Sawyer Gipson-Long rehabs in Lakeland; Trei Cruz walks off Altoona again for the SeaWolves

Scores, news, and notes from around the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Thursday, May 8, 2025.

Iowa Cubs 12, Toledo Mud Hens 0 (box )

While the Detroit Tigers partied in Denver, the fallout from adding Keider Montero as the 27th man for the doubleheader landed on the Mud Hens. Matt Vierling had the night off, while the Cubs had a field day at the Hens’ expense.

The Tigers moved RHP Colin Fields up from High-A West Michigan to help reinforce the pitching staff as they went with a bullpen game, but it did no good.

PJ Poulin continued his nice start the season as the lefty tossed a pair of scoreless frames to start things off. Fields took over in the third and surrendered a run, and then was rocked for six more runs, five earned in the fourth. Brendan White came on to put out the fire and gave up a run of his own before calming things down with a scoreless fifth.

The Hens go a leadoff single against old friend Michael Fulmer in the second, and Fulmer then walked Ryan Kreidler. They couldn’t do anything with the scoring threat. Carlos Mendoza led off the bottom of the third with a double, but Hao-Yu Lee struck out, and then Mendoza was cut down trying to tag and take third on an Akil Baddoo fly out. Other than drawing some walks, the Hens never really got anything going beyond that.

Tyler Owens gave up four runs, three earned in the sixth, and that was all for this one.

Lee: 1-3, BB, 2 K

Madris: 1-3, BB, K

Fields (L, 0-1): 1.2 IP, 7 R, 6 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, K

Coming Up Next: The Hens lead the series 2-1 heading into Friday night’s 7:05 p.m ET contest.

Erie SeaWolves 4, Altoona Curve 3 (box )

The SeaWolves banged out six doubles to win their third straight over Altoona on Thursday night.

Garrett Burhenn got the start, and while he wasn’t at his best, he held the Curve to two runs over five innings of work.

Down 2-0 in the bottom of the third, the SeaWolves offense got to work. Danny Serretti led off with a single and a red-hot Trei Cruz doubled him to third. Serretti scored on a Max Anderson sacrifice fly, and Jake Holton doubled in Cruz to tie the game.

The SeaWolves missed an opportunity in the bottom of the sixth when Roberto Campos led off with a walk and Jim Jarvis singled him to second. Unfortunately, Ben Malgeri and Serretti struck out, while Brady Allen flew out to squander the chance.

That looked ill in the seventh, as Troy Watson surrendered a go-ahead run to the Curve to make it a 3-2 lead.

In the eighth, back-to-back doubles from Jarvis and Malgeri tied the game. RHP Yosber Sanchez kept the Curve off the board despite allowing a single and a walk in the top of the ninth. In the bottom half, Serretti doubled to lead off the inning, and Trei Cruz walked it off with a line drive single to right field. That’s two straight walkoff wins for the SeaWolves, who move to 20-10 on the year.

Cruz: 3-5, R, RBI, 2B

Holton: 2-4, RBI, 2 2B, K

Jarvis: 2-3, R, 2B, BB

Burhenn: 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: On fireworks night at UPMC Park, the SeaWolves will look to add some of their own as they hunt a fourth straight victory at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Lansing Lugnuts 4, West Michigan Whitecaps 2 (box )

Rayner Castillo had a good outing going and the lead in this one until the third time through the order penalty bit him in the end. The Caps’ offense went very quiet and couldn’t take advantage of more good work from the bullpen on Thursday.

Castillo allowed a run in the first on a double, single, ground out combination. He settled down and cruised through the next three frames without much trouble.

In the second inning, the Whitecaps captured the lead. Andrew Jenkins led off with a single and Brett Callahan and Luke Gold drew walks with a Peyton Graham pop-out sandwiched between them. With the bases juiced, Bennett Lee singled to left to score Jenkins. Callahan scored on an Abel Bastidas ground out, and it was 2-1 Whitecaps.

However, in the top of the fifth, Sahid Valenzuela, the nine hitter for the Lugnuts, led off with a single. A double and a single followed, tying the game, and then a John Peck error allowed another run. Castillo got a double play ball, but one more single made it 4-2 before Haden Erbe took over to get the final out of the inning.

The ‘Caps threatened in the sixth as Jenkins doubled and Callahan singled with two outs, but Graham flew out to end the inning. They got a pair of singles in the eighth, but again couldn’t score the run. Meanwhile, Erbe, Joe Adametz, and CJ Weins shut the Lugnuts offense down emphatically the rest of the game.

Luke Gold led off the bottom of the ninth with a double, but three straight outs followed to end it.

Jenkins: 3-4, R, 2B

Castillo (L, 0-2): 4.2 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 7 H, BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: The Lugnuts have a 2-1 series lead heading into a 6:35 p.m. ET matchup on Friday night at LMCU Ballpark.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 5, Bradenton Marauders 1 (box )

Sawyer Gipson-Long made his long awaited to return to action on Thursday, tossing 1 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings in his first appearance since the end of the 2023 season. He allowed three hits and struck out two. The right-hander’s huge extension appears intact, his fastball averaged 93 mph, and he mixed in some quality cutters and changeups. This is just the beginning of a lengthy process of building up his arm again post-TJ, but everything appears on track.

In the top of the second inning, the offense got busy. Nomar Fana and Carson Rucker were walked to start the inning. Garrett Pennington and Samuel Gil followed with singles to make it 1-0, and then Patrick Lee went the opposite way with a double in to the right field corner to make it 3-0. David Smith grounded out, but Woody Hadeen drew a walk and then Bryce Rainer lifted a fly out to left field, allowing Gil to tag and score from third.

Ethan Sloan took over from Gipson-Long and tossed 2 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings. Luke Stofel took over in the fifth, and he cruised until the eighth inning, where he leaked a run.

The Flying Tigers added a run in the fourth as Patrick Lee walked, stole second, and eventually scored on a Hadeen single to make it 5-0.

The Marauders plated one in the eighth on a Konnor Griffin single and a Crason Rucker error that got him to second base. Braylon Bishop singled in Griffin, but Stofel was able to shut down the Marauders rally before it really got going. 5-1 Lakeland.

At that point the game was all in Stofel’s hands. He got the first two outs in the ninth, ran out of gas, issuing a pair of walks with a wild pitch in the mix. That drew a mound visit, and then Stofel put this one to bed with a nasty slider for a strikeout.

Lee: 1-3, R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, K, SB

Hadeen: 1-3, RBI, 2 BB

Gipson-Long: 1.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Stofel: 5.0 IP, R, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers will take a 2-1 lead into Friday’s night 6:30 p.m. ET matchup in Bradenton.

FCL Blue Jays 9, FCL Tigers 7 (F/10)(box )

Enrique Jimenez: 2-5, R, 3 RBI, HR, K

Juan Hernandez: 2-4, R, K

Jesus Pinto: 1-5, RBI

Jatnk Diaz: 3.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 6 K

Johnathan Rogers: 2.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 3 K