Sep 13, 2022 – International League (IL) – Toledo Mud Hens News Release
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – After a 4-3 series win in their last homestand, the Mud Hens traveled to Indianapolis on Monday to start a new series tonight against the Indians. Daniel Ponce De Leon got the call for the first game as he tried to get the Mud Hens off to a hot start in the series. Ponce De Leon was added to the Mud Hens roster on September 9th. St. Louis’ ninth-round draft pick.
The offense would get off to a hot start as John Valente led off the game with a walk. The next batter, Zack Short would hit his 30th double of the year to score Valente from first base to give the Mud Hens an early 1-0 lead. Short now has 48 RBIs on the year. In the bottom half of the first, the Indians would also lead off with a walk, but the offense would leave it stranded at third after Daniel Ponce De Leon hit the last batter to third.
In the top of the second, Brendon Davis would wait with a high triple. Ali Sanchez would drive him in with a sacrifice fly to give Toledo a 2-0 lead. In the top half of the third, the Mud Hens would get another sacrifice fly after loading the bases. Before the sacrifice fly, John Valente and Josh Lester would each tally a single. Then Daz Cameron would walk. Andre Lipcius would drive in Valente with a sacrifice fly, however that would be the only run scored by the Hens, leaving two men on base. Daniel Ponce De Leon would tally his first 1-2-3 inning to end the third. At that point, he struck out three batters, allowed just one hit and walked a batter to start his start. He would hit two more batters in the fourth to give him five total in the ball game to this point.
In the top half of the fifth inning, the Mud Hens offense stayed hot and picked up four runs in the inning. John Valente would reach base for the third time, hitting a single to center. Then, Zack Short would get an at bat. The next batter, Josh Lester doubled to score Valente, moving Short to third. Lester now leads the team with 36 doubles and 86 RBIs on the year. Daz Cameron would drive in his 40th run of the season to score Zack Short. With nobody out yet, Andre Lipcius would double into a play, but Josh Lester would score from third to give the Chickens another run. The next batter, Brendon Davis would walk. Jamie Westbrook would then single to move Brendon Davis to third. With two out, Ali Sanchez would hit his eleventh double of the season to score Brendon Davis to keep the game going for the Mud Hens. Sanchez finished with two RBIs in tonight’s contest. The big four-run game gave the Chickens a 7-0 lead. In the bottom half of the fifth inning, the Indians would finally face Ponce De Leon, and the score was now 7-1 going into the sixth.
In the sixth inning, Daniel Ponce De Leon would get his third 1-2-3 inning tallying his seventh hit of the game. He would finish his outing solid, allowing just one earned run on three hits and a walk. The Mud Hens would score two more runs in the eighth, with Jack Lopez hitting a sharp double down the right field line to score Jamie Westbrook. The second run came after Zack Short hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Ali Sanchez. That would be the final offensive scoring play of tonight’s ballgame as the Mud Hens took the series opener in dominant fashion, 9-1. The Mud Hens have now won five straight and improved to a 75-60 record. They currently sit in third place in the International League West, trailing the Nashville Sounds by 6.5 games for first place. They are 3.5 games behind the second place Columbus Clippers. They will look to continue climbing the rankings as this streak continues.
Along with an impressive outing from Daniel Ponce De Leon, the Mud Hens continued to show their dominance of their bullpen as Drew Carlton, Zac Houston and Joe Navilhon didn’t allow a single run. Drew Carlton and Joe Navilhon would each score two hits in their innings of work.
NOTABLE HITS:
John Valente: 2-4, 3R, BB, K
Zack Short: 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI,
Josh Lester: 2-5, 2B, RBI, R, 3 K
Brendon Davis: 1-3, 3B, 2R, 2 BB, K
Ali Sanchez: 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI, R, BB
NOTABLE PITCHERS:
Daniel Ponce De Leon: 6.0 IP, 3 H, R, ER, BB, 7 K
Drew Carlton: 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Joe Navilohn: 1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
NEXT UP: The Mud Hens will look to win their sixth straight game in their hot streak. Tomorrow they will have a quick turnaround, as the game is set to start at 1:35 PM ET. Austin Bergner will be on the mound tomorrow as he looks to continue his climb up the Detroit Tigers prospect rankings. The offense will continue to see the ball well and bring in runs to climb the IL West standings.
• Discuss this story on the International League message board…
The views expressed in this announcement are those of the organization that issued it and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
