Loons Win 10-1 With Circus-Like Sixth

LANSING, Mich. – In a sixth inning that saw nine Great Lakes (10-11) runs plated on two hits, the Loons defeated the Lansing Lugnuts (10-11) by a final score of 10-1 Thursday night. Ryan Ward and Leonel Valera combined for four runs brought in on two hits in a top of the sixth that saw 13 batters come to the plate. Jesus Vargas (W, 2-2) lasted five innings in his second start of the year, giving up a solo homerun to Shane Selman as the only Lansing run provided.

Miguel Vargas finished 2-for-4 with a pair of base hits, his eighth multi-hit performance of the season. Vargas pushes his on-base streak to 15 games that spans back to the opening series versus Dayton (5/7) and raises his batting average to .306. A seven-game hit streak closes for Andy Pages, but the outfielder kept his now 18-game on-base streak alive with a walk in the sixth. GL batters finished 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Vargas’s five-inning start is the second-consecutive quality start for Loons’ starters, their third of the year. Morgan Cooper held the Lugnuts hitters silent with a perfect two innings. Ryley Widell put a bow on Thursday’s game, also allowing no earned runs in the final two innings.

Great Lakes scored first for the 12th time this season in their 21 games, and have scored first in all three games in Lansing. James Outman led off the third with a base hit off Lansing’s Seth Shuman, and would steal second and third to move into scoring position. A Ryan Ward sacrifice fly brought in the game’s first run, as well as end the night for Shuman. Nine runs scored in an inning is a season-high, and came close to topping the franchise record of 11 runs plated by the 2017 Loons in Dayton on August 3.

Richard Guasch (L, 1-1) didn’t allow a run on two hits with three strikeouts entering a sixth inning that started off with an error on Lugs’ shortstop Max Schuemann. Eight batters, five runs and three errors later, Guasch’s night would end with eight unearned runs on 78 pitches, 38 of them coming in the sixth. The three Lansing fielding errors prevented seven of the eight runs to be earned, with the lone earned run coming on Valera’s two-RBI single.

Despite a log-jam of a sixth, Thursday’s game at Jackson Field took three hours and two minutes in front of a crowd of 2,109. Thursday’s win is GL’s second-straight against the Lugnuts, giving them a one-game series lead heading into Friday’s contest. Great Lakes has witnessed all three possible outcomes of “win/loss/tie” in three completed series this season, giving five of six games to Dayton, taking four of six in West Michigan, and splitting with Lake County.

Clayton Beeter is scheduled to make his fifth start of the season and first appearance of the series with Friday’s road contest in Lansing. Beeter looks to rebound from his last outing on May 23 against Lake County where he picked up his first loss, as well as his only earned run of the season, in a third of an inning with two walks. Lansing is expected to throw a fellow right-hander, Reed Birlingmair, Friday night. In his three starts, Birlingmair has reached the fifth inning in two of them, striking out 12 and walking six.

Following this week’s trip to the state’s capitol, the Great Lakes Loons return to the full-capacity confines of Dow Diamond to host the West Michigan Whitecaps on June 1. First pitch for Tuesday at Dow Diamond is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. EDT; fans can inquire about tickets at Loons.com.

The Great Lakes Loons have been the Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.