Thayron Liranzo debuts with a strong day at the plate in Whitecaps victory

Scores, news, and notes, from around the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Thursday, August 1, 2024.

Indianapolis Indians 7, Toledo Mud Hens 3 (box )

Spencer Torkelson homered again in this one, but it wasn’t enough as a close game was blown open in the eighth by Indy.

Like the Tigers, the Hens pitching staff is shot, so it was another bullpen game for them as well. Hard to win like this.

Andrew Vasquez started them off with three scoreless innings, and the Hens struck first in the third. Stephen Scott led off with a solo shot, and with one out, Riley Unroe drew a walk. Torkelson singled him to second, and an error on a Jace Jung ground ball scored Unroe to make it 2-0 Toledo.

Jack Anderson took over from Vasquez and allowed two unearned runs in the fourth aided by a catcher’s interference call on Anthony Bemboom, and them a Drew Maggi error at shortstop. Trey Sweeney didn’t play in this one, and will presumably make his Mud Hens debut tomorrow.

In the fifth, Torkelson got a hanging breaking ball and launched it 441 feet to left center field for a one run Mud Hens lead. And that’s where things stayed for a few innings. Unfortunately, 26-year-old lefty Gabriel Sequeira, called up all the way from A-ball, was rocked for five runs in the bottom of the eighth, and the Hens couldn’t answer back.

Torkelson: 2-4, R, RBI, HR

Scott: 2-4, R, RBI, HR

Portland Sea Dogs 6, Erie SeaWolves 5 (F/10)(box )

Kudos to the Portland Sea Dogs, who finally broke the Jackson Jobe spell on Eastern League hitters. They got to the right-hander for three runs as Jobe struggled with his command a bit. The SeaWolves rallied back to force extra innings, but then lost in ten.

With one out in the first, Trei Cruz couldn’t wrangle a little pop up that dropped for a single. The runner stole second and then a passed ball on Eliezer Alfonzo got him to third. A fly out to right field followed, but Alex Binelas singled in the run and then stole second base as well. A flair into left field dropped, and the Sea Dogs led 2-0.

The SeaWolves fought right back in the top of the second as Brady Allen and new addition Liam Hicks both got hit by pitches. Austin Murr singled in Allen, and Carlos Mendoza singled in Hicks. Trei Cruz reached on an infield hit and Murr scored as well to make it 3-2 SeaWolves.

Jobe issued a walk in both the second and third on some eye-roll worthy calls by the home plate umpire, but he really didn’t command his fastball well at all in this one. In the fourth, Jobe allowed a leadoff double, got the next two hitters, but then issued another walk and then balked home the runner on third, tying the game. That would be Jobe’s final inning of the day as he reached 91 pitches in closing it out. It was good to see him struggle even if most of the walks were bogus. Obviously we’re rooting for him, but watching him just mow through everyone this season has gotten old and doesn’t do much to teach him the mental side of the art of pitching.

Portland scored on Tim Naughton to take a 4-3 lead, but in the top of the ninth, Austin Murr lifted a solo shot out to right field to tie the game. In the tenth, Alfonzo singled in the runner on second, but that’s all they got. An error on first baseman Jake Holton helped the Sea Dogs to the tying run, and another pair of singles walked it off against reliever Matt Seelinger.

Cruz: 3-5, RBI, SB

Murr: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, BB

Jobe: 4.0 IP, 3 ER, 5, 4 BB, 3 K

West Michigan Whitecaps 5, Fort Wayne TinCaps 4 (box )

The Whitecaps took a while to get going at the plate, but they came from behind in this one and held off the TinCaps late to win again and remain undefeated in the Clark/McGonigle era.

Colin Fields put together a good outing in this one. He allowed a pair of runs in the second inning, but otherwise had the TinCaps badly off balance as he struck out five to one walk issued over five innings of work.

The dynamic duo expanded to a trio in this one as Thayron Liranzo made his Tigers debut behind the plate, though McGonigle got the day off. Liranzo drew a walk to lead off the second, hitting in the cleanup spot as you’d expect from the powerful 21-year-old. He also walked to lead off the fifth inning. We did see him whiff on a yanked breaking ball that he reached backhand for instead of getting his body over to block it, but his hands were solid behind the plate. He needs plenty of work to refine his game back there, but this is an area where I have a lot of confidence in the Tigers ability to coach a player up.

Finally in the sixth, the Whitecaps broke through. Clark singled, and after Max Anderson struck out, Roberto Campos followed with a single. Liranzo smoked a line drive at 107 mph into the right field corner to score Clark. A wild pitch scored Campos and got Liranzo to third, and Luke Gold lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2 Whitecaps.

Cleiverth Perez came on for Fields in the sixth and allowed a run that tied the game. The ‘Caps had the answer in the top of the eighth.

Clark led off again, this time getting hit by a pitch, and Max Anderson, who has finally heated up a little lately, launched a drive to center field for a two-run shot. 5-3 Whitecaps.

Max Alba allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth on a solo shot, but held on for the save.

Liranzo: 1-2, R, RBI, 2B, 2 BB, K

Clark: 2-3, 2 R

Anderson: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, HR, K

Fields: 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, BB, 5 K

Lakeland Flying Tigers vs. Tampa Tarpons (postponed)

They were rained out for the second time in this series on Thursday. They got a doubleheader in on Wednesday, and they’ll try to do it again on Friday to get the series completed.