Jones Homers in Toledo's First Loss in Eight Games

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IL Toledo Mud Hens

Jones Homers in Toledo's First Loss in Eight Games

May 1, 2025 - International League (IL)
Toledo Mud Hens News Release


WORCESTER, MA - Looking to get their ninth-straight win, the Toledo Mud Hens fell short to the Worcester WooSox 7-4. Toledo fell behind early, but always stayed within reach of Worcester's lead.

Standing in the way of the Mud Hens' quest for nine-straight was Worcester's Shane Drohan. Drohan has been one of the premier pitchers early in this season in the International League. He came into Thursday with a 1.08 ERA and 26 strikeouts through four starts and a relief appearance.

The early lead would belong to the WooSox as Lael Lockhart struggled to find command over his pitches. After walking two batters, Lockhart gave up back-to-back doubles which put Worcester ahead 3-0. Lockhart found his command from there though, picking up a strikeout and forcing a groundout.

The WooSox would extend their lead when Connor Wong hit a lead-off home run in the bottom of the third. They'd give themselves even more breathing room as Nate Eaton hit a forceout which brought in Vaughn Grissom to make it 5-0. Lockhart's high pitch count and struggles to finish off the third inning would ultimately knock him out of the game and bring in Brendan White.

Toledo began to fight back in their half of the fourth inning. Hao-Yu Lee and Bligh Madris pieced together a couple of base hits to put the Hens in scoring position and brough Jahmai Jones to the plate. Jones then watched a strike before taking a cutter, which floated in the zone just a little too long, 393 ft to left-center field to make it 5-3.

Following an eight-pitch fourth inning, White returned to work in the fifth. His second full inning of action would not go quite as smoothly as the previous though, as Eaton extended the Worcester lead with an RBI double to put them up 6-3.

The Hens wouldn't back down though, as they quickly brought the deficit back to two with a Riley Unroe sac-fly.

Taking on a new role as a relief pitcher as of late, Matt Manning took over on the mound in the sixth inning. He went one, two, three with a four-seam heavy rotation, while sprinkling in the occasional slider or sweeper.

After forcing two outs in the seventh, Manning quickly found himself in a bases-loaded situation. That queued manager Gabe Alvarez to bring out Matt Gage to clean things up. Gage did just that as he picked up a strikeout after a seven-pitch battle with Nathan Hickey.

Toledo tried to work down the Worcester lead, but were quickly seated by the WooSox defense.

Gage returned to the mound in the bottom of the eighth to keep the deficit within reach. Things did not go to plan though as Mark Kolozsvary hit a lead-off double, before being brought in by Roman Anthony to put Worcester ahead 7-4. After two outs, Gage was unable to finish the inning with an apparent injury, which brought out Matt Seelinger with runners on first and second. Seelinger would earn a three-pitch strikeout in what was just his third appearance on the mound this season.

With Carlos Mendoza and Brewer Hicklen falling to Isaiah Campbell, Lee barrelled a ball to center field. That would be for nothing though as Andrew Navigato went down with a groundout, finalizing the 7-4 loss.

The Mud Hens will look to get back in the win column against the WooSox Friday at 6:05 p.m.

Notables:

Jahmai Jones (2-4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, 2 K)

Ryan Kreidler (2-3, 2B, BB, K, SB)

Hao-Yu Lee (2-4, R, BB)

Check out the Toledo Mud Hens Statistics

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