Keider Montero dominates, Matt Manning saves in Mud Hens victory

Scores, news, and notes, from around the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Thursday, April 10, 2025

Toledo Mud Hens 1, Iowa Cubs 0 (box )

Keider Montero locked in and produced his best start of the year for the Toledo Mud Hens on Thursday. We also saw Matt Manning come out of the bullpen for the first time. That went well. On the downside, the offense didn’t have a much better night at the plate than the Cubs did, but it was enough.

Montero was perfect through 5 ²⁄₃ innings of work. It was a chilly night, and Montero came out attacking with his fastball and didn’t let off the gas pedal. He mixed in his slider, curve, and changeup more and more as he went along, and retired 17 straight on just 56 pitches. It was a bit reminiscent of his complete game shutout over the Colorado Rockies last September. He was punching out some quality hitters for this level, including a rehabbing Vidal Brujan along with prospects Moises Ballesteros and Kevin Alcantara. Presumably, the weather and a pre-game plan to use Matt Manning in relief made for the short outing as Gabe Alvarez pulled him after just 56 pitches.

As for Manning, his velocity was a steady 95 mph over two innings of work. He continues to mix in the new cutter at 88-89 mph and drew some whiffs on his sweeper. His command was still shaky enough to walk two in his two scoreless innings of work.

Cubs’ pitching prospect Cade Horton didn’t have a bad night either. He was a little wild, issuing a pair of leadoff walks in the second inning, for example, but got out of that by punching out Jace Jung and Andrew Navigato and getting a fly out from Ben Gamel. At least the Hens had some baserunners throughout Horton’s four inning outing. They just couldn’t cash anyone in until Jung led off the fourth with a single and took second on a wild pitch. A Bligh Madris single plated him to give Toledo a 1-0 lead which they’d cling to all game long.

Manning handled the final three innings entering the ninth trying to close out a 1-0 lead for the save. That got tougher when Bruján led off with a single and stole second base. Manning popped up Ballesteros, but a wild pitch then allowed Bruján to take third. Jonathan Long got ahead of Manning 2-0, but the right-hander dropped in a sweeper and then blew a 95 mph fastball past him.

A few sweepers were fouled off and then Manning got a break on a high sweeper that was called a third strike. The Cubs challenged it and it was overturned, and so Manning sneakily came right back with another high sweeper and drew a whiff for strike three.

That left things up to Ben Cowles. Manning was dialing up 96-97 mph to his final batter and Cowles couldn’t square him up. A final sweeper got a pop-out, and earned Manning the first save of his career.

Manning’s sweeper is a pretty solid pitch. The split he’s worked on for a while still hasn’t really become a weapon for him yet. I’m more excited about Manning finally embracing the cutter. More crucially, in short outings he can go 95-97 mph with plus extension and just max out his stuff. He’s always thrown strikes. Let’s hope Manning liked that late game pressure situation, as this is the role he needs to embrace. The Tigers may prefer to keep him stretched out until they’re further into the season because of the prevalence of pitcher injuries this time of year, but perhaps we got a glimpse of Manning’s future tonight.

More importantly, the 24-year-old Keider Montero had some strut tonight and looked like a guy pitching like he believes he should be in the major leagues. He lost out on an Opening Day rotation slot, moved back to Toledo after the excitement of being a solid contributor to the playoff push last year, and has absolutely shoved in his first two outings. Montero has allowed two earned runs in 9 ²⁄₃ innings with 11 strikeouts to just one walk, and just six hits. That’s how you send a message. Keep pitching well and you eventually can’t be denied.

Madris: 2-3, RBI, BB, K, CS

Jones: 1-2, 2 BB, K

Manning: 3.0 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 3 K, SV

Montero (W, 1-1): 5.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 6 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:05 p.m. ET start on Friday night as the series continues.

Chesapeake Baysox 3, Erie SeaWolves 2 (box )

The Baysox took a 2-1 series lead on Thursday, holding off a late push from the SeaWolves. Troy Melton made his second start and was again excellent. He fired four innings of one-hit ball, allowing two walks while striking out five. As with Montero, the bitterly cold weather had the Tigers cutting these starts short despite dominant performances from both.

The SeaWolves’ offense wasn’t doing any better against the Baysox Alex Pham. Finally in the fourth, Max Anderson led off with a double and with two outs, Roberto Campos paddled a single back up the middle for a 1-0 lead.

Right-hander Austin Bergner took over in the fifth for Erie, and in the sixth he walked the leadoff hitter before allowing a single to the next hitter, Creed Willems. Bergner popped up the next hitter and then struck out Frederick Bencosme, but before he could escape the jam, Tavian Josenberger took him deep to right field for a three-run shot that would be the difference in this one. 3-1 Baysox.

