Mud Hens celebrate Christmas in July with sellout crowd
The Toledo Mud Hens looked to avenge their Friday night loss to the St. Paul Saints in front of a sold out crowd. The Hens would fall behind early, but the task would prove to be too tall as they ended up losing 11-3. Fans stayed despite the loss and
The Toledo Mud Hens looked to avenge their Friday night loss to the St. Paul Saints in front of a sold out crowd. The Hens would fall behind early, but the task would prove to be too tall as they ended up losing 11-3. Fans stayed despite the loss and enjoyed some postgame fireworks.
It would be a bullpen day for the Mud Hens, meaning Sean Guenther would get the nod. He only gave up one hit in the first, but the Saints would get the best of him in the second inning.
The first run of the game would come from an Anthony Prato RBI triple. Patrick Winkel brought him in with an RBI single just two pitches later. After Payton Eeles drew a walk, St. Paul had runners on first and second and Dalton Shuffield at the plate. Shuffield would bring in Winkel, but he would be caught stealing by Anthony Bemboom. The Saints would finish their half of the inning up 4-0, following a Rylan Bannon RBI single.
Toledo would be able to cut this lead in half as Spencer Torkelson scored on a double from Bligh Madris that almost made it over the wall. Madrid wouldn’t have to wait long for his trip home either as Justice Bigbie popped one just over the third baseman to make it 4-2.
Austin Schulfer would take over on the mound in the third inning, but things didn’t get much better for the Hens. Schulfer quickly gave up a double to Chris Williams before Prato made it 5-2 with an RBI single. Shuffield expanded that lead with an RBI single of his own, but the Saints also sent Winkel home and the inning ended as Bemboom tagged him out.
The Mud Hens called upon Eli Villalobos in the fifth, which worked out nicely. He almost surrendered a run on a Winkel double, but Prato would be thrown out at home to keep it a 6-2 game. Villalobos came back out for the sixth, but suffered an injury that led to him being shut down for the evening. In his place, Andrew Magno would get a quick one, two, three inning with two strikeouts.
After three straight scoreless innings, Magno gave a run to St. Paul on a bases loaded walk. That prompted Toledo to turn to Andrew Vazquez to get the last two outs. He quickly escaped the inning unscathed and picked up a strikeout in the process.
Vazquez would come out for a third inning as the Saints picked up 5 insurance runs. Unable to find the final out and with the available bullpen having been exhausted, Drew Maggi was handed the ball.
The Hens looked to rally in the bottom of the ninth, but nothing could be done to change the outcome. Toledo would string together some hits to make it 11-3, but that was all that Diego Castillo would allow. The Saints now sit two games back from .500, but they will have to try and best Toledo one last time on Sunday at 4:05 p.m.
Notables:
- Bligh Madris (2-4, 2 2B, RBI, R)
- Eli Villalobos (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 0 HR)