Nido powers Toledo to 13-1 victory over St. Paul

Toledo, OH – The Toledo Mud Hens defeated the St. Paul Saints in dominant fashion on Saturday night at Fifth Third Field, cruising to a 13-1 victory.

Toledo sent Tanner Rainey to the mound to open the game, entering with a 1-0 record and 2.81 ERA. St. Paul countered with Pierson Ohl, who came in 0-1 with a 2.82 ERA.

After a scoreless first, the Hens’ offense came alive in the second. Back-to-back singles from Eduardo Valencia and Kevin Newman set the stage, and Tomás Nido delivered with a three-run homer to give Toledo the early lead.

Rainey worked two innings, allowing just one hit and striking out five before being replaced by RJ Petit. Petit threw two scoreless innings, giving up one hit with three strikeouts.

The bats exploded in the fourth with a six-run inning. Nido stayed hot with an RBI double, followed by RBI singles from Justyn-Henry Malloy, Jace Jung, Max Anderson, and Valencia to make it 9-0.

Wilkel Hernandez took over in the fifth and pitched two strong innings. Meanwhile, the offense added two more runs, highlighted by an RBI double from Parker Meadows.

St. Paul finally broke through in the sixth with three singles to push across their lone run. Toledo answered back in the seventh when Hao-Yu Lee launched a solo homer and Valencia doubled to set up another run, pushing the lead to 13-1.

From there, the bullpen closed it out as the Mud Hens secured a convincing win on all fronts.

Notables:

Tomás Nido: 3 R, 2 H, 4 RBI, HR

Justyn-Henry Malloy: 2 R, 2 H, 2 RBI

Hao-Yu Lee: 2 R, 2 H, 2 RBI, HR

Eduardo Valencia: 1 R, 3 H, 1 RBI

Tanner Rainey: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 5 K

The Mud Hens will look to split the series in Sunday’s finale against St. Paul. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.