Bullpen fails Mud Hens in loss to Charlotte
VerHagen finishes with no-decision
6/22/2014CHARLOTTE — Twice Toledo rallied to even the score Saturday night. The Mud Hens didn’t have a third comeback, though.
The Charlotte Knights scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to win 5-2 and beat the Mud Hens for a second straight night.
Both starting pitchers had tough-luck no-decisions.
Mud Hens right-hander Drew VerHagen allowed two runs on six hits, struck out three batters, and walked none in seven innings. And left-hander Eric Surkamp threw seven sharp innings for Charlotte — he allowed one run on five hits, struck out seven batters, and walked one.
The Knights won the game in the eighth, when Toledo’s bullpen surrendered three runs.
Mud Hens reliever Mike Belfiore (2-3) took the brunt of the damage in the loss. Jordan Danks hit an RBI single, and Andy Wilkins drove in another run on his second double to put Charlotte up 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth.
Belfiore gave up three runs — including one that scored on reliever Justin Miller’s wild pitch — in only two-thirds of an inning.
The Knights struck first in the third inning, when Micah Johnson — who had four hits in four at-bats — singled to drive in a run.
The Mud Hens quickly answered in the top of the fourth. Hernan Perez — the only Mud Hen with two hits — ripped a leadoff double, advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored to make it 1-1 when James McCann grounded out. Charlotte later led 2-1 through four innings.
It stayed that way until the top of the eighth inning, when Danny Worth walked, stole second base, then scored on Brandon Douglas’ two-out, line-drive single to center that knotted the score at 2.