Baysox pitchers walked five on the night, but overall it was a cold, tough night out for the hitters with nine total knocks in the game.

In the eighth, the SeaWolves made a push when Eduardo Valencia led off with a single. With one out, Trei Cruz singled him over to third and Carlos Mendoza lifted a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-2 game, but that’s as far as the SeaWolves comeback attempt would get.

Anderson: 1-4, R, 2B

Campos: 1-4, RBI, 2 K

Melton: 4.0 IIP, 0 R, H, 2 BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves will look to even the series on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. ET.

West Michigan Whitecaps 11, Lake County Captains 2 (F/5)(box )

While it’s unseasonably cold in the Midwest, Josue Briceño and the Whitecaps offense remained hot on Thursday. They pounded out 11 hits and drew four walks to bury the Captains before inclement weather and a lop-sided score saw this one made official after five innings.

The ‘Caps opened the scoring in the second inning as the Captains’ starter, left-hander Matt Wilkinson, walked Andrew Jenkins and Izaac Pacheco to begin the top half. Peyton Graham flew out, getting Jenkins to third after tagging. Brett Callahan followed with a two-run single. Archer Brookman singled Callahan to second, where he later scored on a Jack Penney single. 3-0 Whitecaps.

Joe Miller was a little wild in this one and coughed up single runs in the second and third without the Captains doing a whole lot at the plate. So it was 3-2 Whitecaps when Wilkinson departed after three innings and right-hander Robert Wegielnik took over.

Callahan and Brookman greeted him with singles to start the fourth, and Seth Stephenson drew a walk to load the bases. Wegielnik got a little tapper off the bat of Penney and threw it away as two runs scored. Penney added insult to injury by promptly swiping second base. Josue Briceño drilled a grounder through the left side of the infield for an RBI single, picking up where he left off on Wednesday. They would score one more as Penney came home on a Pacheco ground out and it was 7-2 ‘Caps.

In the fifth, Stephenson singled with two outs, and with no one ahead of him was free to run wild. He stole second with no trouble, and Penney doubled him in. The Captains went to their pen, but Briceño greeted Josh Harlow with another RBI single. A Cole Turney double moved Briceño to third, and an error on an Andrew Jenkins ground ball scored both runners to make it 11-2, where it ended.

Carlos Lequerica handled the final four outs for West Michigan and snatched the win in the process.

Penney: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, K

Briceño: 2-4, R, 2 RBI

Callahan: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI

Miller: 3.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start in West Michigan on Friday night.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, St. Lucie Mets 6 (box )

Owen Hall’s pro debut did not go well, but the Flying Tigers stormed back with a five-run eighth inning to win on Thursday and take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Hall, the Detroit Tigers second rounder last summer, just didn’t have much command early on. He’s 19 years old in his first pro game, so that tracks, but by the time he settled down he was already at 33 pitches in the inning and the Tigers pulled the plug on the outing.

Veteran prospect Drew Gilbert started the game with a double and then Hall walked Colin Houck and allowed a Marco Vargas single that loaded the bases. A run scored on a ground out and two more on a Daiverson Gutierrez single. When Hall walked the next hitter and uncorked a wild pitch, Duque Hebbert came on to take over the game.

Welcome to pro ball!

Hebbert settled things down a bit, but then allowed a Gilbert solo shot in the top of the second. 4-0 Mets.

In the bottom of the second the Flying Tigers got on the board as Garrett Pennington led off with a single. He would eventually get to third on a single and a ground out before Jackson Strong stung a line drive into center field to score him. They pushed across another run in the third to make it 4-2 Mets.

This was not a good night for Hebbert as he gave those runs right back in a two-run fourth inning for St. Lucie. The game stayed 6-2 Mets until the eighth inning.

The Mets turned to hard throwing Wilson Lopez in the top of the eighth. He was up near 100 mph with his fourseamer. Franyerber Montilla did not homer in this one, but he did leadoff the eighth with a walk to get Lakeland started. Nomar Fana singled and Pennington doubled in Montilla. Cristian Santana then smashed a double to the wall in center field, scoring both runners.

The big blow was the next one. Catching prospect Ricardo Hurtado stepped to the dish and drove a 99 mph fourseamer at the top of the zone out to right field for a two-run homer, and it was 7-6 Lakeland. That was an impressive opposite field piece of hitting from the 21-year-old Venezuelan born backstop.

Right-hander Jorger Petri racked up three quick outs to grab the win and put this one to bed for Lakeland.

Hurtado: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, K

Santana: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, K

Hebbert: 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start time on Friday night as the Flying Tigers look to extend their 2-1 lead in the series heading into the weekend.

Little note on Montilla’s contact to start the year.