Welcome to Coop Scoops coverage of the Mud Hens' game against Pawtucket coming to you live from Fifth Third Field. I'll share thoughts, stats, and anything of interest from the game (newest posts are at the top, so refresh frequently).
10:54 p.m. -- I'm going to start on Hens Eggs next ... thanks for following along tonight. I've got Sunday off, so I'll be back at it on Monday. I'll do a "Week In Review" early in the day Monday, then come back with another in-game blog from Monday's 6:30 p.m. start. Again, thanks for following along ... talk to you Monday!
10:49 p.m. -- Hey, I owe you a trivia answer, don't I? Before tonight, the only two minor-league teams to not have played extra innings were the Mud Hens and ... the South Bend Silverhawks of the Lo-A Midwest League. So there you go.
10:43 p.m. -- Well, I left you for a while, didn't I? Well, the Hens won their first extra-inning game, scoring a run in the 11th to win 5-4. I'm going to work on Hens Eggs right now, and I had to finish a story on deadline ... if that story gets posted, I'll link to it and Tweet it right away.
10:02 p.m. -- It's starting to rain again ... and the Hens struggle with the fundamentals in the bottom of the 10th. After Clete Thomas led off with a walk, Cale Iorg failed to get down a bunt -- it was caught by Pawtucket pitcher Blake Maxwell -- and Omir Santos hits into a double play. On to the 11th.
9:57 p.m. -- Oliveros started to pitch himself out of the jam by striking out former Hen Brent Dlugach with breaking pitches, then completed the job by striking out Tony Thomas with the fastball. We go to the bottom of the 10th, still tied 4-4.
9:54 p.m. -- Lester Oliveros has pitched himself into trouble in the top of the 10th -- can he pitch himself out? Che-Hsuan Lin opened the frame by beating out an infield single, and after a sacrifice Oliveros walked the bases loaded. Can he keep the game tied?
9:45 p.m. -- So the Mud Hens suddenly have extra innings for the first time this season ... Entering play Saturday Toledo was one of only two teams in minor-league baseball that had not played an extra-inning game. The other team? Think Midwest League ... answer in a moment.
9:40 p.m. -- Clutch at-bat by Scott Thorman and the Mud Hens have new life! Toledo was down to its final out in the bottom of the ninth, trailing Pawtucket 4-1. Thorman slams the first pitch by Red Sox reliever Michael Bowden off the right-field foul pole, and suddenly we have a tie game!
9:18 p.m. -- It looks as if the extra work Cale Iorg put in with Mud Hens hitting coach Leon "Bull" Durham before the game pays off ... Iorg slams a long home run to left to allow the Hens to avert the shutout. We're going to the ninth with the score 4-1 Pawtucket.
9:04 p.m. -- A quick look at Toledo reliever Jose Ortega in the eighth ... he threw 12 pitches in that inning, split evenly between balls and strikes. The fastballs sat in a range between 93-96 mph (three at 95), and the breaking pitch (a slider, I believe) sat at 84-86 mph (two at 85). He did throw hard, but he didn't have a lot of command -- the first five pitches were balls.
8:42 p.m. -- The wheels have come off the cart for Thad Weber in the seventh. Former Hen Brent Dlugach doubled on a grounder down the first-base line, and back-to-back singles by Tony Thomas and Luis Exposito plated one run. Then Weber threw wildly to first on a sacrifice to load the bases, then hit Matt Sheely with a pitch to drive in a run. Pawtucket finished with three runs in the seventh and now lead 4-0, middle of seven.
8:22 p.m. -- Pawtucket starter Matt Fox has rolled through five scoreless innings, allowing just three singles and no walks. He also has not struck out a batter but has thrown only 63 pitches, 41 of which were strikes. His fastball sat at 91-92 mph (seven at 91 mph, two at 92), with his change-up at 86-88 mph (one at each of those three speeds) and his breaking ball at 76-77 mph. There have not been many good swings against him, mostly because he has gotten ahead of most of the Toledo hitters (10-of-17 through five innings).
8:18 p.m. -- Racing With the Starts result ... Kitty Holmes claims the victory, her season-leading eighth of the season.
8:12 p.m. -- Thad Weber gets through the fifth unscathed. He has allowed just the one run on four hits and onw walk with five strikeouts. In the fifth his fastball sat at 88-91 mph, with most at 89 (six pitches) and 90 (four pitches). His breaking ball sat mostly at 81 mph. He has thrown 79 pitches, 48 for strikes.
8:05 p.m. -- The rain has returned ... as if it ever left.
7:59 p.m. -- It's not often you'll see a baserunner picked off first base. It's less frequent that two players get picked off first in the same inning ... and yet we had exactly that in the fourth. Pawtucket's Lars Anderson got picked off first base by Hens starter Thad Weber in the top of the fourth, and Toledo's Will Rhymes got picked off first by Red Sox starter Matt Fox in the bottom of the inning.
