Nuts' rally falls short in 9-7 defeat

LANSING, Mich. – Trailing 9-1 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, the Lansing Lugnuts (8-12, 39-46) rallied for six runs before ultimately falling 9-7 to the Great Lakes Loons (12-8, 57-28) on Wednesday night at Jackson® Field™.

Dalton Rushing and Frank Rodriguez homered for the Loons, who overcame an illness-affected starting lineup to take their first win of the six-game series.

With regulars Jake Vogel and Chris Alleyne scratched from the starting lineup due to a bug going through the clubhouse, Great Lakes was forced to use relief pitcher Jack Dreyer as a designated hitter, batting ninth in the order. Dreyer went 0-for-3 with two groundouts and a strikeout, but dropped down a key sacrifice bunt to set up a two-out, two-run Taylor Young single in the eighth inning, increasing the Loons’ lead from 7-1 to 9-1.

In the bottom of the eighth, CJ Rodriguez doubled off Loons reliever Christian Suarez and moved to third when catcher Frank Rodriguez threw away a T.J. Schofield-Sam dribbler. After a Colby Thomas strikeout and Joshwan Wright popout, Daniel Susac tripled in both Rodriguez and Schofield-Sam, thanks to Max Hewitt overrunning his fly ball into the right field corner. Danny Bautista, Jr. singled home Susac and Junior Pérez doubled home Bautista – aided by catcher Rodriguez losing the ball when attempting to tag out the Lugnuts’ runner at the plate – to bring the Nuts within 9-5. After a Brennan Milone walk, Euribiel Ángeles bounced an RBI single up the middle to knock out Suarez.

Batting for the second time in the inning, CJ Rodriguez delivered a second double on a flair to right field, plating Milone with the Lugnuts’ sixth run of the inning. Carlos De Los Santos hit Schofield-Sam with a pitch, but struck out Thomas to strand the bases loaded.

In the bottom of the ninth, Danny Bautista, Jr. drew a two-out walk from Juan Morillo to bring up Pérez as the game-tying run. But Morillo retired Pérez on a popout to second baseman Kenneth Betancourt to end the game, recording his fourth save.

Lugnuts starter Joelvis Del Rosario allowed seven runs on seven hits and two walks in three innings in the loss, striking out six.

Kumar Nambiar, fresh off a trip to Washington, D.C. to discuss the unionization of Minor League Baseball players at a panel at the White House, followed with three scoreless innings, striking out one while allowing one hit.

Christian Fernandez blanked the Loons in the seventh but allowed two runs in the eighth.

Charles Hall then worked a scoreless ninth, fanning two while allowing a hit and a walk.

The third game of the series is on a Coors Light Thirsty Thursday featuring $2 domestic drafts and $5 craft drafts. Loons lefty Ronan Kopp starts opposite Jake Garland with gates opening at 6 p.m. for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Tickets are available via lansinglugnuts.com or by calling (517) 485-4500 during office hours.

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