Whitecaps explode for baker’s dozen, Lakeland falls in extras

Scores, news, and notes from the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Wednesday, April 9, 2025.

Toledo Mud Hens vs. Iowa Cubs (Rained Out)

Rain washed away Game 2 of the Iowa-Toledo series. A makeup game will be played on Saturday as part of a doubleheader.

Coming Up Next: Toledo trails in the series, 0-1. The Mud Hens are back on Thursday at 6:35 EDT.

Erie SeaWolves 7, Chesapeake Baysox 4 (box )

Erie got manager Andrew Graham his 800th career win on Wednesday night with a 10-4 win over Chesapeake. The Seawolves

The SeaWolves jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first against the Baysox. Trei Cruz singled (?) off a booted ground ball to first that the pitcher was late on covering the bag. Carlos Mendoza doubled him in off the base of the wall six pitches later.

The next three batters all struck out. It was a rough night for the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters — Thayron Liranzo, Justice Bigbie and Chris Meyers — who went a combined 3-for-15 with eight strikeouts, including four from Liranzo (No. 5 prospect).

Erie struck again in the second, scoring Jim Jarvis on a play where he should have been caught between third and home but was hit in the back. Liranzo had a chance to do damage with the bases loaded, but he struck out again. Despite the bad day at the plate, Liranzo was decent behind the dash, blocking several dirt balls and forcing a runner into a rundown on a backpack at third.

Joseph Montalvo (No. 19 prospect) made his Double-A debut and got through two innings without much trouble, but his night ended in the third after he gave up the lead. Montalvo has potential with a solid fastball-slider mix, but he struggled to put away the leadoff man on Wednesday, and it eventually came back to bite him. Three of the four hits he gave up in the third stayed in the infield, though, which is a bit unlucky.

Drew Sommers pitched his second clean outing in as many appearances on the year. The veteran ran damage control to get out of the third and allowed just one single to Enrique Bradfield Jr. (Baltimore’s No. 3 prospect) in the fourth.

Cruz tied the game back up in the top of the fourth with a double down the right field line, and the floodgates finally opened in the eighth after three innings of neither team scoring. A pair of singles and a pair of errors broke the tie and made it 6-3, Erie. Trei Cruz added the final SeaWolves run of the night on a sacrifice fly.

Andrew Magno threw two innings of one-hit ball for Erie, and Tim Naughton threw the final three frames of the game. Magno allowed the first two batters he faced to reach, but Liranzo saved him with the rundown at third mentioned above. He retired the next four batters in a row. Naughton gave up a run in the eighth but it wasn’t earned because of a passed ball.

Liranzo: 1-5, 4 K

Campos: 3-5, 0 K

Cruz: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K

Montalvo: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K; 62 pitches (37 strikes)

Coming Up Next: With the series evened up, Erie looks to take a lead on Chesapeake Thursday at 11:05 a.m. Troy Melton is scheduled to pitch.

West Michigan Whitecaps 13, Dayton Dragons 1 (box )

The West Michigan Whitecaps put a beating on the Lake County Captains, 13-1, thanks to big days from Josue Briceno, Brett Callahan, Max Clark, and John Peck.

Most of the damage came in the fourth and fifth innings. The Whitecaps scored nine runs between the two frames, four coming on a fourth-inning Briceno grand slam.

A trio of extra-base hits — a Callahan triple, Peyton Graham double and Clark double — brought in three in the fifth. Clark is now hitting .368 on the year with a 1.135 OPS. He’s walked eight times to just six strikeouts.

Peck isn’t hitting too well this season (.150 AVG, .640 OPS), but he’s found some early pop, hitting his second opposite-field home run of the year. This one was a three-run shot to put the Whitecaps into double digits. Callahan has been a nice surprise with a .412 average and .973 OPS. He’s 5-for-8 so far in the series against Lake County.

Rayner Castillo made his first High-A start, throwing four one-hit innings with no walks and five strikeouts. He had a lot of success in Single-A through 13 starts (60.2 IP) last season and is picking up right where he left off. He retired the first six batters he faced and showed off a strong, running fastball and flashed the changeup and slider. If Castillo can figure out both of those secondaries, he’ll be a name to watch in the organization.

Trevin Michael threw two innings of hitless relief, walking just one batter and striking out three. He was fastball-heavy against lefties and overpowered them for the most part. He spiked a curveball or two, so developing a plus secondary pitch is his next step. Haden Erbe got the seventh and had a much better outing than his debut last week. For one thing, he made it through the inning this time, but there are still some obvious control issues.

Micah Ashman closed out the final two innings of the game. Last year’s 11th-round pick, Ashman, is a 6-foot-7 closer out of Utah. He’s not an overpowering arm, but he’s so tall that the angle makes the low-90s fastball harder to hit, and he has a slider that moves a ton. Ashman led the Whitecaps with seven swing and misses in the win. He gave up an RBI double but was otherwise effective.

Clark: 2-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 0 K

Peck: 1-5, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K

Briceno: 1-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K

Callahan: 3-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 0 K

Castillo: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K; 52 pitches (34 strikes)

Coming Up Next: With the series tied, West Michigan is back at it Thursday at 6:35 p.m. Joe Miller is the scheduled starter.

St. Lucie Mets 13, Lakeland Flying Tigers 8 (box )

Lakeland dropped an extra-innings affair against St. Lucie that saw 11 of the 21 total runs scored after the ninth. The Flying Tigers struck out 18 times on the night and

Bryce Rainer remains out, but he wasn’t listed on the official MiLB injury report from the Tigers, which is hopefully a sign he’ll return to the lineup this weekend. His replacement at shortstop for the night, Woody Hadeen, tripled and eventually scored on an Akil Baddoo single.

Franyerber Montilla played second and hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the tenth. Despite 12 hits on the day, there wasn’t much more meaningful offense for the Flygers.

It was a bullpen day for Lakeland. Seven different arms threw, but only when made it through two innings or more — Lucas Ellisalt, Detroit’s 13th-round pick last year out of Chipola Junior College. Ellisalt gave up three runs on six hits and a walk while striking out one. A lot of fastball with some good ride, but he’s still very raw and will need some time in Lakeland.

Paul Wilson is the other pitcher of note for Lakeland on the night. The former third-round flashed a plus slider and drew a few swing and misses. An error and wild pitch led to two unearned runs against Wilson. His ERA is still 0.00 but the three walks over 1.2 innings isn’t great.

Baddoo: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 2 K

Montilla: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, 1 BB, 0 K

Rucker: 1-6, 1 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 3 K

Ellisalt: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K; 66 pitches (42 strikes)

Coming Up Next: Lakeland looks to take back the series lead on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. A starter has not yet been announced.