Mud Hens drop fourth game in a row
May 19—The Mud Hens' pitching woes continued Tuesday night against the Columbus Clippers. After Drew Hutchison allowed two runs over five and 1/3 innings, reliever Ian Krol allowed four runs in the sixth.
Toledo extended its losing streak to four games in its 6-1 loss to the Clippers.
It marks the 10th time, out of 11 games, Toledo has allowed at least five runs. Mud Hens' pitchers have averaged 5.4 runs per game and their starting rotation entered Tuesday's game with a 7.65 earned run average (19th out of 20 teams in Triple-A East).
Hutchison had a final line of two runs over 5 and 1/3 innings with two walks and five strikeouts.
What happened: Renato Nunez launched a first-inning home run for his second of the year. It was just the third time this season the Mud Hens scored first in a game.
After a lead-off double to start the fourth from Columbus' Owen Miller, the second baseman scored on a ground out from Bradley Zimmer.
Zimmer began the four-run sixth inning for the Clippers when he drove in Miller on a single to left field. Followed by a walk from Nolan Jones, Ryan Lavarnway blasted his fifth home run of the season for a three-run shot.
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Columbus' first baseman Bobby Bradley drove in Daniel Johnson in the seventh. He finished the game 1-for-3 with a walk.
Game MVP: Nunez went 1-for-3 with a walk and scored the Mud Hens' only run.
He said it: "Keep working," Nunez said of the Mud Hens' (3-9) slump. "That happens in baseball. It's still early in the season. So I think we just got to keep it up, keep working and hopefully things will turn around."
Make note of it: Victor Reyes and Isaac Paredes extended their hitting streaks to seven games each. Reyes, who was demoted to Triple-A from the Tigers, went 1-for-4 with a single and a walk. Paredes went 1-for-4 with a base hit.
Aderlin Rodriguez entered Tuesday's game eighth in Triple-A East in batting average (.379). He was 0-for-2 with two walks.
Columbus' starter Anthony Gose was a former Detroit Tigers outfielder. He allowed one run, on the homer from Nunez, and walked three over one and 1/3 innings.
The Clippers had five of their major league affiliate's top 30 prospects in their lineup: No.1 (and MLB's No. 29) Jones, No. 5 Gabriel Arias, No. 16 Miller, No. 18 Bobby Bradley, and No. 19 Daniel Johnson.
All five prospects recorded at least one hit against the Mud Hens. Miller ended the game going 2-for-4 with two runs and one walk. Arias went 1-for-3 with a walk.
Comings and goings: Since the last time the Mud Hens played at Fifth Third Field their team looked a little bit different. Kody Clemens, Dustin Garneau, and Zack Short were placed on the seven-day injured list.
Eric Haase, Jake Rogers, Erasmo Ramirez, and Joe Jimenez were all called up to Detroit. Ramirez was then sent to the 10-day injured list.
Numerous players were also optioned to Toledo. In Tuesday's lineup shortstop Cole Peterson, third baseman Yariel Gonzalez, and catcher Juan Centeno were brought up from Double-A Erie. Victor Reyes was demoted from the Tigers.
Left-hand pitcher Joey Wentz was also activated off the seven-day injured list.
A look ahead: The Mud Hens will continue their six-game homestand against the Clippers Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. Wily Peralta will start for Toledo against Columbus' Logan Allen.
