Wunderlich leads the road team with 3 hits
MIDLAND -- The Great Lakes Loons hit two home runs to score five runs against the Bowling Green Hot Rods Tuesday Night, but the home team came up short of a win, losing 8-6 before a Dow Diamond crowd of 4,973, which included legendary Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda.
Down 1-0, Loons left fielder Bobby Coyle gave the Loons a two-run advantage in the bottom of the first with a deep home run to right field. Coyle swung on the 1-1 pitch to drive the ball out of the park, officially estimated at 424 feet.
Bowling Green tied up the game in the third inning on a Phil Wunderlich RBI-double and a bases-loaded walk issued from Loons starter Greg Wilborn. The Loons left-handed starter made his first start of the year for the Loons after collecting a 4-2 record with a 3.26 ERA in seven starts for the team in 2010. Wilborn went three innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on four hits with five strikeouts and three walks. The lefty joins the Loons after starting the year in High-A Rancho Cucamonga.
Wilborn was relieved in the fourth inning by Raul Burgos, who surrendered three runs across 2.2 innings of work and was pegged with the loss, his third. Burgos allowed two RBI-singles in the fourth to put Bowling Green up 5-3 and then walked three in the sixth to set up Steve Tinoco for an RBI-groundout. John Housey pitched the final 3.1 innings for the Loons, in which he gave up two runs.
“Bowling Green is a good club,” Loons manager John Shoemaker said after the game. “They don’t waste a lot of at-bats. They may strike out or make an out but they don’t swing at a ton of bad pitches and they make you pitch well to get them out.”
The Loons attempted a comeback in the final two innings of the game, starting with a two-run homer from Steve Domecus in the eighth. The ball was hit out to left field and was Domecus’ third dinger of the season. In the ninth, Loons centerfielder Leon Landry slapped a double to the right-field gap to score Great Lakes’ final run.
Bowling Green used four pitchers to limit the Loons to six runs on six hits with reliever Victor Mateo getting the win after pitching 3.2 innings. Nate Garcia collected his third save by pitching just one out, the final one of the game, with the tying run at the plate.
The Loons will face Bowling Green in a rubber match Wednesday at Dow Diamond as the two battle for the series win, currently tied 1-1. The Loons will send RHP Zach Lee (5-1, 3.47) to the mound against Bowling Green’s RHP George Jensen (7-2, 4.68). Wednesday night marks another one of Dow Diamond’s $1 Family Feast Nights presented by Chemical Bank, where hot dogs, 16 oz. Coke products and ice cream sandwiches are $1 each.
The Great Lakes Loons are a fifth-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.
