Peyton Graham just set a new single season stolen base record for the Erie SeaWolves, swiping his 59th and 60th bags of the year! What a blur this dude is on the basepaths. He’s absolutely electric out there. Unfortunately, that incredible individual achievement wasn’t enough to carry the SeaWolves, who ended up falling 7-6 to the Altoona Curve after their pitching staff let them down late.
SeaWolves Speed and Power Can’t Overcome Late Game Blues
Talk about a rollercoaster game, man. Woody Hadeen got things rolling for Erie, drawing a walk and immediately swiping second. Thayron Liranzo singled him home and took second himself on the play. Peyton Graham lined out, but E.J. Exposito then singled in Liranzo, giving the SeaWolves an early 2-0 lead. But the pitching just couldn’t hold it. Carlos Peña got the start and immediately gave up a solo shot in the bottom of the first, then three more runs in the second. Oof.
Zyhir Hope tried to swing the momentum back, launching an absolute nuke of a moonshot over 400 feet to open the third inning, sailing over the batter’s eye in center field. That’s a serious blast! Liranzo followed with a single, but was left stranded. Peña allowed one more run in the bottom of the fifth before his outing ended, making it 5-2 Altoona. The SeaWolves clawed back in the sixth when Roberto Campos singled with two outs and then Seth Stephenson crushed his second homer of the year, tying the game up. In the top of the ninth, Erie looked like they had it! Hadeen and Hope singled, and a sacrifice fly from Liranzo plated the go-ahead run. But it all fell apart, with Graham striking out and Exposito popping out to end the rally, and then the Curve walked it off in the bottom half. So tough to watch them come so close!
Mud Hens Mired In Misery, Gipson-Long Struggles Again
Over in Triple-A, it was another rough night for the Toledo Mud Hens, falling 8-3 to the St. Paul Saints. Sawyer Gipson-Long got absolutely mauled on the mound again, giving up three homers and four runs in the bottom of the first alone. Man, that first season after Tommy John surgery can be brutal, but it’s getting harder to see how this right-hander is gonna keep his 40-man roster spot much longer if this keeps up. He ended up with 4.2 innings pitched, giving up 5 earned runs, 7 hits, a walk, and 5 strikeouts.
The Hens tried to chip away. In the third, Seby Zavala drew a leadoff walk, Max Burt doubled him to third, and a Cal Stevenson ground out scored him to make it 4-1. Max Anderson led off the fourth with a double and moved to third on a John Peck single in his first game back off a rehab stint. Peck drew an errant pickoff throw, allowing Anderson to score, but that’s all they’d get. Gipson-Long gave up another solo shot in the fourth, pushing it to 5-2. In the seventh, they closed the gap a bit when Josue Briceño singled off the wall in right with two outs and Peck smoked an opposite field double to move him to third. Good to have Peck back, he’s definitely going to be a factor in 2027. A wild pitch scored Briceño, but again, they just couldn’t sustain the rally. Hayden Minton’s second outing as a reliever went poorly, surrendering two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Jack Little gave up another run in the eighth, helped by a passed ball on Zavala, and that was that. Peck went 2-3 with a double and a strikeout, and Anderson was 2-5 with a run, a double, and a strikeout.
The Mud Hens are back at it on Wednesday, 8:07 p.m. ET in St. Paul. They’ve gotta find a way to get the pitching sorted out and finally string together some consistent offense if they want to turn things around. What’s it gonna take for these guys to grab a win and hold onto it?
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Bless You Boys.
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