Guerrero homers in 6-5 loss

LANSING, Mich. - Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. drilled his sixth home run of the season, but the Lansing Lugnuts' (5-9, 42-38) offense fell quiet after the fifth inning in a 6-5 loss to the West Michigan Whitecaps (10-4, 55-26) on Wednesday night at Cooley Law School Stadium.

Both teams scored three runs in the first inning and two runs in the fifth inning, with a Whitecaps fourth-inning tally holding up as the difference.

West Michigan relievers John Schreiber and Eduardo Jiménez(Save, 2) combined to hurl four scoreless innings, facing the minimum - Nick Sinay reached on an infield single in the eighth, but was caught stealing.

Lansing starter Andy Ravel (Loss, 5-3) pitched six innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out one. Juliandry Higuera followed with three scoreless frames, giving up one hit and recording four strikeouts.

Whitecaps starting pitcher Alfred Gutierrez(Win, 7-4) gave up seven hits and five runs in five innings, victimized by a Nash Knight three-run double and Guerrero's solo home run.

The Lugs' final run was brought in by the debuting Mattingly Romanin , who walked, singled, and delivered Knight with an RBI grounder in the fifth following a triple.

The Lugnuts' record fell to 2-9 against the Whitecaps in the season series.

Bo Bichette , baseball's leading hitter, went 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored, dropping his batting average to .383.

Lugnuts right fielder Sinay added to his league-leading HBP total, going 1-for-2 with two more plunkings, giving him 22 hit-by-pitches in only 37 games.

The two teams have split the first two games of their three-game series, setting up a rubber match on a Labatt Thirsty Thursday. Right-hander Mike Ellenbest (3-5, 6.78) starts against Whitecaps All-Star left-hander Gregory Soto (6-1, 2.61) at 7:05 p.m., with $2 beers/sodas and half off all craft beers. 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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