7:53 p.m. -- The ball isn't traveling very well at Fifth Third Field tonight. There have been several balls struck VERY well to this point (it's already the middle of the fourth inning), but only one has left the park. Josh Reddick crushed an 0-1 pitch from Toledo's Thad Weber well over the fence in right for a home run that makes the score 1-0 Pawtucket.
7:41 p.m. -- Pitching line for Pawtucket starter Matt Fox in the first -- as I write this, he has given up just one hit through the first two-plus innings (he has given up a leadoff single to Clete Thomas here in the third). His fastball sat at 91-92 mph (five at 91, two at 92 with one at 90 and two at 89). He threw three "off-speed" pitches -- either a sinker or a slider, I couldn't tell which -- that sat at 85-86 mph. Since I started typing Fox has escaped the third without damage and has thrown 34 pitches, 23 for strikes.
7:37 p.m. -- Pitching line for Toledo starter Thad Weber in the first -- as I write this, he has allowed just one hit and one walk through the first three. Weber's fastball sat between 89-91 mph (five at 89, four at 90 and three at 91) and had one at 93. His breaking ball sat between 79-83 mph (mostly 82). Through three innings he has thrown 42 pitches, 28 for strikes.
7:33 p.m. -- Oh, before I do that ... the last post I typed before my computer connection went AWOL I typed in a weather report. The game-time temperature was 72 degrees, and there isn't much wind, which is the good news. The bad news was that rain started to fall just about the moment the Mud Hens took the field, and it's been raining ever since. I believe the rain will keep the scoring down, because the ball isn't traveling very well off the bat. Starting pitchers next.
7:29 p.m. -- Sorry for the technical difficulties ... it almost was the Rapture for my computer -- I was about to throw it out the window after it dropped my connection to the Internet, then wouldn't let me reconnect. Even though it's the top of the third, I'll pass along the first inning pitching numbers in just a moment. Thanks for your patience!
6:40 p.m. -- Well, that wasn't nearly as quick as I hoped it would be ... but the notebook for Sunday's paper is written. I'm back in the blogging game ... more in a moment.
5:40 p.m. -- Quick update: found out the story about the Mud Hens' fight with Charlotte Thursday and will have it in Sunday's paper. So this is going to take a little longer that I figured. Please be patient ... thanks!
5:10 p.m. -- Well, dinner is served, and I need to put together a notebook for tomorrow's paper ... as news comes up, I'll add it. Otherwise, give me about a half hour or so, OK? Thanks!
5:04 p.m. -- Here is the starting lineup for the Toledo Mud Hens of manager Phil Nevin ... Leading off and playing 2B is Will Rhymes, followed by Danny Worth at 3B, Timo Perez at DH, Ryan Strieby at 1B, Scott Thorman in LF, Ben Guez in RF, Clete Thomas in CF, Cale Iorg at SS and Omir Santos at C. The starting pitcher for the Hens tonight is RHP Thad Weber.
4:59 p.m. -- Let's fire off today's lineups, OK? First for the visiting Pawtucket Red Sox of manager Arnie Beyeler ... Leading off and playing CF is Che-Hsuan Lin, followed by Hector Luna at 3B, Josh Reddick at DH, Lars Anderson at 1B, Brent Dlugach at 2B, Tony Thomas in LF, Luis Exposito at C, Jose Iglesias at SS and Matt Sheely in RF. The starting pitcher for the PawSox is RHP Matt Fox. Hens are next ...
4:54 p.m. -- Interesting to note that even though the Mud Hens are the home team for this game, the Red Sox are the better-rested team. Toledo flew in from Charlotte early this morning, while Pawtucket played in Columbus Friday night and then bussed to Toledo after the game. They came here after midnight and got a night's rest. Not to grind it into the dust, but the arrival by Pawtucket last night leaves them fresh enough to take batting practice before today's game, while the Hens were allowed to arrive late in the clubhouse and won't take full BP.
4:48 p.m. -- By the way, I've got a lot of news, so I'll be going hot and heavy for these first few minutes. The biggest news: LHP Charlie Furbush has been promoted to Detroit to take the spot of LHP Brad Thomas, who was put on the disabled list. Furbush was expected to start Sunday against Pawtucket; his spot in the rotation will be taken by LHP Ramon Garcia, who began the season with the Hens but was sent to Double-A Erie on April 21. Garcia was 0-1 with an 11.25 ERA in two appearances with the Hens and was 1-1 with an 8.74 ERA in seven appearances (including one start) for the SeaWolves.
4:45 p.m. -- Welcome to the first game of the Mud Hens' new homestand ... and an experiment. Usually I put the newest posts on this blog at the top, so people reading in-game can get the newest info first. Instead, I'm going to try something new and add the posts at the bottom. Please tell me which you like better, and that's the way we'll do it in the future, OK? Click on the "comment" button at the bottom of this file and let me know. And here we go ...
3:50 p.m. -- I'm heading down to the clubhouses for a few interviews ... I'll have the lineups when I return. But while you wait, here's some reading material. Click on this link to read the series preview of the Pawtucket series. Happy reading!
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