Bigbie and Kreidler homer in 8-3 win to split series

The Toledo Mud Hens and Charlotte Knights ended their six-game series this evening with the Hens defeating the Knights 8-3.

Casey Mize earned the start on the Mound for the Mud Hens as this is his third time starting during his MLB rehab assignment. One of which was earlier in the week on Tuesday. Mize still holds a 0.00 ERA over the course of his two starts.

The offense attempted to give Mize a cushion to work with as Ryan Vilade only saw one pitch as he hit a hard liner right to the third baseman. The second pitch of the game hit Ryan Kreidler to place him on first. Kreidler then stole second with ease as Bligh Madris recorded the second out of the inning striking out. Andrew Navigato then ended the inning with a fly out to left field.

Mize started the game in some trouble as he allowed a single and a walk to allow runners on first and second with no outs. No problem at all for Mize, as he was able to strike out the next three batters to end the inning.

Eddys Leonard started the second inning off with a double down the left-field line. Stephen Scott and Justice Bigbie then both recorded outs with Scott lining out and Bigbie grounding out. A passed ball then placed Leonard on third, as Drew Maggi then singled to left field to score Leonard and give the Hens the early 1-0 lead.

A quiet bottom of the second saw Mize strike out the first two batters before allowing a walk. The runner then attempted to steal second but Mize was able to step off the mound and throw the runner out at second to end the inning.

In the top of the third, Vilade then jumped on the first pitch of the at-bat yet again. However this time Vilade was able to single to right field. Vilade then stole second to put a runner in scoring position for the third straight inning. In the process, the starting pitcher for the Knights was thrown out of the game as he was unhappy with the call. Madris then walked to put two on but to no avail as Navigato struck out and Leonard popped out to second base to end the inning.

Mize entered the bottom of the third and allowed a double to start the inning. Mize then allowed his first run in three starts as he gave up a single to tie the game up at one apiece.

The top of the fourth started with a Scott single that had the throw go past the first baseman which awarded Scott to second. Bigbie lined out to center with Maggi singling to move Scott up to third. A successful suicide squeeze from Riley Unroe gave the Hens the 2-1 lead. Ryan Vilade then hit his second single to right field to extend the Hens lead to 3-1.

Mize started the bottom of the fourth but was taken out after he recorded an out and was replaced by Chase Lee. Lee then struck out his first batter and allowed a single to his second batter to put a runner on first with two outs. Another single-to-right field put runners on third and second. Lee was able to get out of the inning as a pop-out ended the inning with no damage done.

The Hens went down 1-2-3 as Andrew Vasquez then replaced Lee on the mound. Vasquez just allowed a single to center field in the bottom of the fifth.

In the top of the sixth Justice Bigbie then sent out his fourth homer of the year as he extended the Hens lead to now 5-1. In the bottom half, Garrett Hill replaced Vasquez on the mound as he allowed a single to his first batter while then getting a fly out to center field. Hill then gave up a two-run shot to make it a 5-3 ballgame.

Bligh Madris did all he could to try and get one of those runs back in the top of the seventh as he barely missed a home run off the right-center wall as he ended up at second with a double. But Madris was left stranded as three line outs ended the inning.

Miguel Diaz then took the keys to the mound as this is the fifth pitching change for the Hens today. Diaz had a clean inning just allowing a two-out walk.

The eighth inning was quiet for the most part as Maggi was the lone base runner for either team, Maggi however got picked off at first. Diaz then mowed down the Knights 1-2-3.

In the top of the ninth, Unroe reached first on a single to right field. Unroe then stole second safely to put himself in scoring position. Vilade then singled on a blooper to right field which was his second RBI of the night. Kreidler then added to the insurance as he homered to left field to make it 8-3.

In the bottom of the ninth, Devin Sweet came on as he was the sixth pitcher for the Hens tonight as he mowed down the Knights in the ninth 1-2-3 to end the ball game 8-3 in favor of Toledo.

The Mud Hens return home on Tuesday as they host the Iowa Cubs for a six-game slate with the first pitch being at 6:35 p.m.

Notables:

Ryan Vilade (3-5, 2 RBI, R)

Ryan Kreidler (1-4, HR, 2 HR, R, K)

Justice Bigbie (2-4, HR, R)

Casey Mize (3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K)