Lugnuts close April with wild walk-off 9-8 win

LANSING, Mich. – Three hours and 20 minutes of unpredictable baseball ended with a two-out, bases-loaded Dylan Fien HBP, giving the Lansing Lugnuts (9-15) a 9-8 ten-inning victory over the Dayton Dragons (12-12) in front of a raucous Thursday night crowd at Jackson® Field™.
The game saw Lansing build a 3-0 lead through two innings, Dayton wipe out it out in a flash with a four-run third en route to its own 5-3 lead, which the Lugnuts turned around via a three-run sixth inning.

Second baseman Justin Riemer, who had hit only one home run in his pro career before homering last week at Quad Cities, extended the Nuts’ lead to 7-5 with a solo home run in the eighth inning.

But Cincinnati Reds No. 2 prospect Alfredo Duno launched a two-run homer off Jake Garland with one out in the ninth, and the teams played onward.

In the top of the tenth, Esmith Pineda dropped an RBI single into the Bermuda Triangle in left-center to give the Dragons an 8-7 lead… a lead that didn’t last beyond one pitch into the bottom of the tenth, with Rodney Green, Jr. scorching a single to right off Jonah Hurney to bring in pinch-runner Casey Yamauchi.

After an Ali Camarillo groundout moved Green to second, Riemer drew a walk, and Devin Taylor lined out to right. Bobby Boser followed with a line drive off of bases umpire Tanya Millette, halting play for medical attention to be paid. When the game resumed, Hurney hit Fien with his second pitch, forcing in Green for the Lugnuts’ first walk-off win of the year.

Green finished 3-for-4 with a walk, a double and three runs scored. Riemer also scored three runs, going 2-for-3 with two walks and two RBIs. Boser added a pair of singles and an RBI, extending his on-base streak to 22 games.

Zane Taylor gets the ball for the fifth game of the seven-game series, starting at 6:05 p.m. Friday against Dayton’s Beau Blanchard on Teacher Appreciation Night. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.

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