Detroit Tigers Weekly Minor League Recap: Dominant Dingler

Detroit Tigers Minor League Recap – Week 2

Erie SeaWolves, 8-4, t2nd (1.5 GB) in the Double-A Northeast, Southeast Division

Erie felt the ripple effects from Detroit’s roster moves, but they were able to work around them and put together a strong 4-2 week against the Akron RubberDucks. The week didn’t start off great, with Erie getting shut out 5-0 to spoil a solid outing from Pedro Payano (5IP, 3H, 5ER, 2BB, 11K). The Wolves bounced back on Wednesday for a 4-0 win thanks to a dominant start from Elvin Rodriguez (5IP, 0H, 0ER, 0BB, 8K) and a career-best three hits from Riley Greene. Infielder Drew Ward (1-for-1, HR, 2BB, 3 RBI) helped Erie jump out to a 6-0 lead, and they held on to win 6-4. There was a scary moment in the 7th inning, though, when Ulrich Bojarski took a 96 MPH fastball right to the face. Fortunately he escaped with “just” a broken nose and some bruising.

The Howlers made it three in a row on Friday when they put together a three-run rally in the 6th to once again win 6-4. Akron blasted Erie on Saturday, pounding out 9 runs on 17 hits, but the SeaWolves took the finale 7-6 behind a career day from Kerry Carpenter (4-5, HR, 3 RBI) and some strong bullpen work from Brad Bass, Max Green, and Gerson Moreno, who combined to throw 6.2 innings while striking out 9, walking none, and giving up just one run.

• Carpenter remains a fascinating player. He was a 19th round pick in 2019 and barely played above rookie ball that year before making the huge jump to Double-A. No one is calling him a prospect, but after a 7-for-20 week he’s batting .324/.350/.568.
• Elvin Rodriguez hasn’t worked deep into either of his starts, but he’s been absolutely dominant so far. He has struck out 45.2% of the batters he has faced this year, opposing hitters are batting just .069 against him, and his 1.25 FIP is the 3rd lowest in the league.
• Veterans Jake Robson and Josh Lester continue to pace the offense. Lester went deep twice and knocked in six runs last week, while Robson went 7-for-18 with four extra-base hits and seven walks to raise his OPS to an absurd 1.349.