Flying Tigers and Mud Hens walk it off, Whitecaps score 10

Scores, news, and notes from the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Tuesday, April 22, 2025.

Toledo Mud Hens 9, Omaha Storm Chasers 8 (box )

A run scored in every half inning from the bottom of the ninth to the bottom of the 13th to finish the series opener between the Toledo Mud Hens and Omaha Storm Chasers. To make things even more interesting, Toledo had position player Riley Unroe on the mound for the final three innings of a planned bullpen day that went four extra frames.

Unroe reached back for 82 mph at times and mixed in an eephus that got hammered right into gloves. There are pace issues with Unroe. Baserunners move around the bags at will on him, and he plays with an exaggerated windup too often for anyone’s liking. Still, Unroe is a rising pitching prospect in the organization after this breakout performance. Never give up on your dreams, kids!

Jokes aside, Unroe did as well as Gabe Alvarez could have asked for, given the situation. He only gave up two hits over three innings and all three runs that scored against him are unearned — the runner that starts at second in extras doesn’t count. The Storm Chasers were aggressive, partly because they needed that first run to score at all costs, but a little more patience against a questionable arm might have worked out better.

Every time Omaha took the lead in extras, Toledo answered. Brian Serven tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a liner up the middle to get it all started. Joey Wiemer put Omaha back ahead in the top of the 10th with a double off Matt Gage, and Ryan Kreidler drove in Unroe to tie it in the bottom of the inning.

Dustin Dickerson singled in one for Omaha in the 11th, and Serven answered with an RBI single. To the 12th! Luke Maile singles through the middle, and Akil Baddoo scores on a botched routine grounder to third base. The 13th. Dickerson with another go-ahead RBI sac fly, and Omaha walks in the tying and winning runs to end the most ridiculous minor league game of the year so far?

Oh, yeah. Who was the walked batter to end the game? None other than Unroe.

The rest of the game will be lost when Unroe tells the story, but the first nine innings of ball weren’t half bad either. Toledo used seven different arms without a true starter available. PJ Poulin had a rough open. The first four batters he faced reached — hit by pitch, walk, single, walk — but that’s the only run the Mud Hens allowed until the sixth.

Jordan Balazovic went three strong and retired the final seven batters he faced. He recorded four strikeouts, two on the heater, one on the curve (vs LHH) and one on a changeup (vs RHH). Signed over the winter to a minor league contract, Balazovic has been one of the surprisingly strong arms in Toledo’s bullpen this year — 13.1 IP, 0.68 ERA, 10 H, 1 ER, 0 HR, 2 BB, 9 K. It would be cool to see Balazovic, a former fifth-rounder who is in Year 10 of his professional career, make his major league debut at some point this year, and it’ll be hard to deny him the opportunity if he stays this good.

Toledo’s offense also picked things up behind Balazovic. Baddoo singled in the tying run at the start of a two-out rally in the fourth, and Unroe drove in two more runs to take the lead, 3-1.

Ricky Vanaso got the fifth and went 1-2-3. Vanasco returned to face the first two batters in the sixth before giving way to Tyler Owens, who promptly gave up a double and a run on a groundout. Owens struggled some more in the seventh. A leadoff singled served as an omen for the go-ahead, two-run homer he’d give up to Nick Loftin later in the inning.

Ryan Miller had his own troubles in the eighth, giving up a leadoff double and two-out walk, but a pair of strikeouts, one on an ABS challenge gone right and the other a foul tip, got him out of it. Thankfully, Andrew Chafin looked solid in a 1-2-3 ninth. Chafin drew three whiffs on as many swings with his slider and added another on the only fastball he threw.

Offensively, the bottom of the order had something to write home about, namely Andrew Navigato in the No. 8 spot with three hits and no strikeouts. Serven in the nine-hole also had a nice day with a pair of RBIs on two hits.

Baddoo: 1-5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K

Navigato: 3-6, 2B (3), 3 R, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K

Serven: 2-6, 1 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

Balazovic: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K; 54 pitches (34 strikes)

Unroe (W, 1-1): 1-6, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K; 3.0 IP, W, 2 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; 32 pitches (19 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Dietrich Enns gets the start on Wednesday in Game 2 of the series at 6:35 p.m. ET.

Erie SeaWolves 6, Harrisburg Senators 2 (box )

Joseph Montalvo earned his first Double-A win with five shutout innings against Harrisburg. A week ago, Montalvo couldn’t get through the first and gave up six runs. On Tuesday, he made it through Harrisburg’s lineup twice and saw just four baserunners. Slider location helped Montalvo out a lot, and he put together a good night without having his best stuff. Consistent outings like this against Double-A lineups will prove if Montalvo is legit.

Six of Erie’s 10 hits came with runners in scoring position, including Max Anderson’s two-run homer that got them on the board in the third. Anderson and Thayron Liranzo were the only one to see Harrisburg’s starter well, but the heart of the order was ready to jump on the bullpen.

