Bryce Rainer to undergo season ending shoulder surgery

Scores, news, and notes from the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Friday, June 7, 2025.

Friday on the farm did not start off well as it was revealed that fast-rising Detroit Tigers prospect Bryce Rainer suffered a dislocation of his right shoulder diving back to first base on Tuesday night. The injury caused enough damage to the young shortstop that he’ll need surgery and will miss the rest of the regular season.

The Tigers and Rainer sought multiple opinions on the injury before opting for surgery. This is probably the best course to make sure his strong throwing arm isn’t impacted long term. The Tigers will be very cautious with him until they’re sure he’s 100 percent ready to go. Just an unfortunate injury to a talented teenager who was impressive in all facets of the game in his first look at pro ball.

Toledo Mud Hens 8, Columbus Clippers 3 (box )

The Mud Hens found a pair of crooked numbers on the scoreboard to take Friday’s matchup with the Clippers, 8-3.

Andrew Navigato got Toledo on the board in the second inning with a line drive homer to left.

The Hens didn’t get another hit until Ryan Kreidler went deep in the fourth, a two-run shot, and Navigato also scored from first in the inning on a Manny Margot single off the wall in right.

Dietrich Enns threw five strong for Toledo, going scoreless through the first four frames. Back-to-back extra-base hits in the fifth cost him a run, but Enns now has 16 strikeouts and just one walk over his last three appearances. With an ERA below 3.00 and a WHIP under 1.20, there’s an easy path for Enns to spend some time in Detroit this season (barring 40-man roster complications).

Matt Gage got the hold with two innings of one-hit ball. His slider wasn’t too big on swing and miss, but it’s Gage’s 10th straight appearance (13.0 IP) without allowing an earned run. Following up a 2.70 ERA starter with a 1.78 middle relief arm is a luxury.

Toledo’s second big inning came in the seventh. Margot hit a leadoff double, Gage Workman walked and Justyn-Henry Malloy brought both in with a grounder up the middle. Jace Jung went big fly for good measure, making it 8-1.

Brendan White got tagged for a two-run homer in the eighth, making his final line look worse than it should. Toledo had built up a nice lead by that point, so the bomb did very little harm. Ryan Miller worked around an error and a walk to close things out in the ninth.

Jung: 1-4, HR (7), R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

Malloy: 2-5, R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K

Navigato: 1-3, HR (4), 2 R, RBI, BB, 0 K

Enns (W, 2-1): 5.0 IP, 3 H, R, ER, 0 BB, 4 K; 81 pitches (53 strikes)

Coming Up Next: With Toledo claiming its first win of the series, the path to a 3-3 split remains alive. Nick Margevicius (3-1, 2.61 ERA) is scheduled to start in a lefty-lefty matchup against Ryan Webb.

Richmond Flying Squirrels 4, Erie SeaWolves 3 (box )

It took 12 innings to decide things, but Erie came up short on Friday night against Richmond, 4-3.

Jaden Hamm gave five quality innings to the cause, striking out seven and walking just one. Things started out rough with three consecutive singles and a run, but Hamm settled in after that. The only other run against Hamm came in the fifth on a wild pitch. Detroit’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year has taken his lumps since the call-up to Double-A, but there are plenty of good signs that he’ll come out of the season better off, including this outing.

Andrew Magno and Richard Guasch worked through the next three frames for Erie. Guasch took over with two on and two out in the seventh and retired all four batters he faced through the eighth, three on strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Chris Meyers, Jim Jarvis and Brady Allen went single, single, double to tie up the game. Allen came away as the big hero, driving in both runs with one swing, but all three hits held equal weight in a game that only saw Erie notch six total. Plus… just watch how this play went down.

From there, both teams rode their bullpen until the 12th. Jordan Marks got the ninth and 10th for Erie. A walk and a base hit is all Richmond could put together against him, and Tim Naughton went 1-2-3 in the 11th.

RJ Petit took the loss for the SeaWolves. Back-to-back singles to open the 12th gave Richmond the lead, and the Flying Squirrels worked another runner around the bases for the deciding run. Erie plated the free runner on second with relative ease in the bottom half of the inning, but no hits meant the end of the ball game—tough loss.

