Toledo scores five in ninth, Erie mounts major comeback and Max Clark delivers walk-off

Scores, news, and notes from the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Tuesday, April 15, 2025.

Toledo Mud Hens 11, Indianapolis Indians 6 (box )

A five-run ninth inning powered the Mud Hens over the Indians in Game 1 of the week-long series.

Both Indianapolis and Toledo scored in the first inning, with the Detroit Tigers affiliate taking an early two-run lead on RBIs from Ben Gamel (groundout) and Jahmai Jones (single). Jared Triolo took Matt Manning deep in the bottom of the inning to keep things close.

Both teams struck again in the third, with Jones coming up with an RBI single. The Pittsburgh affiliate tied things up on a Matt Gorski sac fly and Liover Peguero RBI single.

Manning lasted through the fourth, but it wasn’t his best day, aside from a 1-2-3 last frame. His fastball got hit hard, once for the homer and again in the second for a triple, and the four walks are also an unwelcomed return to the norm for him as a starter. He looked much better out of the bullpen last week, and it’s probably worth pursuing a relief role at this point. He isn’t cutting it as a starter in Triple-A, which means he won’t do much better in MLB. Fortunately, Pittsburgh’s No. 6 prospect, Braxton Ashcraft, wasn’t much better.

Toledo took a three-run lead in the top of the sixth on a Hao-Yu Lee homer. He crushed a changeup below the zone 431 feet (108.8 mph exit velocity) to dead center. Ryan Miller gave those runs right back in the bottom of the inning, though, tying things back up at six. Miller still drew seven swings and misses, the most of any Toledo arm on the night.

Tyler Owens gave up a leadoff single and one-out walk in the seventh but finished the inning without allowing a run. Andrew Chafin also gave up a single in the eighth but got a couple of strikeouts on some sliders in the dirt. No walks or runs is a good sign for Chafin, and his ERA is nearly back below 4.00 now.

The ninth-inning explosion started with Lee (his fourth hit of the day) and Jones singling around a David Hensley walk. Bligh Madris went oppo into left field to bring in two, and Brian Serven singled in another. Jack Dunn kept the pile-on going with a sacrifice fly, and Serven scored on a wild pitch to secure the five-run lead.

Matt Gage closed things out while allowing a walk.

Jung: 0-4, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K

Lee: 4-6, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, 1 K

Jones: 3-5, 3B, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K

Manning: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 K; 80 pitches (49 strikes)

Owens: 1.0 IP; 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K; 17 pitches (9 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Toledo looks to take a two-game lead in the six-game series Wednesday at 11:05 a.m. ET. Keider Montero is the listed starter, but he’s been called up to start for the Detroit Tigers, so the Mud Hens will have to pivot.

Erie SeaWolves 8, Akron RubberDucks 7 (box)

The SeaWolves earned their win in a much different way than the Mud Hens, erasing a six-run, first-inning deficit with an eight-run fourth.

Joseph Montalvo got the start for Erie and didn’t last through the first. He loaded up the bases after striking out last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Travis Bazzana, for the first out and got the second out with a sacrifice fly. He walked the next batter to reload the bases, then gave up a two-run single and three-run homer.

Montalvo started out the season with a strong outing against Harrisburg, but it’s been pretty rough since. His ERA is up to 18.69, and opposing hitters are batting .455 against him with four walks and four strikeouts. He came to the Tigers organization as part of the Chafin trade last year. A former 20th-round pick and only 22 years old, so there’s still time for him to figure it out in Double-A. He was solid in rookie ball, Single-A and High-A, so there’s not much he has to prove at those levels.

Erie threatened in the second with a pair of singles, but Akron’s starter, Rodney Boone, cruised most of the way with eight strikeouts through 3.2 innings. The RubberDucks turned to Shawn Rapp first out of the bullpen, and everything Boone had done was quickly forgotten.

Rapp didn’t record an out. Chris Meyers greeted him with a double, Jim Jarvis walked, and he hit Trei Cruz to load the bases. Max Anderson singled in Jarvis and Meyers, and Thayron Liranzo hit his first double of the season to score two more. Justice Bigbie singled and Eliezer Alfonzo doubled for a fourth-straight hit off Rapp, and suddenly, the game was tied.

Rapp should have been out of it after that on a Jake Holton grounder to shortstop, but an error kept things going and forced a pitching change. Roberto Campos tripled off Jacobs, scoring Alfonzo and Holton, before Meyers finally made the third out. Jacobs only allowed one more hit over the next two innings, and Davis Sharpe was perfect through two frames. Toledo took advantage of a bad pitcher to win this game, but the offense didn’t do much else on the night.

