Prince claims 500th victory as Mud Hens win fourth straight

Jul. 2—A 3-run surge in the eighth inning allowed the Toledo Mud Hens to extend their winning streak to four games in a 4-2 victory Thursday over the Columbus Clippers at Fifth Third Field.

The victory was Mud Hens manager Tom Prince's 500th career win as a skipper.

The Mud Hens were held to two hits in the first seven innings as Ricardo Pinto and Heath Fillmyer sparred in a pitchers' duel with almost identical lines in their starts for Toledo and Columbus, respectively.

Pinto shut out the Clippers' offense and surrendered three hits — two of which were doubles — over seven innings.

"He located the ball very well," Prince said, "He had a low pitch count and was able to go through the inning. That's a tough lineup over there. That's not easy to navigate. And I thought he did a really good job."

Fillmyer shut out one of the top Triple-A East offenses for five innings. The right-hander gave up one hit — a single to Jacob Robson — and struck out seven. Of his 76 pitches, 51 were strikes, and he allowed only three Toledo base runners.

The 27-year-old was signed out of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent league, on May 31 by Cleveland. Fillmyer pitched for the Lancaster Barnstormers before joining Columbus.

What happened: Toledo and Columbus were scoreless going into the seventh inning.

Christin Stewart led off the Mud Hens' half of the seventh with a triple. Cole Peterson came on to pinch-run for Stewart, Aderlin Rodriguez walked, and Yariel Gonzalez's grounder to third drove Peterson home for the first run of the game.

With runners on the corners in the Hens' half of the eighth, Renato Nunez scorched a triple off the center-field wall, driving in Dylan Rosa and Isaac Paredes. Peterson hit a sacrifice fly to score Nunez.

The Clippers scored their runs in the ninth. Designated hitter Gabriel Arias drove in Daniel Johnson with a base hit. Ryan Lavarnway later singled to drive Arias home.

After allowing both of the Columbus runs in two innings of work, Angel De Jesus worked out of the ninth-inning situation for his first save of the season, closing out the game with runners on first and second. He had two strikeouts and two walks.

Game MVP: Nunez went 1-for-3 with a triple — his first of the season — a walk, and two runs batted in.

He said it: "[De Jesus'] pitch count was starting to get high," Prince said of his decision to keep his reliever in for the remainder of the ninth. "I didn't want him to throw 35 pitches in the inning and stuff like that, but I wanted him to try to finish the game."

Make a note of it: Stewart has a hit in seven of his past eight games. In that span, nine of his 15 hits have been for extra bases. Nunez extended his hitting streak to seven games with his eighth-inning triple.

Rodriguez leads the team with 36 RBIs, while Nunez is second with 34.

Comings and goings: Derek Hill and Miguel Del Pozo were optioned from Detroit to Toledo. Del Pozo was recalled to Detroit on Sunday, and Hill was selected as the 27th man for the Tigers' doubleheader against Cleveland on Wednesday.

A look ahead: The Mud Hens will face the Clippers at 7:05 p.m. on Friday. Kirk McCarty will start on the mound for Columbus against Toledo's Robbie Ross, Jr. In 16 appearances for Toledo this season, the left-handed Ross has a 3.98 earned run average with 18 strikeouts. Ross works primarily out of the bullpen for the Mud Hens, and has two saves in four opportunities.

First Published July 1, 2021, 10:56pm