Wathan, Buffalo blast Mud Hens
6/3/2005BUFFALO - No mas, and while they're at it, adios.
The Toledo Mud Hens have Buffalo in their rear-view mirrors and will not be eager to return any time soon. Although if they were to meet the defending IL champion Bisons again, it would be with the Governor's Cup on the line.
If so, they'd better hope for a better outcome than yesterday's 13-1 dismantling handed them by the Bisons before 6,237 at Dunn Tire Park.
And if so, the Hens will hope for better fortune than they suffered during this nightmarish four-day stay that resulted in three lopsided losses and an extra-inning win, and a complete shredding of their usually proficient mound corps.
"We're glad to get out of here," said Hens manager Larry Parrish, whose club was outscored 46-17. "We ran into a hot club. Every mistake we made, they hit it over the fence."
That would be 14 home run balls served up to the Bisons in four days. Yesterday, Bisons catcher Dusty Wathan, enjoying the game of his career, slammed three, upping his season total to seven.
"When he hits three," said Parrish, who himself accomplished the feat four times in his big league career, "you better start buying lottery tickets."
With his father John Wathan, the former Kansas City Royal, in attendance, Wathan knocked in a club-record nine runs, beginning with a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth off Hens starter Kenny Baugh (4-4).
"I just got some good pitches to hit today," he said, "and got them in the air. They all went over the fence, I guess."
Wathan gave the Bisons a 2-0 lead after Toledo had squandered a gilded bases-loaded opportunity with no outs in the top of the fourth.
"They were all fastballs," said Wathan, whose three-run blast off Baugh in the fifth blew the game wide open.
Baugh, who had been one of Toledo's most durable and reliable pitchers, left after that. It was the first time Baugh had failed to give the Hens five full innings.
Reliever Mike Bynum pitched three innings and gave up five runs, including a grand slam to Wathan in the eighth.
First baseman Mike Hessman finished on the mound for the Hens. Bisons starter Francisco Cruceta (5-1) was the beneficiary of Wathan's power display.
The Hens will move on to Scranton tonight for a four-game set with the Red Barons. Right-hander Sean Douglass (7-1, 3.00) will get the start for the Hens, who will be bolstered by the addition of first baseman Carlos Pena, who was optioned to them by Detroit on Tuesday.
Also, right-hander Fernando Rodney will begin a rehab assignment with the Hens tonight and will pitch. He can spend as many as 20 days with the team.