, the bullpen kept the lead at two. Logan Kensing started the inning and allowed a leadoff single before Kyle Ryan replaced him. Ryan allowed a single and a walk, but struck out a pair. Now with the bases loaded, the Hens turned to Bruce Rondon who got Rhys Hoskins to fly out to right to keep the game at 6-3.

With Rondon still in the game, he allowed a leadoff home run to Nick Williams and then a Cameron Perkins double. Perkins was advanced to third on a sac bunt before Rondon struck out Featherston. He got Roman Quinn to fly out to shallow left to limit the damage to just one. The Hens led 6-4 going into the bottom half of the eighth.

Arcenio Leon came on in the ninth inning and breezed through it with a 1-2-3 frame, giving him a team-high sixth save of the season.

After a day off on Monday, the Hens will return to action on Tuesday in Indianapolis for a brief three-game set. Chad Bell will get the call for Toledo in Game 1 which starts at 7:05 p.m.

Check out the Toledo Mud Hens Statistics

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International League Stories from April 30, 2017


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