Tigers Prospect Daily: Luke Putkonen returns

Charlotte Knights 10, Toledo Mud Hens 4 (box)

Wrapping a road series with a loss is never an easy pill to swallow, but the level of offense produced by Charlotte Wednesday afternoon just couldn't be matched by the Mud Hens. Thad Weber (2-2 7.78 ERA) manned the rubber for Toledo for three innings, allowing eight hits and seven earned runs to the Knights, while striking out two.

Charlotte's offensive surge was led by DH Mike Davidson who went 3-5 against Toledo's pitching staff, posting a pair of double, six RBI and a home run. Newly reactivated rightly, Luke Putkonen submitted an inning of work in relief, walking one and striking out one. Toledo's Mike Hessman and Tyler Collins lead Toledo's offensive efforts with a pair of hits this afternoon, but could not match up to Charlotte's tally of 12 hits, scoring 10 earned runs.

Toledo finishes the series against Charlotte at 1-2 and with the loss, falls to 9-10 on the year; two games out of first place.

Hessman: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, SO
Collins: 2-4, R, RBI
Fields: 1-4, 2B, R, 2 SO
Moya: 0-4, 3 SO
Weber (L): 3.2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO

COMING UP NEXT: Toledo moves on to their next road series kicking off four games against the Atlanta Braves affiliate, the Gwinnett Braves (8-11) beginning Thursday evening. Toledo left hander Mike Belfiore (0-3 7.04 ERA) slated to get the start for the Hens.

Bowie Baysox 13, Erie Seawolves 3 (box)

As the Baysox kicked off the first inning with four quick runs on Wednesday afternoon, it didn't take long for Erie to see that they had just walked into a fight. Right hander, Chad Green (0-3 9.19 ERA) began day for Erie and Bowie showed no mercy. Green was tagged for nine hits, seven earned runs and a home run through three innings of work before exiting.

The Wolves would rotate through a total of five pitchers who combined for an allowed 17 hits and 12 earned runs for the Baysox; setting a season-high hit count for Bowie. Erie reliever, Joe Mantiply wasn't able to fair much better than Green, allowing three earned runs on three hits in one inning of work.

The Wolves went three-up, three down through three innings and was able to wake up the offense in the fourth, courtesy of a two-run double by Corey Jones. With the loss, Erie falls to 6-13, posting their ninth consecutive loss and moving to six and a half game out of first place.

Harrell: 2-4, RBI, SO
Jones: 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, SO
McVaney: 1-3, R, BB, 2 SO
Wells: 0-4, 2 SO
Green (L): 3.0 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO

COMING UP NEXT: The Seawolves will close the month of April with a much-needed day off before hitting the road for a three-game series against the Western league leading, Altoona Curve (12-6).

South Bend Cubs 2, West Michigan Whitecaps 0 (box)

As the South Bend Cubs made their way back to Fifth Third Ballpark Wednesday for an afternoon outing against West Michigan, the pitchers decided to turn the tables and have a little fun of their own; seven scoreless innings from both dugouts, to be exact. West Michigan pitted right hander, Jeff Thompson (0-2 5.30 ERA) against South Bend righty, Jeremy Null (2-0 .079 ERA) and both starters threw a day to be proud of. Null worked through five innings, allowing six hits and retiring six for the afternoon.

Whitecaps' David Gonzalez led the West Michigan team total of seven hits on the day by going 2-4. West Michigan's Michael Gerber tacked on a hit, bringing his consecutive hit streak to five games. Thompson was successful in holding the Cubs scoreless through six innings, but a late rally off a Gleyber Torres triple scored two off reliever, Josh Heddinger and West Michigan was unable to answer back. Heddinger took the loss, allowed two runs on four hits in the eighth while West Michigan falls to 9-11.

Gonzalez: 2-4
Kivett: 1-3, BB, SO
Brugnoni: 1-4, 2 SO
Hill: 0-4, 2 SO
Heddinger (L): 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R

COMING UP NEXT: West Michigan will close out their three-game series with South Bend Thursday at noon in Comstock Park. Series now tied at one apiece.

★★★

The Lakeland Flying Tigers were given a stretch of downtime longer than expected, thanks to a little intervention by Mother Nature on Tuesday evening. Tuesday gave Lakeland their second weather related postponement against Brevard County and they are scheduled to make up the postponement on June 22. Wednesday handed another day of rest to the Flying Tigers with a scheduled day off.

Lakeland will resume regularly scheduled play Thursday evening at home facing the Tampa Yankees (11-9). The Yankees are 6-4 on the road so far this season and could provide a challenge for the Flying Tigers (7-12), who currently stand with a record of 2-9 at home this year.