Bryce Rainer returns to Lakeland lineup, leaves in ninth, Toledo takes series lead

Scores, news, and notes from the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Friday, April 11, 2025.

Toledo Mud Hens 7, Iowa Cubs 3 (box )

The Mud Hens went with a bullpen game in this one and made it work. LHP Bailey Horn has only made one start over 110 appearances since 2022, but he’s used to those pressure situations as a reliever. Horn worked out of trouble in the first with a pair of strikeouts but needed fellow lefty PJ Poulin to come in with the bases loaded in the second. Poulin did his job, getting out of the jam with a strikeout, but Iowa scored on him in the third. Fortunately, Toledo had already taken the lead and traded a double play for that run.

Jack Dunn came up big in the No. 9 spot of the lineup with a bases-clearing triple to the warning track in right field in the second inning. Iowa’s right fielder bobbled the ball, helping to extend the play, but it was still a barrel for Dunn. 3-0 Hens.

Toledo hit leadoff doubles in the third and fourth but only scored in the latter frame. Again, Dunn was involved in the sequence, reaching on a bunt and moving David Hensley over to third. Dunn stole second and scored behind Hensley on a Riley Unroe single. Unroe replaced Jahmai Jones in right field in the top of the fourth. Jones took a ball off the ankle earlier in the game, but the move appeared more precautionary than anything.

Jordan Balazovic pitched the bulk of the game for Toledo, entering the game in the fourth and pitching through the sixth. His curveball drew 10 swings and five whiffs on 20 pitches, and he only allowed three baserunners — all on hits; no walks.

Brendan White got the seventh and wasn’t as effective. The first two batters he saw hit safely and reached scoring position, and White walked the bases loaded before finally recording the first out of the inning on a sacrifice fly. White traded another run for the second out of the inning, cutting the four-run Toledo in half, but the Mud Hens responded shortly after in the eighth.

With Riley Unroe aboard after a leadoff walk, and southpaw and noted giant Luke Little taking over for the Cubs, Jace Jung hit a two-run homer to put the lead back up to four. Jung has flashed some power early in the season with three home runs in 11 games. His OPS sits at 1.135 after this one. Good to see off a lefty yet again.

Andrew Chafin made his first appearance of the series in the eighth. His struggles to keep runners off the base paths continued with a pair of singles and a walk, but Chafin got out of the inning without giving up a run. He’ll need to iron out some things before getting called up to Detroit.

Matt Gage was the final Toledo pitcher of the day. Gage allowed a leadoff single but retired the next three batters in a row.

Jung: 2-4, HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

Unroe: 2-2, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K

Dunn: 2-4, 3B, 1 R, 3 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

Horn: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K; 42 pitches ( 24 strikes)

Balazovic: 3.0 IP (H, 1); 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; 50 pitches (34 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Toledo leads the series 2-1 after back-to-back wins. Dietrich Enns gets the start in the first half of a doubleheader (makeup from Tuesday) starting at 4:05 p.m. ET.

Erie SeaWolves vs. Chesapeake Baysox (Rained Out)

Inclement weather led to a postponement of Game 4 between Chesapeake and Erie. They’ll play a doubleheader on Saturday, barring any more weather.

Coming Up Next: Jake Miller gets the start in Game 1 of the doubleheader on Saturday, which starts at 5:05 p.m. ET. The back half of the doubleheader should follow shortly after, with no announced starter in place yet.

Lake County Captains 7, West Michigan Whitecaps 3 (box )

Lake County and West Michigan had a pitcher’s duel going through four, but eventually both offenses found some footing until the Captains ran away with it in the seventh.

West Michigan threatened early in the first with a leadoff single from Max Clark and one-out single from John Peck, but neither were able to score and the bats went cold after that. Michael Kennedy (Cleveland’s No. 18 prospect) didn’t allow a hit after the first, including eight straight outs, and struck out four.

Andrew Jenkins got the Whitecaps on the board with a solo shot in the seventh, making it 3-1, and Clark tied things up with a two-run double through the left side. Archer Bookman scored on Clark’s double and doubled himself in the ninth for a solid night at the plate.

