Mud Hens bash Saints 12-4 behind Workman, Jung homers

Jace Jung did more than finish off St. Paul on Monday night. He turned a comfortable Mud Hens lead into a blowout with one swing, unloading a grand slam in the seventh inning to punctuate Toledo’s 12-4 win at Fifth Third Field and strengthen the case that his bat belongs in the conversation Detroit has to keep having.

Toledo opened fast and never really let the Saints breathe. Gage Workman put the Mud Hens in front with a three-run homer to right-center in the first inning, his seventh of the season, and that early burst set the tone for a night in which Toledo kept forcing St. Paul to chase. The Saints entered play 23-36 all-time in Toledo, and that history looked relevant early as the Mud Hens grabbed control before the game settled into a rhythm.

St. Paul did make it uncomfortable for a stretch, cutting the deficit to 3-2 in the third and fourth innings. But Toledo answered in the fourth with the kind of inning that separates a nice lead from a finished game. Ben Malgeri started it with a double, Max Anderson drove him in, Eduardo Valencia followed with another RBI double, and Corey Julks capped the frame with a two-run homer to left-center, his 12th blast of the year, for a 7-2 edge.

That was already enough cushion for most teams. Toledo still had more. Trei Cruz doubled to lead off the sixth, then scored when Jung lined a single to extend the lead. The decisive swing came an inning later, after the Mud Hens loaded the bases with one out on a walk to Max Anderson and back-to-back singles by Cruz and Valencia. Jung then sent one the other way over the left-field wall for a grand slam, his ninth home run of the season, pushing the score to 12-4 and ending any remaining suspense.

That is the part of Jung’s Triple-A case that matters now. He is 25, a left-handed hitter who throws right-handed, the 12th overall pick by Detroit in 2022 and the brother of Rangers infielder Josh Jung. He is not just collecting good nights in a crowded Toledo lineup with names like Workman, Valencia, Cruz, Anderson, Julks and Malgeri. He is delivering impact in the exact moments that force a front office to ask harder questions about what comes next.

The six-game series continued Wednesday night at 6:05 p.m. CT, with St. Paul slated to start major league rehabber Mick Abel and Toledo countering with Justin Verlander. For one night, though, the loudest answer belonged to Jung.