Seth Stephenson homers in Whitecap victory, Lakeland splits a wild doubleheader in Dunedin

Scores, news, and notes, from the Detroit Tigers farm system for Wednesday, July 30, 2025,

Toledo Mud Hens 4, St. Paul Saints 3 (F/8)(box )

The Mud Hens held on to win a rain shortened game on Thursday night.

Nick Margevicius got the start in this one, and he had a good outing. He scattered three hits and two walks, striking out six in five innings of one-run ball.

Margevicius gave up his lone run in the top of the first, but Jace Jung doubled in Ryan Kreidler in the bottom half to tie things up.

In the bottom of the third, Brian Serven reached on an error and Hao-Yu Lee followed with a single. Trey Sweeney pulled a single to the right side of the infield, plating Serven for a 2-1 lead. The inning ended poorly as Jace Jung lined into a double play, with Sweeney caught off first base.

Gage Workman led off the fifth with a double and later scored on a Hao-Yu Lee grounder to shortstop to make it 3-1.

Tyler Mattison took over from Margevicius in the sixth after being promoted up from Erie and promptly gave up two runs that tied the game. In the bottom half of the sixth, singles from Trei Cruz, Andrew Navigato, and Workman produced the go ahead run, and that was all they’d need. PJ Poulin cleaned up for Mattison and threw a perfect seventh inning. RJ Petit collected him first save with the Hens in the top of the eighth to end it.

Workman: 2-3, R, RBI, 2B, SB

Jung: 1-3, RBI, 2B, BB

Lee: 1-4, RBI

Margevicius: 5.0 IP, ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K

Coming Up Next: The Mud Hens look to make it three in a row on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Akron RubberDucks 7, Erie SeaWolves 3 (box )

The SeaWolves struggled to drive baserunners in again, while Kenny Serwa blew up in a four-run first inning largely due to his own fielding errors as the RubberDucks made it two in a row on Wednesday.

Max Clark led off the game with a double but was stranded. In the bottom of the first, Serwa gave up a leadoff single in the bottom of the first. Then a wild pitch and back-to-back walks. A ground out scored the first run, and then Serwa couldn’t handle a routine comebacker and compounded the mistake by rushing to try and make a play anyway and threw the ball away. When the smoke cleared it was 4-0 Akron, and then added another run in the second. That was all for Serwa in this one.

Finally in the fifth, Jake Holton got Erie’s offense started with a single, and Ben Malgeri followed with a walk. With one out, Carlos Mendoza singled to load the bases. Max Clark lifted a shallow fly out in four territory and the runners couldn’t advance. However, Kevin McGonigle smashed a double to left center field and cleared the bases, making it a 5-3 game.

Ryan Boyer and Richard Guasch each allowed a run in relief, and while the SeaWolves had at least a baserunner in every inning the rest of the way, they couldn’t make any hay.

McGonigle: 2-5, 3 RBI, 2B

Holton: 3-4, R

Clark: 2-5, 2B

Serwa (L, 4-4): 2.0 IP, 5 R, 2 ER, 3 H, 4 BB

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:35 p.m. ET start on Thursday night as the SeaWolves look to get back into this series.

West Michigan Whitecaps 6, Dayton Dragons 3 (box )

Joe Miller tossed a solid game, and the Whitecaps pounced on Dayton’s bullpen in a come from behind victory on Wednesday.

Miller gave up a run in the first and two more in the fourth, but went 5 ²⁄₃ innings with five punchouts. All around a pretty decent game.

The Whitecaps had two on twice in the first four innings, but couldn’t score. Seth Stephenson got them on the board in the fifth with a solo shot, his eighth on the year.

Things changed when Dayton went to their pen in the sixth. Izaac Pacheco walked with one out, and Peyton Graham was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game. Jack Penney pinch-ran for him, and the baserunners advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. Luke Gold struck out, but Patrick Lee singled in Pacheco. Penney was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Finally in the seventh the Whitecaps broke through. Woody Hadeen led off with a single and took second on an Archer Brookman ground out. Stephenson singled him in to tie the game at 3-3, and then Austin Murr was hit by a pitch. A single to center loaded the bases, but wasn’t deep enough to score Stephenson, who had to wait a beat to see if it would drop or not. No matter, as Penney singled in two runs. An error on a Luke Gold grounder to third scored Peck and it was 6-3.

