Nuts pitching leads to 3-1 victory over Loons

LANSING, Mich. – Behind the combined work of Jorge Marcheco, Riley Huge and Blaze Pontes, the Lansing Lugnuts ( 9-18, 38-53) tamped down the Great Lakes Loons’ (18-9, 54-37) powerful offense, 3-1, in front of a crowd of 5,384 at JacksonⓇ Field™ on Friday night.

With the recent promotions of starting pitchers Nathan Dettmer, Ben Hansen and Zane Taylor to Double-A Midland since Tuesday, the Lugnuts called upon their bullpen. They answered the call.

“It's just impressive that you take two guys that were in the bullpen to give you seven innings of one-run ball,” said pitching coach Levi Kelly. “Think that kind of speaks for itself, 'cause Marcheco and Huge, both typically bullpen guys, but we lost a couple guys to Double-A, so they were asked to stretch out a little bit, and they tackled that, so it was impressive.”

Marcheco, who entered the game with 17 relief appearances and one brief spot start, allowed a solo home run to Emil Morales in the top of the first – and nothing further, finishing with two hits, two walks and one run allowed in four innings, fanning two.

“He just knows how to pitch, and nothing really sticks out as far as velo or stuff like that, but he knows what he is, and he knows how to use what he has, and he's not afraid to go after guys with what he's got, and he's done that all year for us, especially out of the bullpen, he's been one of the best guys,” Kelly said. “So, excited for him to get that opportunity to start and put together a good one.”

Huge picked it up in the fifth and pitched three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and collecting four strikeouts, before Pontes clinched the win with a scoreless eighth and ninth, allowing two hits and two walks while ringing up four batters.

“Fastball was really good today, so that was the big thing, I think, for me,” Huge said. “Struggled with the changeup early, but got the changeup in there the last inning, so that's what probably got me that zero and made it easier on me. Just being efficient for the most part was big time.”

In two games this week, Huge has a 0.00 ERA, a 0.38 WHIP and six strikeouts over 5.1 innings with two wins to his name.

“He's been pretty locked in as of late,” Kelly said. “For him, the biggest thing is strike one. If he gets strike one, I feel like the at-bat's pretty much over. Once he's 0-1… he can put guys away with a big league change-up and a big league curve ball.”

The Lugnuts tied the game in the second inning without recording a hit. Daniel Bucciero reached on a throwing error by shortstop Morales. Jake Rienisch and Myles Naylor drew walks from Loons starter Zach Root. Bryan Arendt grounded into a double play, scoring Bucciero to tie the game at 1-1.

Lansing notched two more in the third, benefitted by Great Lakes miscues and expert baserunning. With one out, Carlos Pacheco drew a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch from Root, sped to third on a throwing error from catcher Chase Adkison, and scored on a single to center from Jared Sprague-Lott.

Sprague-Lott proceeded to steal second and third base before getting plated by a C.J. Pittaro ground out.

The Loons came close with a rally in the ninth; Logan Wagner led off the inning with a ground-rule double that hopped the fence in right field and advanced to third on a wild pitch from Pontes before Guerrero drew a walk. But Pontes struck out both Jose Meza and Samuel Muñoz to end the game.

“In that spot, I'm like, ‘I'm living and dying with him,’” Kelly said. “He has a lot of experience, especially here last year, I know he put together a really good year. And now that he's back here, I'm living and dying with him in that situation.”

Tucker Novotny is scheduled to make his first start of the season on Saturday evening, facing Loons righty Brady Smith. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. as JacksonⓇ Field™ celebrates Christmas in July, with the first 1,000 fans receiving a Luggie Nutcracker Figurine and LAFCU Fireworks set for after the game. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.

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