Cruz homers twice, Montero roughed up while Rainer shines

Scores, news, and notes from around the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Friday, May 2, 2025.

Worcester Red Sox 5, Toledo Mud Hens 2 (box )

Keider Montero’s return to Toledo didn’t go well… He couldn’t locate his changeup and slider down in the zone, and the umpire wasn’t giving him any extra room early on. The stuff looked fine, but Montero eventually had to throw fastballs in the zone and Worcester hit them.

The Mud Hens have done a fine job limiting the Red Sox’s top prospects, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer, so far this week. The duo is hitting a combined 4-of-26 against Toledo, but Anthony drove in a run during the big inning Friday night. His sacrifice fly made it 2-0 after a Corey Rosier RBI single broke the scoreless tie, and Vaughn Grissom doubled Worcester’s lead with a single through the 5-6 hole.

Montero gets a shot at a quality start with a little more defensive help or a call from the umpire on some not-bad stuff. He mostly cruised after the second, allowing a fifth earned run on a solo homer to Rosier in the fourth.

Meanwhile, Toledo’s offense had no clue what to do with Cooper Criswell’s four-pitch mix, particularly his cutter and sweeper, which both drew good swing and miss. The changeup-sinker mix worked just as well, but to far more contact. Akil Baddoo and Bligh Madris led off the first and second with singles, respectively, but that’s all the harmless offense to talk about until another leadoff single that didn’t score came around in the fifth inning.

Baddoo finally got to Criswell in the sixth for a solo homer, his second of the year, off a changeup left over the heart of the plate. Ryan Miller took over for Montero in the bottom of the sixth. He delivered two perfect innings and caught the edge of the strike zone to strike Anthony out looking in the seventh.

Wyatt Mills was the first bullpen arm for Worcester, and Toledo struggled to hit him until Andrew Navigato got hold of a middle-middle slider for a 419-foot homer. Nick Burdi came in for the final four outs and a save. Baddoo and Navigato slams were bright spots in an otherwise ugly day at the plate: 13 strikeouts, including eight against Criswell, and not following up on three leadoff singles.

Ricky Vanasco got the ninth. He walked Nate Eaton, but everything else was good from him in a no-pressure situation.

Lee: 0-2, 2 BB, 0 K

Baddoo: 2-4, HR (2) 1 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

Madris: 2-4, 0 BB, 0 K

Montero (L, 1-2): 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; 78 pitches (49 strikes)

Coming Up Next: With the series evened up, Toledo is looking to guarantee at least a series tie with a win on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. ET. There is no probable starter listed at this point.

Game 1: Binghamton Rumble Ponies 4, Erie SeaWolves 1 (box )

The first of two seven-inning doubleheader games Saturday between Erie and Binghamton went to the visiting Rumble Ponies, taking the lead in what was a 1-1 series to start the day.

The shortened game thing helps speed up the process and is standard procedure in the minors, but it’s still good to see a strong effort from the Game 1 start to deal with whatever is to come. Carlos Pena was good for Erie, giving four innings of one-run stuff, but New York’s No. 5 prospect Nolan McLean was even better with six shutout frames.

McLean has been dominant all year in Double-A and could be a major leaguer by the end of the year. After a demotion from Triple-A, Pena gave Erie eight shutout innings in April, earning his first start of the year. He’ll get pinned with the loss, also his first of the year, and gave up his first run (0.75 ERA, 12 IP) but this was still a good outing for a transitional starter.

Dylan Smith picked a bad day not to have his best stuff. After giving up just one earned run over 12 innings in April, Smith gave up two before getting three outs in May. A pair of RBI doubles added runs to the Rumble Ponies’ lead — Pena gave up the first run of the game in the fifth. Two more hits, a double and a single, made it 4-0 in the sixth.

Smith has been really good all year, and he just got hammered here for extra bases. Three doubles and four hits aren’t a joke. Matt Merrill came in for a 1-2-3 seventh to give Erie a shot in the final frame, but a wild-pitch run by Roberto Campos off a relief arm is all that separated this one from being a shutout loss.

Liranzo: 0-1, 2 BB, 0 K

Campos: 3-3, 2B (2), R, 0 BB, 0 K

Pena (L, 0-1): 4.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; 53 pitches (36 strikes)

Game 2: Erie SeaWolves 3, Binghamton Rumble Ponies 0 (box )

With the second game of the doubleheader starting 30 minutes after the first, Erie did some reshuffling of the lineup and sent Garrett Burhenn out there to even the series back up.

Eduardo Valencia took over catching duties for Thayron Liranzo. Jake Holton moved from left to first with Chris Meyers at designated hitter. Max Anderson stayed put at second base and hit second but went 0-for-6 with a pair of strikeouts on the day. It’s been a rough start to May for Anderson, but he ended April on a nine-game hit streak with seven being multi-hit games.

Jim Jarvis, who hit safely in the first game to little fanfare, moved over to third base to get Danny Seretti a game in at shortstop. Brady Allen took over for Meyers (now at first) in left, Trei Cruz moved from third to center field and Ben Malgeri replaced Justice Bigbie in right.

Cruz staying in the lineup was crucial. He carried another slow game at the plate with two homers — both solo shots, the first in the fourth and the second in the sixth. Between those two bombs, Holton and Meyers doubled in another run, and that’s all the Erie offense in Game 2. Compact, but effective.

To be fair to Jonathan Pintaro, the SeaWolves had no clue what to do the first time through the order against him. Cruz figured something out and passed it on, but a two-run outing isn’t horrible. The third run came off relief man Carlos Guzman, who got the final out of the fifth inning, gave up a leadoff home run to Cruz in the sixth and then went 1-2-3 to finish a rollercoaster of an outing.

