Wilborn stellar as Loons earn 1-0 triumph
MIDLAND -- With only one run on three hits, the Great Lakes Loons survived for the 1-0 win Thursday, in a game highlighted by the defenses, as Loons starter Greg Wilborn and Dayton's Tim Crabbe didn't give batters an inch.
Wilborn, who was coming off of a rough outing in South Bend where he allowed four runs in three innings on four hits and five walks, spent the last week trying to forget his last start and prepare for Thursday’s at Dow Diamond.
“When you have a rough start like I did in South Bend, you kind of have to sit on it for five or six days, and it kind of gets to you,” Wilborn admitted. “The hardest part of pitching is sitting on your past outing…you’ve got to work even harder and figure out what was wrong that last day and my main goal this past week was to figure out what caused me to walk all of those guys.”
The 23-year-old southpaw didn’t show any signs of having another South-Bend-like outing, an instead fanned eight Dragons and walked two over seven innings of scoreless baseball to pick up his third win with the Loons this season.
“It’s a big boost,” he said of the win. “You always want to have a good start like this…I worked hard [last] week and just went out there and tried to throw strikes and get ahead and let my defense play behind me. And they played really well.”
Helping out Wilborn by playing shortstop was Christian Lara, who made his return to the Loons line-up after missing 20 games on the disabled list. Loons manager Juan Bustabad was also glad to welcome Lara back.
“[Lara] brings a lot of leadership to this team and we really missed him when he was out,” Bustabad said. “He pumps up the guys in the dugout, he pumps them up on the field, he’s just a leader. He’s like Derek Jeter for the Yankees; he’s a team captain out there and we’re a totally different team when he plays.”
Though the Loons only found three hits in the game, all off of Crabbe, they manufactured a run in the fifth inning by scoring Rafael Ynoa on a Brian Ruggiano sacrifice fly. Reliever Steve Ames threw for two hitless innings to preserve the shutout and notch his 13th save of the season.
On Friday, the Loons (79-42) will conclude their three-game series against the Dayton Dragons. Great Lakes sends RHP Josh Wall (7-6, 3.72) to the mound, while RHP Daniel Corcino (1-0, 1.64) will go for Dayton. The Bucket Boys will be performing during the game, presented by Charter Communications.
The Great Lakes Loons are a fourth-year Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and members of the Midwest League. For more information about the Loons, visit Loons.com or call 989-837-BALL.
