ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Toledo Mud Hens blew a ninth-inning lead in the completion of a suspended game, then used a first-inning grand slam to earn a two-game split with the Rochester Red Wings on Thursday at Innovative Field.
The Mud Hens lost 6-5 and won 7-3 as their six-game series in Rochester reached its midway point. The Red Wings won the opener on Tuesday.
Rochester led 1-0 in the middle of the second inning when Wednesday’s game was suspended because of inclement weather. The contest resumed Thursday with Toledo’s Matt Manning taking the mound, and he struck out seven Red Wings in five innings of work.
Toledo scored the first five runs after the resumption, taking the lead in the fourth with Jace Jung’s leadoff single and Justice Bigbie’s two-run home run.
Ryan Vilade led off the fifth with a solo shot to make it 3-1 and came up big again in the sixth with a two-RBI single, scoring Buddy Kennedy and Anthony Bemboom.
Rochester got to Manning in the bottom of the sixth as Travis Blankenhorn’s RBI double and Trey Lipscomb’s RBI single made it a 5-3 game. Manning finished with two runs on four hits in his five innings.
Toledo held the two-run lead until the ninth-inning collapse. With Brenan Hanifee on the mound, Blankenhorn led off with a triple and scored on a Lipscomb groundout. With two outs and a runner on second, Hanifee came within a strike of victory against Darren Baker, but Baker worked the count full before hitting a game-tying single to left.
Hanifee walked the next batter, putting Baker in scoring position, and Alex Call stepped up to end the game with a walkoff double.
The originally scheduled game, which was shortened to seven innings, began at 6:57 p.m. Toledo got to work right away as Akil Baddoo singled and Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jung each drew walks to set up Keston Hiura’s grand slam.
Five pitchers shared the load for Toledo across the seven innings, and it was Adam Wolf who was charged with Rochester’s first two runs. Wolf loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the third, and Sean Guenther came in for two run-scoring forceouts.
Dillon Dingler’s sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Buddy Kennedy, giving Toledo a 5-2 lead.
Rochester got back within two runs on James Wood’s RBI single in the fifth, but the Hens responded with two in the sixth. Vilade’s single drove home Kennedy and Bligh Madris.
With Toledo back up by four, Drew Anderson and Mason Englert pitched scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh, respectively, to finish off the victory.
The fourth game of the series is set for 6:05 p.m. Friday at Innovative Field. Brant Hurter is scheduled to pitch for Toledo (10-8), while Rochester (8-7) has not announced a starter.
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