​Toledo managed only one hit in the series finale, falling 5-0 and finishing the week 2-4. Indianapolis’ Connor Wietgrefe retired the first 13 batters he faced, and Brett Callahan broke up the perfect game with a one-out double in the fifth. Callahan advanced to third on a Jace Jung flyout but never scored. Wietgrefe stayed in through the eighth and did not allow another baserunner. His replacement, Landon Tomkins, walked the first batter he faced, Cal Stevenson, before retiring the next three hitters.
Sawyer Gipson-Long took the loss for Toledo after allowing five runs (four earned) over five innings. He hit two batters and surrendered an RBI single with two outs in the second, sparking a sequence that featured a wild pitch keeping two runners in scoring position before a P.J. Hilson two-run homer — his first with the Indians — plated two more. An error by Stevenson at first base allowed Jhostynxon Garcia to score an unearned run for SGL. Gipson-Long did manage to retire seven of the last eight batters he faced. The Toledo bullpen was solid, delivering three perfect innings with six combined strikeouts. Yilbert Diaz struck out the side in the sixth, Brennan Hanifee faced the minimum in the seventh, and Enmanuel De Jesus produced a pair of strikeouts in a 1-2-3 eighth. Notably, none of Toledo’s four pitchers issued a walk. Line scores highlighted Clark going 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts; Diaz working 1.0 inning with 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts; Gipson-Long taking the loss (2-4) after 5.0 innings, 4 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, and a home run allowed.
Coming Up Next: Toledo returns from the All-Star Break on Friday at 7:05 p.m. for a three-game home series against the Gwinnett Stripers.
Erie’s series against Harrisburg ended with a 3-2, extra-innings win that kept them in a tie. Justice Bigbie delivered the heroics in the 10th, singling home Viandel Pena for the decisive run. Pena wasn’t the automatic runner on second to start the inning, though; Patrick Lee started the frame on second and was caught in a pickle between third and home while attempting to score on a ball back to the mound. Bigbie managed to come through, as Seth Stephenson reached on an error to reach base before him, and the situation worked out in the end.
But how did they reach extras? Erie had held a 2-1 lead from the fifth through the ninth. The save attempt by Tanner Kohlhepp unraveled in the strangest fashion. Johnathon Thomas tapped a ground ball to third with Maxwell Romero Jr. on second. Romero charged toward the bag as E.J. Exposito waited for the ball, standing in the basepath near the bag, which forced Romero to collide with him, albeit softly. The ball got by Exposito because he was pushed out of position, allowing Romero to score as Max Burt retrieved the ball. The throw to home would have nailed the runner, but it sailed into Romero’s legs, making the play safely in time for the overtime. The SeaWolves’ manager Tony Capu c cil li argued the call, but the umpires did not overturn it. The bizarre sequence helped set up the late-inning drama that produced Erie’s extra-innings win.