Brett Callahan leads Whitecaps to victory while Josh Randall deals for Lakeland

Scores, news, and notes from the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Saturday, April 19, 2025.

Indianapolis Indians 6, Toledo Mud Hens 2 (box )

Indy made it four in a row over the Mud Hens as the Toledo offense struggles.

Lael Lockhart Jr. was good, but got no run support. The lefty tossed five innings of one-run ball, allowing a Matt Gorski solo shot in the fourth. He walked one and struck out five on the day.

The Hens briefly had the lead in this game with Hao-Yu Lee walked and them stole second base in the fourth inning. Jahmai Jones singled him home.

Unfortunately, Ricky Vanasco was knocked around for four runs in the sixth inning and that 5-1 lead would hold up. Tyler Owens took over in the eighth and allowed one run, while the Hens would finally add a run in the top of the ninth when Riley Unroe singled, Lee was hit by a pitch, and Gamel doubled. Jones walked to load the bases and the Hens suddenly had comeback dreams with no outs in the inning. Reliever Jarod Bayless then proceeded to strike out Andrew Navigato, Bligh Madris, and Brian Serven in order to snuff the rally.

Unroe: 3-4, R, K, SB

Jones: 1-3, RBI, BB

Lockhart: 5.0 IP, ER, 5 H, BB, 5 K

Erie SeaWolves 6, Akron RubberDucks 2 (box )

The Seawolves got a solid start from Jake Miller and took a 3-2 series lead with another victory over Akron on Saturday.

Miller wasn’t at his sharpest in this one, but the lefty tossed four scoreless innings before exiting in the fifth after allowing a single and a walk in the fifth. Lefty Andrew Magno took over and allowed a run before cleaning things up.

Heading into the bottom of the fifth, the SeaWolves only had a single and a walk to their tally, but that changed quickly. Roberto Campos led off with a single, and after Eduardo Valencia flew out, Brady Allen walked. Jim Jarvis flew out as well, but Trei Cruz walked to load the bases with two outs. Max Anderson then cleared the bases with a double. Thayron Liranzo drew a walk, and that forced Akron back to their bullpen. Justice Bigbie stepped to the dish and greeted reliever Carter Spivey with a three-run blast to right center field. 6-1 SeaWolves.

Outside of the fifth, the SeaWolves had some trouble with RubberDucks’ pitching, but that was all they’d need. Magno handled the fifth and sixth and earned the win, while Tim Naughton tossed two scoreless frames and Troy Watson closed it out, allowing a solo shot in the ninth before getting the final outs.

Anderson: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, 2B

Bigbie: 1-4, R, 3 RBI, HR

Miller: 4.0 IP, ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves will look for a home series victory on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET at UPMC Park.

West Michigan Whitecaps 10, South Bend Cubs 9 (F/10)(box )

Carlos Marcano’s second start didn’t go so well as the first, but the Whitecaps offense pounded out 15 hits to overwhelm the Cubs on a huge day for outfielder Brett Callahan who walked this one off in the 10th.

Marcano went 3 ²⁄₃ innings, allowing four earned runs maybe due to five walks issued. Pretty uncharacteristic day for the young sinkerballer. He gave up one in the first and two in the second, but the Cubs lead didn’t last long.

Brett Callahan led off the bottom of the second with his third home run of the season. Andrew Jenkins followed with a walk, and after a pair of flyouts from Luke Gold and Peyton Graham, three straights singles from Archer Brookman, Abel Bastidas, and Seth Stephenson, tied the game at 3-3.

In the top of the fourth, Marcano allowed a solo shot to Andy Garriola and Carlos Lequerica eventually took over, ending Marcano’s day. However, in the bottom of the fourth, Peyton Graham led off by reaching on catcher interference. Archer Brookman reached on an error, and Stephenson singled home Graham to re-tie the game at 4-4.

Lequerica did nice work, pitching through the sixth, and Trevin Michael handled the seventh. However, Michael then came back out in the eighth and was knocked around for three runs as the Cubs took a 7-4 lead.

Once again, the Whitecaps were relentless, and without Max Clark, who had a day off, they ran down the Cubs again.

They did it without manager Tony Cappuccilli, who was ejected in an argument with the home plate umpires in the middle of the eighth inning. Peyton Graham singled and took second on a Brookman ground out. Then Bastidas singled in Graham on a line drive into center field. A Stephenson grounder forced Bastidas, but Jack Penney singled and Stephenson raced to third, drawing a throw that got Penney to second base. That was poorly timed for the Cubs, as Josue Briceño was coming to the plate and doubled in both runs. Callahan dumped his third hit of the day, a single, into right field to plate Briceño, and it was 8-7 ‘Caps.

Michael stayed in the game, and things continued to go poorly for him. He allowed a pair of doubles in the top of the ninth to blow the save and tie the game. Micah Ashman had to take over and put out the fire, and then it was on to the tenth inning.

Ashman allowed the Manfred runner to score, but otherwise locked the Cubs down. With Brookman on second in the bottom half, Bastidas flared a single into center field. Stephenson lined a single into left field to score Brookman, and after Penney grounded out, the Cubs understandably gave Briceño an intentional walk to load the bases. It didn’t work, as Callahan came through yet again with a grounder through the right side to walk off the Cubs.

Callahan: 4-5, R, 3 RBI, HR, BB, K, SB

Stephenson: 3-6, R, 3 RBI, SB

Bastidas: 3-5, R, 2 RBI, 2 K

Marcano: 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 5 BB, K

Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps head into Sunday’s 2:00 p.m. ET matchup looking for the six-game sweep of the Cubs and a nine game home winning streak to start the season.

Dunedin Blue Jays 12, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (box )

Josh Randall, the Detroit Tigers third rounder last summer, pitched very well on Saturday, but the offense was a little quiet and the bullpen blew up late to lose again to the Blue Jays.

Randall allowed just two hits and didn’t walk a batter across five innings of one-run ball. He collected five strikeouts along the way and left with a 3-1 lead. He was matched up with 2024 first rounder Trey Yesavage in this one, and both young pitchers acquitted themselves well. Yesavage, the 20th overall pick by the Blue Jays last summer, was dominant early on and struck out 10 Flying Tigers, but once they got some traffic on the bases he faded in the fifth inning.

In the top of the fifth, Garrett Pennington got them started with a single, and Ricardo Hurtado and Samuel Gil followed suit to load the bases. Enderson Delgado and Jose De La Cruz both struck out, but David Smith singled in two runs. Smith and Gil then pulled off a double steal with Gil stealing home. Smith was thrown out at third trying to stretch it, but it was 3-1 Lakeland and Yesavage was done for the day.

Unfortunately, while Randall won the starting pitching battle, the bullpen phase was decidedly in the Blue Jays’ favor. Ignacio Briceno was lit up for five runs, and Shay Timmer gave up two more all in the bottom of the sixth. The Flying Tigers turned to Chris Williams Jr. but he didn’t do any better allowing four runs, three earned in the final two frames. The result was decided by that point anyway.

Randall: 5.0 IP, ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers will hunt for a series split on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. ET.