Max Clark homers, Erie scores 12 on 21 hits and Toledo ‘walks’ it off

Scores, news, and notes from the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Tuesday, June 24, 2025.

Toledo Mud Hens 4, Charlotte Knights 3 (box )

Six of the seven runs scored in the series opener between Toledo and Charlotte came in the final inning and a half on Tuesday night’s walk-off win for the hometown Mud Hens.

Justyn-Henry Malloy tied up what had been a 1-0 game for nearly five complete innings in the bottom of the eighth with a groundout RBI to first. Hao-Yu Lee scored the tying run and drove in the first of three runs in the ninth inning for Toledo. PJ Poulin couldn’t deliver a clean eighth, allowing a two-run homer to Andre Lipcius (old friend alert!) to put Charlotte briefly back out in front.

Lee made it 3-2 with the RBI single, and Akil Baddoo, Jace Jung and Malloy walked consecutively to tie the game and walk it off. Not the most climactic ending, but it tracks for a game that didn’t have much going on other than some quality pitching performances.

One of the main reasons runs were scarce was an excellent return to form from Troy Melton. The 2022 fourth-rounder ran his fastball up to 98.8 mph and sat in the upper-90s. He struck out the first five batters he finished the day with 10. He drew nine of his game-high 15 swing and misses on the heater, also working the slider well.

Melton only had one troublesome inning, a one-run third that started with a leadoff walk. Still, Melton finished the inning with a K, outlasted a rain delay and got back to work. After 5.1 strong innings, Melton gave way to Bailey Horn and the bullpen. Horn pitched through the sixth, and Alex Lange put together a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts. The former Tigers’ closer sat 96-97 mph with his fourseamer and sinker, and collected seven whiffs on 10 knuckle curves thrown.

Lee: 2-4, 2 R, BB

Kreidler: 2-4, 2B (13), K

Melton: 5.1 IP, 6 H, R, ER, BB, 10 K; 82 pitches (58 strikes)

Coming Up Next: The Mud Hens don’t have a probable starter listed for Wednesday’s 12:05 p.m. matchup.

Erie SeaWolves 12, Somerset Patriots 5 (box )

Erie put up four runs in two different innings en route to a relatively easy 12-5 victory over Somerset Tuesday.

Max Anderson, Jake Holton and Chris Meyers had four-hit days, while Justice Bigbie and Eduardo Valencia had three apiece. Holton led the way with nine total bases — two doubles and a three-run homer — and Anderson and Meyers also had a pair of two-baggers. Trei Cruz reached base four times, walking three times and scoring three runs. Erie finished the day with 21 hits, five walks and just six strikeouts.

Holton opened the scoring with an RBI double to the right-field corner in the first. He kicked off a five-hit rally in the third with another double to the same spot.

Meyers doubled in two more, and Bigbie brought him around to make it 5-0. Anderson got the four-run sixth inning started. He tried to join the longball party but came up inches short of the yellow line at the top of the wall. Anderson settled for an RBI double instead, doubling in Cruz, and Holton smashed a three-run bomb later in the inning.

Carlos Pena cruised for the first inning on the mound for Erie. A leadoff triple in the fifth led to the first Somerset run of the day, but he retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced before that. Bringing him back for the sixth was too much, though. Cole Gabrielson took him deep on the second pitch he saw, and Somerset struck for four total runs in the inning.

Tim Naughton had to take over to get the final two outs of the sixth, both swinging strikeouts. Valencia tacked on another run in the seventh. Naughton worked around a single and a walk in the bottom half of the frame. Troy Watson threw a clean eighth. Cruz doubled in run No. 11, Holton singled in No. 12 and Andrew Magno closed it out 1-2-3.

A good day for the pitching staff all around, even though Pena’s final line looks a lot uglier than it should.

Anderson: 4-6, 2 2B (23), 2 R, RBI

Bigbie: 3-5, RBI, K

Cruz: 1-3, 2B (20), 3 R, RBI, 3 BB, K

Holton: 4-6, 2 2B (16), HR (13), 6 RBI, K

Meyers: 4-6, 2 2B (15), R, 2 RBI

Pena (W, 4-4): 5.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 6 K; 81 pitches (60 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Garrett Burhenn is the scheduled starter for Erie’s 6:35 p.m. Wednesday game.

West Michigan 3, Lake County Captains 2 (box )

Max Clark and John Peck led the West Michigan Whitecaps to a 3-2 win over the Lake County Captains Tuesday.

Peck homered in the first at-bat of the game and singled in Austin Murr, who reached on a leadoff single to open the fifth. Clark homered to open the sixth, and that was most of West Michigan’s offense for the day. Luke Gold singled twice and Clark doubled in the eighth to account for all of West Michigan’s seven hits.

Without a ton of offense to work with, West Michigan’s pitching staff had to put in some work to secure the win. Max Alba came an out short of qualifying for the win but was effective through 4.2 innings. He allowed a run on four hits and two walks while striking out three.

Micah Ashman earned the win after facing the minimum of four batters through 1.1 innings. Marco Jimenez went 1-2-3 in the seventh, and Preston Howey did the same in the eighth before working around a solo homer and single in the ninth to close it out.

Clark: 2-4, 2B (10), HR (6), R, RBI, K

McGonigle: 0-3, BB, 2 K

Peck: 2-5, HR (7), R, 2 RBI, K

Alba: 4.2 IP, 4 H, R, ER, 2 BB, 3 K; 66 pitches (42 strikes)

Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps have an early start on Wednesday at 11:05 a.m. with Andrew Sears set to ptich.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 3, Clearwater Threshers 0 (box )

The Lakeland Flying Tigers only went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over the Clearwater Threshers.

Stephen Hrustich was the offensive catalyst with two of three Lakeland extra-base hits. He doubled and scored on a Carson Rucker double in the sixth and hit a solo home run in the eighth. The Flying Tigers’ other run came in the third on a sacrifice fly from Garrett Pennington.

Everyone but Pennington and Cristian Santana hit safely for Lakeland. Franyerber Montilla went 2-for-3 with a walk, and Rucker had a multi-hit day as well. But it was the pitching that shined brightest for the Flygers on Tuesday.

Zach Lee earned his third win of the year with a quality start — six innings, two hits and no runs. Three strikeouts are a bit low, but Lee wasn’t wasting pitches. He left the game under 65; building him up to go longer in games is key.

Dariel Fregio, a 25-year-old former Frontier League arm, faced the minimum in the seventh thanks to an inning-ending double play. Fregio has a slider that pushes 3,000 rpm and his changeup is junky too. He’s cruising through the levels, as a 25-year-old should. Getting him to High-A by the end of the year feels plenty realistic.

Moises Rodriguez topped the Single-A daily leaderboards with three pitches at 100.0 mph or above and a few more round up to triple digits. The Dominican flamethrower always seems to allow a baserunner to reach but they rarely score. Some more swing and miss is still needed for a power arm that fits at the back end of any bullpen. More consistent breaking stuff would be the prescription.

Ronny Chalas earned the save but not without some drama. Two walks to open the ninth put the tying run at the plate with no outs, but Chalas retired the next three batters in order.

Montilla: 2-3, BB, K

Strong: 1-4, K

Pennington: 0-3, RBI, K

Hrustich: 3-4, 2B (4), HR (3), 2 R, RBI

Lee (W, 3-3): 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 3 K; 64 pitches (44 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Lakeland looks to take a 2-0 series lead at 6 p.m. on Wednesday with no probable starter listed.