Back and forth battle doesn't fall in the Hens' favor

With the series win still up for grabs, the Toledo Mud Hens and the Iowa Cubs fought hard for ten innings in Des Moines, IA on Saturday night. The two teams went back and forth, but the Hens would ultimately lose 5-4 as the Cubs walked it off in extras.

Matt Manning had a rough start on the mound as he gave a first inning 2-0 lead to the Cubs. Alexander Canario took Manning’s sweeper over the left field wall to score himself and Cole Roederer.

Toledo would start to find their groove at the plate in the third inning. Ryan Kreidler led the way with his first home run of the season to make it a 2-1 game. Riley Unroe was then able to draw a walk before stealing second base. Unroe was then brought home on an RBI single to left field from Parker Meadows.

The Hens would have a great chance to take the lead in the fifth inning as they loaded the bases off of a Kreidler single and two walks. The game would stay knotted at two though as Spencer Torkelson hit a ground ball that the Cubs turned into a double play to escape the jam.

Iowa would also threaten to take the lead in the fifth as they had runners on second and third with just one out. Toledo would stop them though as BJ Murray Jr. hit a line drive right back at the mound. Manning would swat at the ball, giving Unroe the opportunity to catch it and turn it to third base for Jace Jung to secure the double play.

With some help from the Hens, Manning was able to make up for his early struggles. While his stats were nothing to sit and gawk about, he did keep his team in the game through five innings.

With both teams flirting with taking the lead, the Mud Hens would finally make a move in the sixth. Jung led off with a strong line drive that had enough on it to allow him to make it to second base. Toledo finally took the lead with a two-run homer off the bat of Bligh Madris.

With Manning’s day coming to a close and the 4-2 lead secured, the Hens would look to Bryce Tassin to try to keep them ahead. Tassin would give up a one-out single to Roederer, which seemed fine until Canario returned to the plate. He made his presence felt once again with another two-run homer to tie the game at four apiece. That would conclude Tassin’s time at the rubber as lefty Sean Guenther began to warm up for the following inning.

The I-Cubs would also make a switch at the mound come the seventh inning. Kyle McGowin’s six-inning start came to an end as Ethan Roberts took over for him.

The game would remain knotted up going into the ninth. Iowa’s Keegan Thompson caused problems for Toledo. His curveball left batters looking lost as the righty went one, two, three with three strikeouts.

The Hens took the field in the bottom of the ninth hoping to extend the game. Having lost in five walk-offs this season already, Toledo turned to closer Devin Sweet to keep them alive. His changeup would be a very helpful tool as he went one, two, three to extend the game.

Toledo had only won two games in extra innings this season and if they wanted to improve that stat, they would have to best Michael Arias. Kreidler began on second as Unroe drew a lead-off walk. A deep flyout from Torkelson put runners on the corners and brought Jung to the plate as the Cubs met at the mound. Jung found himself ahed 3-0, but that very quickly became 3-2 as the crowd in Des Moines began to get loud. Jung then watched a sinker catch the bottom of the strike zone, giving the I-Cubs another chance to walk it off.

Sweet began by giving up an unimportant walk to Bryce Windham. After that, the Cubs were able to make the most of a line drive to left from Murray Jr. The RBI single put Iowa on top 5-4 as Toledo left once again dissatisfied.

The Hens and Cubs will fight once more for the series lead on Sunday at 2:08 p.m. Toledo will send Keider Montero to the mound to try and take the series finale.

Notables:

• Ryan Kreidler (2-3, HR, HBP, RBI, R, SB)
• Bligh Madris (1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R)
• Jace Jung (1-5, 2B, R)