Anderson: 1-5, 0 BB, 2 K

Liranzo: 0-4, BB, K

Hamm: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 7 K; 91 pitches (56 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Erie has a series split locked up at 3-1. Carlos Pena (2-3, 1.91 ERA) takes the mound on Saturday in search of a series win.

Lake County Captains 3, West Michigan Whitecaps 0 (box )

West Michigan went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position Friday night, leading to a 3-0 loss against Lake County.

The Whitecaps outhit the Captains, 8-4, but the majority of those hits were singles. West Michigan wasted back-to-back hits in the third and fourth, and nothing came of doubles from Max Clark and Izaac Pacheco in the fifth and sixth. Double plays in the eighth and ninth all but spelled doom for the ‘Caps.

West Michigan stayed in the game until the end, though, because its pitching staff only allowed four hits. Walks are another story. The Whitecaps gave up seven free bases on the day. Four of those came from Andrew Sears, who worked starter innings as the second relief arm.

Alex Cobb was the actual starter. The 37-year-old veteran looked sharp through two innings, but he had some command issues in the third. A successful pickoff attempt prevented things from getting out of hand, but Cobb walked the first two batters in the third and in came CJ Weins. Jaison Chourio doubled in the run, which went unearned thanks to a throwing error. However, while his stuff and location were pretty solid until his last inning, Cobb was moving really gingerly on the mound between pitches throughout his outing. The hip issues don’t seem to be improving, and it’s hard to know if he’s actually making any real progress toward pitching at the major league level or not.

Sears took over in the fourth and went 4.2 innings while allowing just one hit. The four walks are still a problem, but it’s easier to reconcile things when a guy isn’t giving up hits or runs. Micah Ashman took over in the eighth and got the final out of the inning just fine. He struggled in the ninth, though. The Captains got to him for a ground-rule double, an RBI single and a sacrifice fly to triple the lead.

Clark: 2-4, 2B (8), 0 BB, K

McGonigle: 1-4, 0 BB, K

Cobb (L, 0-1): 2.1 IP, 0 H, R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; 34 pitches (18 strikes)

Coming Up Next: With the series tied at two games apiece, West Michigan sends Rayner Castillo (1-2, 4.54 ERA) to the mound on Saturday.

Dayton Tortugas 10, Lakeland Flying Tigers 8 (box )

Lakeland went back and forth with Daytona all night, but the Tortugas came up big in the final innings to take a third straight game in the series, 10-8.

It’s been smooth sailing for Lucas Elissalt over his last three starts, but pro start No. 6 started off a bit tricky for the 13th-rounder. Four consecutive base hits, including one double, put Lakeland in an early hole. An error at third made things worse, doubling the lead to four runs.

Elissalt recovered nicely after that, though, striking out five of the next seven batters he faced. More trouble came in the fourth, but a nice outfield assist from Garrett Pennington in left saved a run.

The Flying Tigers began to chip away in the second inning with a sacrifice fly to break the shutout. The louder stuff came in the fourth, when Cristian Santana hit a solo shot and Ricard Hurtado doubled in Abel Bastidas. Pennington homered in the fifth to tie it up, but Daytona had plenty of time to answer.

Ryan Harvey took over for Ellisalt in the sixth. He retired the first four batters he faced, but a single, sac bunt and triple broke the tie after an inning. Lakeland responded with a two-run triple from Pennington, but Moises Rodriguez wasn’t much better than Harvey.

Rodriguez allowed three runs on one hit and two walks in the eighth. Suddenly, it was 8-6 heading into the ninth inning. Lakeland came down to its last out, but Carson Rucker doubled in two to send it to extras.

Dayton plated two off Ethan Sloan in the 10th and Lakeland ran out of comebacks—another tough loss.

Montilla: 0-3, 0 BB, 3 K

Pennington: 2-4, 3B (1), HR (6), 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, 0 K

Santana: 1-3, HR (4), 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, K

Elissalt: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K; 72 pitches (52 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Lakeland is looking to snap a three-game losing streak and salvage a series tie over the weekend. No probable starter is listed.