Max Clark keeps rolling as Hens peck the Saints

Toledo Mud Hens 1, St. Paul Saints 0 ( box ) The Mud Hens welcomed back their home crowd with a well pitched game and just enough offense to everyone home quickly and out of the cold with a victory on Tuesday afternoon. Lael Lockhart Jr.

got the start and the lefty set down the Saints in order in the first with help from Max Clark on a sinking drive that he had to go to the ground to snare as it fell in front of him. The Hens quickly got to work in the bottom half. Wenceel Pérez lined out to center, but Clark kept his on-base streak intact with a sharp single to right field.

He then stole second base. Trei Cruz struck out, but Eduardo Valencia walked to keep the inning alive, and Hao-Yu Lee, in his first game back with the Hens after a Lakeland rehab assignment, lined a single to left to make it 1-0 Hens. Clark hasn’t really scorched many balls so far, but he has hit a pair over 110 mph, his hardest hit on record, and his at-bats have uniformly been great.

When we start seeing hard contact to the pull side, Clark will be within striking distance of his first major league cup of coffee. It’s early, but he definitely looks like he’ll be forcing the issue by June at this rate. Max Clark extends his on-base streak to 9 games and has hit safely in 7 straight games on a nice swing to right.