Trei Cruz led off the sixth with a single, and Andersen reached on a fielder’s choice to second that turned into an error. Justice Bigbie brought in Cruz, Jake Holton doubled in Anderson and Chris Meyers cleared the bases with a two-run base knock. Erie went up 6-0 as soon as Montalvo came out of the game, locking him in for the win if the bullpen could hold up.

Dylan Smith continued his lights-out Double-A debut with two shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 0.90 over 10 total innings. Andrew Magno had trouble in the eighth, walking the leadoff man and seeing him score on an RBI triple a batter later. Magno traded a second run for the first out of the inning and got out of the inning without any more damage.

Drew Sommers closed it out with a double play and a strikeout in the ninth. All three of Erie’s relievers leave the game with a sub-2.90 ERA and look like a strong 1-2-3 in relief of any starting arm that can deliver five quality innings.

Anderson: 2-5, HR (3), 2 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K

Liranzo: 2-5, 2B (2), 0 BB, 1 K

Montalvo: (W, 1-0); 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K; 73 pitches (42 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Troy Melton gets the ball at noon ET on Wednesday against Harrisburg.

West Michigan Whitecaps 10, Dayton Dragons 0 (box )

Max Clark hitting a double to open the game up set the tone for the day as West Michigan piled on in Game 1 against Dayton. Clark didn’t score in the first, but the Whitecaps found runs in the second and third innings after that.

Peyton Graham doubled in Jack Penney to start the scoring. Luke Gold crossed home on a Seth Stephenson fielder’s choice and Josue Briceno drove in his first two runs of the day with a double to right.

The Whitecaps picked up where they left off in the second inning with two more runs in the third. Brett Callahan smashed his fourth home run of the year, and Andrew Jenkins and Gold both doubled to make it 6-0.

While West Michigan’s bats built up the lead, Joe Miller was cruising through Dayton’s batting order. He let up a single in each of the first two innings but settled in to retire the final 10 batters he faced, mostly on contact.

The Whitecaps gave Miller one more run before turning things over the bullpen. John Peck drove in Seth Stephenson, who doubled earlier in the sixth. It was a good hitting night all around. Everyone but Penney hit safely, and six players had multi-hit nights. Briceno gets the MVP for the garbage time three-run homer in the eighth that made it a nice round 10-0 final score.

Micah Ashman (1.04 ERA) struck out two in the sixth, Preston Howey (1.13 ERA) went 1-2-3 in the seventh and Joe Adametz gave West Michigan two hitless frames to keep the shutout intact. Adametz had a couple of bad outings to start his season, but he’s allowed just one earned run over the last 4.1 innings and should have some confidence after this one.

Clark: 1-2, 2B (4), 1 R, 2 BB, 0 K

Briceno: 2-5, 2B (3), HR (4), 1 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K

Miller: W, 1-0; 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; 57 pitches (42 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Resident knuckleballer Kenny Serwa looks for another strong start and to keep his 0.00 ERA intact tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 2, Bradenton Marauders 1 (box )

Single-A is not the MiLB level that’s supposed to deliver low-scoring pitching duels, but the Flying Tigers and Bradenton Marauders played a good old-fashioned, 2-1, baseball game.

RJ Sales put together a career day with five shutout innings. He faced the minimum the first time through the order, with Ricardo Hurtado erasing a leadoff single in the third by catching the runner stealing. Base hits and walks came a bit more frequently the second time through, but Sales found double plays where he needed them and got some help from his catcher again in the fifth.

It’s only been three starts for Sales, but he could be West Michigan-bound at some point this year. He needs to develop an off-speed pitch to stay a starter while moving up the system, but he’s a fairly polished fastball-cutter(slider) guy that looks like a college arm playing in Single-A.

The only problem was that Bradenton’s starter, Clevari Tejada, was having as much success against Lakeland’s lineup. Woody Hadeen singled off Tejada to lead off the bottom of the first, and the next 10 batters recorded outs. A two-out triple from Franyerber Montilla broke that streak, and Hurtado drove in a crucial two-out run in the next at-bat.

Duque Hebbert took over for Sales on the mound in the sixth and got an easy pair of strikeouts. Bringing him back for the seventh might have been a mistake, though. A leadoff double, balk and wild pitch tied the game up, blowing Sales’ first win.

Yosber Sanchez came in for the eighth, hurling fireballs by Marauders. Sanchez topped 99.1 mph and was north of 98 a handful of times. Interestingly, he didn’t draw a ton of swing and miss on his fastball, but five called strikes on 19 fastballs means he’s just freezing guys with the heat.

Sanchez picked up the win, his first, when Hurtado drove in Montilla to walk it off in the ninth.

Rainer: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K

Montilla: 1-3, 3B (1), 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Rucker: 0-3, 0 BB, 1 K

Hurtado: 2-4, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

Sales: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; 53 pitches (37 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Bradenton and Lakeland are back at it Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET. The Flying Tigers do not have a scheduled starter.