Binghamton’s offense never figured out Garrett Burhenn through five shutout innings. He threw 80% strikes, drew a swing and miss one every five pitches and didn’t give up a single free base. Jarvis made an error at third to put a man on, but Burhenn picked him off.

A harmless leadoff single and a one-out single in the fourth are all Burhenn is responsible for. He’s now at 22 innings with a 2.45 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in Double-A after posting a 3.91 ERA and 1.38 WHIP over 94.1 innings a year ago. Detroit’s pitching staff is filled to the brim with talent, but maybe Burhenn is someone worth promoting and working into the Toledo rotation as potential trade bait. He’s settled in fine at Double-A and should be moved at some point.

Andrew Magno and Tim Naughton usually throw in the same game, and Friday didn’t break that tradition despite the back half of the duo slipping up for two earned runs last week against Harrisburg. Jett Williams doubled off Magno, but Naughton went 1-2-3 as each threw a scoreless inning of relief behind Burhenn. Magno gets the hold, his first, and Naughton gets the save, also his first.

What an incredibly dull double-header and day of minor league baseball…

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

Burhenn (W, 3-0): 5.0, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K; 62 pitches (50 strikes)

Coming Up Next: With the series still tied after a split doubleheader, things go back to nine innings on Saturday at 1:35 p.m. ET with Joseph Montalvo on the mound for Erie.

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 6, West Michigan Whitecaps 1 (box )

Rayner Castillo had a rough first inning and was knocked out of the game early. The Whitecaps just couldn’t get anything going offensively as the Rattlers tied the series up at two games apiece on Friday night.

Castillo wasn’t hit hard, but two walks and a parade of seeing-eye singles, along with a Jack Penney throwing error at shortstop, led to a four-run first inning for Wisconsin, and Castillo threw enough pitches to find himself lifted from the game.

Joe Adametz did an admirable job taking over under duress. He went 3 ²⁄₃ innings, allowing just one more run. Meanwhile, 20-year-old right-hander Bishop Letson was dealing for the Rattlers. He punched out nine Whitecaps, allowing just three singles and a walk through five scoreless innings.

Adametz allowed a solo shot to Jadher Areinamo in the fifth, and in the seventh, the Rattlers victimized Carlos Lequerica for another solo homer. This time it was Blake Burke doing the damage.

Finally, in the eighth, the ‘Caps avoided the shutout. Luke Gold singled and took second on a soft tapper from Abel Bastidas to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. A wild pitch got Gold to third and Max Clark saw little to hit and drew a walk. Seth Stephenson lifted a sacrifice fly to score Gold, and then Brett Callahan drew a walk as well. A wild pitch got them both in scoring position, and for a moment a comeback seemed to be brewing, but Andrew Jenkins struck out to end the threat.

The Whitecaps went quietly in the ninth with just an Archer Brookman walk to show for it.

Clark: 1-3, BB, K

Gold: 1-3, R, BB

Castillo (L, 0-1): 1.0 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: The two clubs meet up at 2:10 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 2, Palm Beach Cardinals 1 (box )

Patrick Lee and Bryce Rainer powered the Flying Tigers to victory in a pretty well-pitched game from both sides on Friday night at Publix Field.

Lefty Gabriel Reyes, our 22nd ranked prospect in the Detroit Tigers farm system, made his second start of the year after missing most of April to injury. He was on point in this one, holding the Cardinals to just three hits and a walk over 4 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings. Reyes’ slider remains a big weapon, but his fourseamer and changeup collected plenty of strikes for him as well.

The Flying Tigers weren’t doing a whole lot against Cardinals right-hander Brandt Thompson either. They had a few baserunners in the early innings but never really threatened. Finally, in the fifth, Patrick Lee opened the inning with an absolute rocket to left field at 112 mph for a 1-0 lead. That was the powerful but raw outfielder’s first of the year.

Bryce Rainer singled with two outs in the fifth, but Jackson Strong struck out. Samuel Gil added a two-out single in the sixth, but still the scoring opportunities remained elusive.

Zack Lee took over in the sixth for Lakeland, and he was outstanding. The right-hander tossed three innings of one hit, scoreless ball and struck out six along the way.

In the bottom of the seventh, Patrick Lee led off with a single and then stole his 10th bag of the young season. With two outs in the inning Rainer strafed a double to right field, yes he pulled one, and Lee scored easily.

Patrick Lee’s power-speed combo is pretty outrageous for player who was never drafted. Coming from a small school he didn’t get many opportunities in high school or college. The Tigers signed him as an undrafted free agent last summer based on his pretty outstanding overall athleticism and good work in independent league ball. He advanced to West Michigan and eventually even to Double-A Erie late last year, but still has plenty of work ahead to refine his hit tool. Hence the return to Lakeland for a more normal progression.

Right hander Moises Rodriguez showed a good power sinker up to 97-98 and collected his third save of the season. He didn’t have an easy time of it however, as Yordalin Pena led off the inning with a triple and then scored on a Sammy Hernandez single. Another single and then a walk followed to load the bases.

Rodriguez got a grounder with the infield pulled in and second baseman Samuel Gil fielded and fired home to get the lead runner and maintain the lead. Heriberto Caraballo followed with a line drive out to Lee in right field, and oh yeah he has an absolute cannon as well, and fired a perfect seed to home plate to cut down the tagging runner from third. A game winning peg right there from Patrick Lee.

Lee: 1-2, 2 R, RBI, HR, BB, 2 SB

Rainer: 2-3, RBI, 2B, BB, K

Reyes: 4.2 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers will look to lock up a series victory in this rare best-of-three at home. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m. ET.