Bullpen dominates, Knight walks off

LANSING, Mich. - Rodrigo Orozco forced extra innings with an RBI double in the ninth, Nash Knight delivered a walk-off RBI single in the 12th, and the Lansing Lugnuts (9-16, 46-45) rode a masterful bullpen performance to a 4-3 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (11-14, 37-56) on Monday afternoon at Cooley Law School Stadium.



 
Lugnuts relievers Juliandry Higuera  (2 innings pitched), Andrew Deramo (3 IP) and Jared Carkuff (2 IP; Win, 1-0) combined to work eight scoreless, hitless innings, setting down the final 20 Timber Rattlers batters of the game.

The Nuts' bullpen pitched 14 total innings in the three-game series, all scoreless. Lansing won two of three games, finishing the six-game homestand with a 3-3 mark.

Down 3-2 with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the ninth, Andres Sotillo came through with a double to left-center off Daniel Brown(Blown Save, 2). Orozco followed with a hooking liner down the left field line, bringing in pinch-runner Nick Sinay to tie the game.

In the 12th, Orozco came through again, reaching on an infield single against Miguel Sanchez(Loss, 3-5) and stealing second base. Following a strikeout of Joshua Palacios , Wisconsin intentionally walked Edward Olivares . Sanchez retired Mitch Nay on a flyout to right before Knight dropped a broken-bat single into right field to score Orozco.

It was the Lugnuts' fourth walk-off win of the year.

Orozco, who delivered the game-tying run and scored the game-winning run, reached base five times in all, going 4-for-5 with a walk to raise his batting average to .276.

Lugnuts starter Kyle Weatherly allowed three runs on four hits in five innings in a no-decision, serving up back-to-back solo home runs to Ronnie Gideon and Trever Morrison in the second inning.

The Nuts narrowed a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 on a Mattingly Romanin sacrifice fly in the fifth and a Javier Hernandez RBI double in the sixth, setting up the drama late.

A Midwest League off day is scheduled for Tuesday, and then the Lugnuts head on a six-game road trip to Quad Cities and Cedar Rapids stretching from Wednesday, July 19, through Monday, July 24.

The next Lugnuts home game is a Winning Wednesday on July 26 against the Dayton Dragons, opening a seven-game homestand. Tickets may be purchased at the Cooley Law School Stadium box office, by calling (517) 485-4500 or via lansinglugnuts.com.
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