Hens hitless in last two innings of 5-3 loss to Clippers

Toledo came into Sunday with a chance to take the series with Columbus for themselves. Following Saturday night’s pitching masterclass, the Hens relied heavily on their pitchers once again, but fell short to the Clippers offense.

The Clippers came to the diamond with Will Dion on the mound. He escaped the first inning only allowing a double from Jace Jung.

The Mud Hens would finally get to see Matt Manning take the mound in this series. Manning was originally scheduled to pitch the first game of this series, but due to weather issues was called up to Detroit. Manning showed that he is Major League material, going one, two, three to open the game.

Toledo’s second chance at the plate against Dion did not go well for them. Dion picked up a strikeout on Justice Bigbie and went one, two, three.

In the second inning, George Valera drew a walk off of Manning and made his way all the way to third base, but was left stranded by his teammates.

Dion continued to work his way through the Toledo lineup in the third inning, before Manning retook the mound. Things seemed alright for Manning early. Despite walking Dom Nunez, the Hens found two other outs in the first three batters of the inning. Juan Brito then drew a walk, putting runners on first and second base. Daniel Schneemann got Columbus the early lead with an RBI single to bring in Nunez.

Dion’s day came to an end as he began to struggle in the fourth. He issued walks to Jung and Keston Hiura before being replaced by Mason Hickman. Dion would have a run with his name on it as Bigbie brought home Jung with an RBI double off of the wall. With runners in scoring position it appeared that Ryan Vilade had drawn a walk, but was rung up by umpire Jen Pawol. Vilade was quick to show his distaste, which led to Pawol ejecting him. That brought Anthony Bemboom to the plate. He wasted no time, taking a 3-1 lead with a two-RBI double. Andrew Navigato then added to Hickman’s frustrating start with an infield single to advance Bemboom, but an Akil Baddoo flyout left the runners stranded.

With Vilade gone, the Hens put Riley Unroe in at center field. He would immediately see some action, catching a fly ball off the bat of Valera. Manning and the Mud Hens maintained their lead, forcing two more outs on grounders to end the inning.

After Hickman’s three-run inning, the Clippers went with Nick Mikolajchak to open the fifth inning. Jung would pick up a one-out single off of Mikolajchak, but was caught stealing second. That brought Bigbie back to the plate, who picked up his tenth double of the season and his second of the game. He would be unable to score though as Bligh Madris hit a pop fly to Jose Tena.

Manning remained on the mound for the bottom of the fifth inning, but did not see the success he had seen before. Nunez took him deep into right-center field to cut the Toledo lead to 3-2. Manning immediately pulled it together though, taking down the next three batters and earning his sixth strikeout of the game.

Columbus turned to their bullpen once again in the sixth, replacing Mikolajchak with John Doxakis. Unroe was unable to make contact and brought Bemboom up to bat. Bemboom pushed one right through the gap in the Clippers’ shift, but Navigato then hit into a double play to end the top of the inning.

Andrew Vasquez got the nod over Manning in the sixth inning. Schneemann was happy to see the change of pace, taking Vasquez’s first pitch of the game deep into left field to make it a 3-3 game. Vasquez was able to reel things back in though, escaping the inning without any more runs allowed.

Doxakis had some struggles in the seventh inning after striking out Baddoo. Buddy Kennedy found a base hit with a line drive to right field. Jung would join him on base as catcher’s interference was called for the third time in the series. Doxakis would be bailed out by his shortstop, Brito, as Hiura hit a line drive that was caught and then thrown to second for a double play.

Toledo brought in Wilmer Flores to take over for Vasquez in the bottom of the seventh. He got off to a hot start, picking up two strikeouts before forcing a Myles Straw pop out.

Columbus would also dig deeper into their bullpen, bringing out Franco Aleman in the eighth inning. Aleman had made multiple appearances throughout this series, but had not been credited with a win all season. Aleman began by walking Bigbie and then another catcher’s interference call put Madris on base. Unroe moved the baserunners with a sacrifice bunt. The ducks were left on the pond though as Bemboom hit a pop out and Navigato went down swinging.

Flores found his first two outs early in the bottom of the eighth, but then gave up an infield single to Johnathan Rodriguez. Valera had his first homerun of the season directly following that to give the Clippers the 5-3 lead.

With Columbus only needing three more outs, they turned to Anthony Gose to try and close the game out. Gose got Baddoo out with a flyout, before Kennedy drew a walk. Jung had a hit go deep into left field, but it fell just short and into the glove of Rodriguez. The game and the series came to a close with a Hiura strikeout to give Columbus the 5-3 victory over Toledo.

The Mud Hens and the Clippers split their series three games a piece. The Hens are back in Toledo for a series against the St. Paul Saints starting Tuesday at 6:05 p.m.

Notables:

Matt Manning 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, HR

Justice Bigbie 2-3, 2B, RBI, R, BB

Anthony Bemboom 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB

Jace Jung 2-3, 2B, R, BB