Toledo Mudhens defeat the Louisville Bats in International League action

The Toledo Mudhens the Detroit Tigers AAA minor league team is in the midst of a bad season with a record of 42-68 going into Monday nights game against the Louisville Bats.  This team is the top farm team for the Detroit Tigers and play their games in downtown Toledo in a 11 year ballpark.  This beautiful facility is called 5/3 Field and it is about 2 hours and 45 minutes from the Great Lakes Bay region.  The Mudhens have drawn sellout crowds on a routine basis with 316 sellouts to date in the 10 1/2 years.

The Louisville Bats (Cincinnati Reds) would be the competition this evening.  Both teams came in with idenitial records.  The Bats starting pitcher would be 38 year old Brett Tomko would be making another attempt to return the majors.  Tomko who is a 14 year MLB veteran would end up pitching 5 innings and giving up 5 runs in the back and forth game.   The Mudhens would end up scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 11th inning to win the game 10-9.  Luis Marte would end up winning the game with 1.2 innings in relief.  Marte has spent time up with the parent team earlier this season. 

Detroit Tiger Andy Dirks would go 0 for 6 on the evening.  Leading hitters for the Mudhens were Danny Worth with two hits.   Danny Dorn and Jerad Head each would knock out 3 hits in the 11 innings game.  This game would see the Bats use 8 pitchers and the Mudhens using just 4 pitchers. 

The Mudhens have seen an extremely high number of transactions with their parent club the Detroit Tigers in 2012.   To date their has been 120 transactions with moving players up and down.  Players that are injuried in the MLB often will come down to Toledo for an injury rehab assignment to get them back in playing condition.  The Mudhens are managed by former Detroit Tiger and 12 year Major League veteran Phil Nevin.  Nevin is in his second season leading the Mudhens.  He someday might be the replacement for Tiger manager Jim Leyland.  All in all if you get a chance to visit 5/3 field in Toledo by all means do so.