Baseball is back in Toledo.
On a rainy Friday, the skies cooperated long enough for the Mud Hens to get in their Opening Day game against St. Paul.
With the backdrop of a city-wide celebration, Toledo won 7-4 thanks to 13 hits, three by rehabbing Tiger Tyler Nevin, and a three-run homer from Andy Ibanez.
While most everything went right on Friday, the home-run ball ruined the Mud Hens' chances of two wins in a row as they fell 6-1 on Saturday after giving up four home runs.
The final game of the three-game set was close throughout, but after Zack Short's homer put the Mud Hens ahead, two runs in the eighth inning from St. Paul secured a 4-3 win and dropped Toledo's record to 1-2 after the opening weekend of the season.
Before the Mud Hens open up their road campaign with six games in Omaha (3-0), here are some takeaways from the opening series:
1. Nevin produces in rehab assignment
The fact that Nevin was rehabbing from Detroit gave the Mud Hens a power bat they could use in the middle of the lineup while he is down in Toledo. Nevin came through in that role, hitting cleanup in all three games and producing with six hits in nine at-bats and two RBIs.
He said his primary objective is to maintain a healthy recovery from his oblique injury, but it is nice for Tigers fans to see him hitting while in Toledo. And in the meantime, he is providing a big lift to the Mud Hens’ offense with his production.
When he makes his way back to Detroit, new Mud Hens manager Anthony Iapoce will have to adjust the lineup. Candidates for the cleanup spot are most likely Justyn-Henry Malloy and Andre Lipcius. Lipcius hit fifth in all three games, while Malloy hit sixth.
Malloy has three hits in the first three games and has also walked three times. Lipcius has two hits and a walk so far.
If he wants to keep Lipcius and Malloy in the fifth and sixth spot, respectively, Iapoce could slot Ibanez in at cleanup, as well. He showed he has some pop in his bat during the opening series.
2. Lineup clarity and defensive alignment
Iapoce has some choices to make in the lineup, but he revealed a steady first two-thirds of the order in the opening three games of the season. The top six for all three games was Akil Baddoo, Short, Parker Meadows, Nevin, Lipcius, and Malloy, in that order.
The bottom third of the order is where Iapoce mixed things up, with Donny Sands, Andrew Knapp, Jonathan Davis, Brendon Davis, Ibanez, and Jermaine Palacios each getting at-bats in the 7-9 spots in the order.
Where Iapoce really got creative was by mixing and matching players at different infield positions.
Lipcius played at three different positions in three games (first base, second base, and third base). Short played two games at shortstop and one at second base, and Ibanez made starts at first and second base. Malloy seems to be penciled in at third base when he plays in the field. He served as the designated hitter for one game.
3. Bullpen tested early
Whether by design or by forced hand, the Toledo starting pitchers did not provide long outings in the opening series. In the opener, Brenan Hanifee pitched four scoreless innings and threw 43 pitches before giving way to the bullpen. Reese Olson gave up two homers and three runs in his two innings of work in the second game, and Ashton Goudeau gave Toledo four solid innings (four hits, one run) in the series finale, throwing 60 pitches.
That left a lot of innings for the bullpen to eat up in the opening series as the Mud Hens used four relievers in the opener, five on Saturday, and three on Sunday. That shouldn't be a problem early in the season while the Mud Hens starters build up their workload. But Toledo will need to get more innings out of the starting rotation in order to preserve the bullpen throughout the season.
First Published April 3, 2023, 10:34 p.m.
