Mud Hens drop series finale at Omaha

PAPILLION, Neb. — The Toledo Mud Hens dropped their fifth out of six games Sunday at Omaha, losing 6-3 as the teams enter the All-Star break.

Toledo (42-50) led 3-1 entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Omaha, however, rallied for five runs before setting the Mud Hens down quietly in the ninth to secure the victory.

The Storm Chasers (59-32) batted around in the eighth. John Rave and Nate Eaton opened the inning with back-to-back doubles, with CJ Alexander’s infield grounder driving Rave home. Nelson Velazquez’s sacrifice fly sent Eaton home to tie things before a fielding error and a Ryan Fitzgerald base hit set up a Devin Mann RBI single that plated Tyler Gentry with the go-ahead run.

Omaha finished out the inning with a two-RBI single by Brian O’Keefe. All the runs came off of Sean Guenther (3-3, second blown save), who replaced Easton Lucas at the start of the eighth.

After Omaha opened scoring in the fourth inning on a Gentry double that drove Eaton home, Toledo tied things in the seventh on an Akil Baddoo single that drove home Drew Maggi. Andrew Navigato then connected on a two-run home run, his 12th of the season, in the eighth to give the Mud Hens their 3-1 advantage.

The eighth-inning blowup negated a strong pitching effort from Mud Hens starter Matt Manning. He allowed one run on three hits in six innings of work, striking out four and walking two.

Omaha reliever Steven Cruz (5-1) picked up the victory despite yielding the Navigato home run. Miguel Diaz earned his fourth save.

The Mud Hens are off until Friday, when they begin a nine-game homestand with a 7:05 p.m. contest against St. Paul.