Not terribly inspiring stuff from the offense, but their bullpen outpitched the Dragons’ bullpen as usual.

Moises Rodriguez collected four outs, and Haden Erbe and Marco Jimenez closed it out, with the latter collecting his second save of the year.

Stephenson: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, BB

Peck: 2-4, R

Hadeen: 2-4, R, K

Miller: 5.2 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: The series is tied at a game apiece heading into Thursday night’s 6:35 p.m. ET matchup.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 18, Dunedin Blue Jays 11 (Gm1)(F/8)(box )

Dunedin Blue Jays 8, Lakeland Flying Tigers 2 (Gm2)(F/7)(box )

Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader was chaos incarnate. The Flying Tigers had 23 hits and four walks. The Blue Jays had 13 hits and 11 walks as the Flying Tigers struggled to find the strike zone.

The Flying Tigers struck first in this one as Bligh Madris launched a solo shot in the top of the first. Samuel Gil singled and later scored on a Madris single in the third to make it 2-0.

In the fourth inning, the Flying Tigers seized control with four singles and home runs from Junior Tilien and Madris powering them to a five-run inning that made it 7-0. Sergio Tapia cracked his fifth homer, a solo shot, in the top of the fifth, and an 8-0 rout was in effect.

It didn’t last long. In a massive reversal, starter RJ Sales, who dominated for four innings, surrendered three runs and was replaced by Chris Williams Jr., who was a complete mess. The right-hander gave up three more runs and couldn’t collect an out. Jorger Petri wasn’t much better, giving up three more runs to collect two outs before getting replaced by Ronny Chalas.

Suddenly, it was 9-8 Blue Jays.

In the top of the seventh, the Flying Tigers fought back. Tapia led off with a double but was cut down going to third on an Abel Bastidas ground ball. Tilien doubled Bastidas to third, and Enderson Delgado singled in Bastidas to tie the game. Jackson Strong followed with a double that scored Tilien, but Delgado was thrown out at the plate. So it was 10-9 Lakeland.

A scheduled seven-inning game, that would’ve been it but Chalas couldn’t save the game, surrendering a run that sent it to extras. It could have ended there, but Stephen Hrustich made a great diving catch to save Chalas’ bacon.

At that point this game got ever crazier. The Flying Tigers scored eight runs in the top of the eighth in an inning from hell for the Blue Jays bullpen. Bastidas, Strong, and Samuel Gil all doubled in the inning. The rest were singles and walks. When it was finally over, it was 18-10.

Duque Hebbert gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth before putting that one to bed.

Madris: 4-5, 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR

Tapia: 4-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, 2B

Tilien: 2-5, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2B, HR, K

Strong: 4-6, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B

Sales: 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 7 K

RHP Wuilberth Mendez, a fairly interesting young arm who was just promoted from the FCL, made his Lakeland debut in Game 2, a makeup game for a July 3rd rain out. It didn’t go well, as he gave up a run in the first and was then drilled by a comebacker with two outs and left the game. Lefty Ethan Sloan had to rush to take over and he was shelled for seven runs over the next two innings though three were unearned.

Logan Berrier came on to get Sloan out of the third, and then tossed three more no-hit innings, striking out four to shut the Blue Jays down. His teammates weren’t able to take advantage.

The Flying Tigers got a run in the first when Samuel Gil walked with one out and moved to third on a Carson Rucker double. Cristian Santana singled in Gil for a one-run lead that as you’ve already read, did not last long.

In the fourth, Santana led off with a walk and moved to second on a two-out single by Clayton Campbell. Abel Bastidas singled in Santana, but Zach MacDonald grounded out to end the inning. The Flying Tigers never really threatened again.

Gil: 1-2, R, 2 BB

Rucker: 1-4, 2B, K, SB

Santana: 1-1, R, RBI, 2 BB

Sloan (L, 5-5): 1.2 IP, 7 R, 4 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 5:00 p.m. ET start in Dunedin on Thursday.