Kenny Serwa, West Michigan’s resident knuckleballer, made his first start and second appearance of the season. He only went two innings; he was likely scheduled for a short outing. Lake County made a lot of contact off him, but they were mostly outs. On the plus side, he continues to throw a lot of strikes, particularly for a knuckleballer.

Colin Fields took over in the third and was solid. He hit the first batter he saw but induced a double play to end the inning without any runs. A leadoff walk in the fourth came back to bite him but was far from the deciding run in the game. Fields drew a team-high nine swing and misses on the night.

Most of Lake County’s scoring came on one matchup: Ralphy Velasquez (Cleveland’s no. 5 prospect) vs. Max Alba. Velasquez hit a pair of two-run homers off Alba, one in the fifth and a go-ahead blast in the seventh. Both came off high and in fastballs. Alba was dominant over three innings against Dayton last week, striking out five and not allowing a baserunner, but Velasquez had his number.

Marco Jimenez came in after the second homer and sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a walk, but Christian Knapczyk took him deep to make it 7-5. Knapczyk hit a nearly identical homer to Velasquez’s earlier in the inning. The silver lining for Jimenez is that he got through the eighth smoothly, allowing just one two-out hit.

Clark: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K

Peck: 1-3, 2 BB, 2 K

Jenkins: 1-3, HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K

Serwa: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; 30 pitches (18 strikes)

Coming Up Next: After beating up on Lake County the past two nights, tonight’s loss evens up the series. West Michigan sends Andrew Sears to the mound on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

St. Lucie Mets 4, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (box )

Bryce Rainer’s return to the Lakeland Flying Tigers lineup started off with a bang, but the Detroit Tigers ’ 2024 first-round pick left the game in the top of the ninth. Rainer drove in Brian Serven with a line drive into left-center in the first (108 mph exit velocity); it was Rainer’s first professional hit. It’s unclear what caused him to leave the game, but the trainers were called out just after the pre-inning throwdown in the ninth.

St. Lucie broke a 3-3 tie for the win shortly after that. Moises Rodriguez gave up a leadoff single, and the runner advanced to third on a routine grounder where the bag was left open. A sacrifice fly easily scored the deciding run, spoiling a potential comeback after Lakeland tied it up in the seventh.

Samuel Gil crushed a no-doubter off the light pole in left field, and Cristian Santana scored after walking and moving around the bags on singles from Carlos Delgado and Nomar Fana. The only other base hit of the night from Lakeland came from Fana in the third, a harmless single.

Zack Lee made his second start of the year. His sinker-slider mix drew plenty of contact early on. St. Lucie hit almost everything thrown in the zone, but a three-run homer from Drew Gilbert was the only truly damaging swing of the night.

Thomas Bruss was first in relief. He only threw one inning but looked pretty sharp, featuring a good changeup at 88mph that drew four whiffs on as many swings. Paired with the 95 mph fastball, Bruss is going to fool batters at this level with the change of speed.

Ronny Chalas came in for the sixth and seventh. He was all fastball (19 of 24 pitches) but effective. He got two quick outs, walked a batter to no harm and threw a decent seventh. Serven erased a leadoff single by catching the runner attempting to take third to help Chalas out.

Moises Rodrigues took the loss for Lakeland. He threw almost all sinkers, but they were effective and reached 98 mph. Gilbert blooped in a single between Nomar Fana and Akil Baddoo, but it was Jesus Baez’s leadoff single in the ninth that led to the loss. The defensive miscue (and three-run homer) cost Lakeland the game, but none of the Flying Tigers’ arms were outright bad.

Rainer: 1-4, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K

Baddoo: 0-3, 1 BB, 0 K

Serven: 1-3, 2B, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Lee: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; 53 pitches (36 strikes)

Coming Up Next: With the series tied at two games apiece, Lakeland looks to guarantee at least a spit on Saturday, starting at 6 p.m. ET. No probable starter is listed for the Flying Tigers.

Here was the moment Rainer left the game. He isn’t indicating anything obvious, though perhaps walking a little gingerly. After getting hit in the helmet in his first Single-A game, you hated to see this, but we’ll have to wait for a report to know what the injury issue was.