River Ryan’s first appearance in the Tigers organization showed exactly why Toledo was willing to take its time with the right-hander.
In a 7-3 Mud Hens win over the Iowa Cubs on Wednesday, Ryan worked two scoreless innings and looked sharp doing it. He allowed just two soft hits, at least one of which should have been ruled an out, and struck out two without issuing a walk.
His fastball reached 98.2 mph and sat at 97.1, and he mixed in all six of his pitches during the outing. Ryan is coming back from a right hamstring injury he aggravated when he tried to return with the Dodgers too soon.
Toledo gave him support quickly. The Hens put together a three-run second inning after Corey Julks opened with a walk and was thrown out trying to steal.
Seby Zavala followed with a single, James Outman struck out, and Justice Bigbie added another single. That set up Carlos Pérez, who launched a three-run homer to left for a 3-0 lead.
The offense kept moving in the fourth. Outman worked a leadoff walk, and Pérez delivered again with an RBI double to push the lead to 4-0.
After Ryan exited, Carl Edwards Jr. handled the next stretch and was dominant for most of it. He cruised through his first three innings and struck out the side in the fifth. Toledo added another run in the sixth when Outman doubled, Bigbie singled him to third, and a Pérez double-play ball brought the run home to make it 5-0.
Edwards did run into trouble in the bottom of the sixth, allowing two runs, but he still worked into the seventh before Ty Madden recorded the final out of the inning. The Hens answered back in the eighth when Outman singled in Julks, stole second, and scored on a Bigbie single to make it 7-2. Madden got through the eighth, and Nic Sandlin finished the ninth with a scoreless frame.
Pérez finished 2-for-3 with four RBI, a double and a homer. Outman went 2-for-3 with three runs, an RBI, a double, a walk, a strikeout and a stolen base.
Cruz also chipped in with a 2-for-4 night that included a double and a walk. Ryan was credited with two scoreless innings, while Edwards Jr. earned the win to improve to 6-10.
In Erie, the SeaWolves didn’t get nearly the same kind of pitching night.
Reading rolled past Erie 11-3 as Lucas Elissalt and the bullpen were hit hard on Wednesday. The SeaWolves got off to a good start in the second when E.J. Exposito singled and scored on a Chris Meyers homer to left-center, giving Erie a 2-0 lead.
But Elissalt started losing the strike zone and the game turned fast. He gave up a run in the third, then worked around two walks before the fourth inning unraveled. Aroon Escobar jumped on a 3-1 fastball for a solo home run, and another solo shot later in the inning put Reading in front 3-2.
The fifth brought more damage. Elissalt opened the inning by allowing two singles and a walk, and Colin Fields came on but allowed two of those runners to score.
That made it 5-2 Reading. Fields then got into trouble in the sixth, and Yoniel Curet entered only to give up a three-run homer and then another solo blast.
Thayron Liranzo’s solo homer was the only real bright spot the rest of the way, as Reading kept piling on and Erie couldn’t slow the game down.
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Which Tigers Free Agent Fits Scott Harris Would Actually Chase
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What stands out most is how much the bullpen seems to linger as the most obvious place for Detroit to look, especially after recent trades and other roster considerations have reshaped the picture. Offense remains part of the conversation, but there is still skepticism that the Tigers are ready to make a major swing there, which keeps the focus on more practical additions and on which names the club would actually be willing to pursue. For now, the list of possibilities is long, but the real tell will be which of those options the Tigers treat as more than background noise. [Read more 🡒]
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River Ryans latest step back onto the mound offered a reminder of why so many around the Tigers are keeping an eye on his recovery. In a rehab start for the Mud Hens, he worked two scoreless innings, struck out two and allowed two hits, while his fastball sat in the upper 90s and touched 98.2 MPH. For a club always thinking ahead on pitching depth, that is the kind of update that naturally gets attention.
Detroit still views Ryan as a candidate to return to the major league rotation, with 2027 the broad target in mind, even if the exact role is far from settled. The bigger question is how he fits into a rotation that is still taking shape, and whether this rehab path is the beginning of a straightforward climb back or just the first clue in a longer roster puzzle. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Fans Just Got An Early Look At A Crucial Pitching Piece
River Ryans first start for Triple-A Toledo on Sept. 9 gave Tigers fans an early glimpse of one of the more intriguing pieces to come back in the Tarik Skubal trade. The right-hander worked two scoreless innings, allowed two hits and struck out the first two batters he faced, a tidy introduction for a pitcher Detroit views as a significant arm for the future.
Ryan arrives with plenty of promise and plenty of baggage, too, given his injury history and past surgery. Even so, he is now the top-ranked pitching prospect in the Tigers system, which makes every outing at Toledo worth watching closely as Detroit evaluates what it has in a trade return that could matter for a while. [Read more 🡒]