Troy Melton leads Mud Hens with a dominant start; Thayron Liranzo homers in SeaWolves’ victory

Scores, news, and notes from around the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Saturday, July 5, 2025.

Toledo Mud Hens 2, Columbus Clippers 1 (box )

Troy Melton posted another great start and is closing in on his Detroit Tigers’ debut now. His teammates didn’t have much more luck against Clippers pitching than they did with the Hens, but a ninth inning rally was enough to win on Saturday.

Melton allowed just two hits and no walks across six scoreless innings. He collected 14 whiffs, most of his fastball and slider, while punching out seven hitters. The Tigers still didn’t let him stretch out much. It was an extremely efficient outing with 48 of 63 pitches for strikes. It’s fair to say that Melton is acclimated to the major league baseball now, and there is no chance that the Tigers are going to let him waste bullets in the Mud Hens rotation too much longer, but for the time being it’s worth keeping him stretched out in case of emergency.

Tyler Owens handled the seventh inning, while Matt Seelinger allowed a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth that broke a scoreless tie.

Finally the Hens broke through in the top of the ninth. Andy Ibáñez tripled to lead off the inning and scored immediately when Justyn-Henry Malloy doubled. A wild pitch got Malloy to third, and a Brewer Hicklen fly out was deep enough to get Malloy home.

Seelinger stayed out for the ninth, and spun a quick 1-2-3 inning to collect the save.

Malloy: 2-4, R, RBI, 2B, K

Ibanez: 1-4 R, 3B

Melton: 6.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 7 K

Coming Up Next: The Hens hunt for a series victory on Sunday while the Clippers will look for a series split at 1:05 p.m. ET.

Erie SeaWolves 8, Akron RubberDucks 4 (box )

The SeaWolves got good pitching and the middle of the order carried the offense to another win on Saturday.

Troy Watson got the ball in this one and produced a solid outing. He gave up a pair of runs over five innings, collecting five strikeouts along the way.

It was a scoreless game through three, but the SeaWolves seized control for good in the fourth. Birthday boy Thayron Liranzo crushed a long home run to right field to open the inning. It was his ninth as the now 22-year-old catching prospect continues a nice debut season at the Double-A level.

Max Anderson followed Liranzo with a sharp single, and Jake Holton and Justice Bigbie followed with doubles to make it 3-0. With one out, Roberto Campos triple in Bigbie on a drive to straightaway center that just didn’t have the loft to get out. Eliezer Alfonzo singled in Campos for a 5-0 lead.

Watson allowed two in the bottom of the fourth, so it was 5-2 SeaWolves. It was 5-3 after Ryan Boyer allowed a sixth inning solo shot.

From there it was all SeaWolves. They scored in the seventh when Max Anderson singled in Trei Cruz. A walk to Bigbie in the eighth led to another run after singles from Malgeri and Alfonzo. In the ninth, Cruz walked, stole second, took third on a ground out, and then scored on a passed ball for an 8-3 lead.

Andrew Magno allowed a double to St. Mary’s High School’s own, Alex Mooney, to start the ninth. Magno got a pair of ground balls at that point, the second plate getting Mooney home. A pair of singles followed, but Magno finally slammed the door.

Cruz: 1-3, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SB

Bigbie: 1-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB

Anderson: 2-5, R, RBI, 2 K

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves need one more to fight back and earn a split in the series. They’ll match up again at 1:05 p.m. ET.

Great Lakes Loons 7, West Michigan Whitecaps 3 (box )

The Whitecaps pitching staff had a rare bad night, and the series continued to be high in tension with another hit by pitch of a top prospect as they lost to the Loons on Saturday.

Max Alba got the start, and he drilled the second batter he faced, shortstop prospect Zyhir Hope, right in the back with a fastball. The amount of hit by pitches, arguments, and minor bench clearing moments in this series has resulted in a pretty tense series, but everyone kept their heads again here, fortunately.

Austin Murr led off the second with a solo shot and the ‘Caps had a 1-0 lead. Singles from Seth Stephenson and Kevin McGonigle produced a 2-0 lead in the second, but it was pretty much all Loons the rest of the way.

Alba allowed a run in the fourth and two in the fifth before departing. Blair Calvo finished out the fifth, but then gave up four runs in the sixth when he loaded the bases in front of Hope, who promptly crushed a grand slam for a 7-2 lead.

John Peck doubled and scored in the top of the eighth, but that was as close as the Whitecaps would get. Marco Jimenez struck out four in two perfect innings to finish the game.

Murr: 3-4, R, RBI, HR

Peck: 1-3, R, RBI, 2B, K

McGonigle: 1-3, BB, SB

Alba (L, 1-4): 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps will hunt the series split at 1:05 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Lakeland Flying Tigers vs. Dunedin Blue Jays (postponed)

This one was rained out, holding the Flying Tigers winning streak at 10 games for a day. They’ve won 15 of their last 17, and hold a 10-2 record in the second half, and a 48-28 record overall. They’ll finish the series at noon on Sunday, with Saturday’s game rescheduled for August 20.