Fortunately, Erie’s bullpen was excellent once Montalvo left the game. Dylan Smith went a respectable 1.1 innings without allowing a baserunner, and Andrew Magno and Tim Naughton struck out a combined 12 batters over the next five frames. Magno finished 2024 in Toledo and it feels like both he and Naughton will end up there sooner rather than later.

Drew Sommers earned the save with another solid outing, but he did allow a run to make it a one-run game in the top of the ninth.

Anderson: 2-5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K

Liranzo: 2-5, 2B, 1 R, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

Bigbie: 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K

Magno (W, 1-0): 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K; 41 pitches (22 strikes)

Naughton (H, 1): 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K; 41 pitches (28 strikes)

Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:05 p.m. ET start on Wednesday afternoon.

West Michigan Whitecaps 2, South Bend Cubs (box )

Finally, a low-scoring affair. It took extras to decide this one, but it was well worth the wait to see Max Clark deliver a game-winning sacrifice fly.

It wasn’t West Michigan’s finest day on offense, mustering just four hits and four walks to 12 strikeouts, but it was enough to take open the series with a win. Clark went 0-for-4, and Josue Briceno struck out three times, but both had clutch moments that impacted the game. Briceno tied the game up in the fourth with a solo home run that just got over the right field wall, and Clark did his job to win it.

Andrew Jenkins and Jack Penney singled in the second to interrupt six strikeouts through two innings from South Bend starter Tyler Schlaffer. Penney also doubled in the seventh, but that’s all the offense for West Michigan. Two more singles in the second could have led to some trouble

The good news is that the Whitecaps’ pitching staff and defense were solid for most of the night. Rayner Castillo started a little rough with a leadoff single and two walks to load the bases, but he escaped the inning while allowing just one run on a wild pitch. Two more singles in the second could have been trouble, but an ill-advised attempted steal of home on a pickoff to first base led to a third out for the Cubs. Castillo cruised after that, retiring six of the next eight batters he faced.

Carlos Lequerica took over in the fifth and walked the bases loaded with just one out, but a double play ball ended that threat. Micah Ashman faced the minimum in the sixth, with some help from Briceno, who caught a runner trying to swipe second. Ashman returned in the seventh and went 1-2-3, and Marco Jimenez worked around a pair of singles in the eighth before retiring the side in order in the ninth.

Preston Howkey earned the win after pitching the 10th. He allowed a two-out walk to no harm.

Clark: 0-4, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K

Briceno: 1-4, HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K

Castillo: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; 60 pitches (35 strikes)

Coming Up Next: West Michigan plays at 12:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday with Joe Miller slated to pitch.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 4, Dunedin Blue Jays 2 (box )

With games on both end of the scoring spectrums at the three levels above Single-A, Lakeland put together a classic win with solid play on both sides of the ball.

With Bryce Rainer still out, Woody Hadeen and Franyerber Montilla continue to pick up the slack on offense and at shortstop. Montilla got the start at short today, but Hadeen led the offense with three hits and an RBI.

Hadeen’s first hit came in the first, to no avail, but he scored after another leadoff single in the third. Nomar Fana drove him in and tied the game at one apiece with a sacrifice fly after Hadeen swiped second (his fourth of the year) and took third on a throwing error by the catcher.

Back-to-back doubles from Jose De La Cruz and Garrett Pennington broke the tie in the fourth, and Hadeen made it 3-1 with his third hit of the day, another single, later in the inning. Pennington added an insurance run with his first homer of the year in the sixth.

RJ Sales put together a solid four-inning start, allowing just one run on a second-inning homer. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out three while giving up just one more hit. He’s mostly four-seam and cutter with Savant picking up a couple of different secondary pitches (curve, changeup, slider, sinker). It’s hard to tell which of these bleed into the other categories, though. Still, it worked well, drawing eight swing and misses on the day.

Ricky Vanasco was the first out of the bullpen and dominated, retiring six of seven batters faced with three strikeouts and a walk. Yosber Sanchez was next. A leadoff walk in the seventh came back to bite him after a single and sacrifice fly gave Dunedin its second run, but there’s still a lot to like with his 96-98 mph fastball and 78-83 mph slider mix. That kind of velocity change with movement should play just fine in the minors.

Moises Rodriguez threw the final two innings for Lakeland. His sinker ran up to 97.6 mph and the slider at 83 mph makes him similar to Sanchez but with more control. He matched Sales’ eight swing and misses while seeing half the amount of batters. Rodriguez struck out four and gave up just one hit.

Hadeen: 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 0 K

Montilla: 1-5, 0 BB, 2 K

Rucker: 0-4, 0 BB, 2 K

Sales: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K; 56 pitches (40 strikes)

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers are back at it Wednesday night at 6:05 p.m. ET, the only evening game for Detroit’s minor league affiliates tomorrow.