Great Lakes still three games under five-hundred
MIDLAND -- In front of 4,417 fans at Dow Diamond, the Great Lakes Loons took control early in Thursday night’s game against the Lansing Lugnuts and received solid work from the hill to win 3-1.
A pair of singles from Leon Landry and Christian Lara led off the first inning and a fielding error by Lansing loaded the pond for the Loons with no outs. Designated hitter Chris Jacobs and catcher Steve Domecus followed with RBI-producing outs; Domecus’ a sac-fly.
“With the bases loaded as a power hitter my job is to drive in runs any way possible,” Jacobs said. “If we put the ball in play right their we get a run either way. It really all started with Leon Landry, and once you have people on base good things just start happening.”
The Loons extended their lead to three in the following inning, when Casio Grider hit a two-out triple and scored on a wild pitch from Lansing’s starter Egan Smith.
Holding the Lugnuts to two hits through six innings was Loons right-handed pitcher Angel Sanchez. The Dominican was close to going scoreless, but allowed one pitch to get away from him that gave Garis Pena a solo homer and the Lugnuts their only run of the game.
“He’s great,” Jacobs said of his pitcher. “I mean every time he goes out there I’m thinking he’s going to throw a no hitter. I think Sanchez is one of our best pitchers here, but he still has things to work on, like we all do.
Stepping in for Sanchez in the seventh was Loons reliever Bret Montgomery, who pitched three scoreless frames to pick up his second save of the season. Montgomery fanned five and walked none.
The Loons were out hit in the contest 6-5, but found the win. The Loons are 2-5 in the second half with still 65 games to go.
The Loons will play game two of their three-game series against the Lansing Lugnuts Friday night at Dow Diamond. Starting on the rubber for the Loons will be RHP Garrett Gould (7-3, 1.70) against Lansing’s RHP Casey Lawrence (5-7, 4.32).
