Locos fall short in ninth to Whitecaps, 8-6

LANSING, Ind. – Trailing by five late, the Lansing Locos (5-4) rallied to put the tying and winning runs on base, but the West Michigan Whitecaps (5-5) escaped with an 8-6 win on Tuesday night at Jackson® Field™.
Devin Taylor and Bobby Boser each went 3-for-5 with their first home runs of the season – a two-run opposite-field shot for Taylor in the first inning, a 419-foot blast to center for Boser in the fifth – to extend their on-base streaks to nine games in the loss.

For seven innings, Taylor’s and Boser’s roundtrippers were Lansing’s only offense. Down 8-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Taylor drew a leadoff walk from Luke Stofel and scored four batters later on a C.J. Pittaro RBI single.

Facing Ethan Sloan in the ninth, Boser led off with a single against and came home on a one-out Davis Diaz RBI double, carving the deficit to 8-5. A Taylor single moved Diaz to third and a Dylan Fien single scored, bringing the Locos within two and putting the tying runs on.
Rodney Green, Jr. lined out hard to left for the second out, but Jared Sprague-Lott walked to load the bases and put the winning run aboard. That brought up Pittaro, who sent a chopper up the first base line. Garrett Pennington fielded the ball behind the bag and fed pitcher Sloan at first just before Pittaro arrived, ending the game by half a step.

Lansing starter Jackson Finley received the loss, striking out five while allowing five and four runs in 3 1/3 innings.

West Michigan’s offense was led by catcher Ricardo Hurtado, who went 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI double, one of seven Whitecaps doubles.

20-year-old Lansing right-hander Steven Echavarria starts the second game of the six-game homestand, opposed by West Michigan right-hander Hayden Minton on Jackie Robinson Day/Page Fence Giants Night. Gates open at 5 p.m. for a 6:05 p.m. start. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.

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