Pennington, Rainer lead 16-0 rout of Nuts

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. – The West Michigan Whitecaps (24-40) blitzed starter Steven Echavarria for nine runs in the opening three innings en route to a dominant 16-0 rout over the Lansing Lugnuts (29-35) on Thursday night at LMCU Ballpark.

The Whitecaps were blazing hot in front of a raucous home crowd, tallying 16 total hits and three home runs. Garrett Pennington led the way, tallying an RBI single in the first, a two-run homer in the second and a two-run double in the third. Bryce Rainer also made a big contribution, going 3-for-5 at the plate with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored.

In contrast, Lansing’s offense was shut down by the Whitecaps’ pitching staff; the team recorded just three hits in the game courtesy of singles from Carlos Pacheco, Gunner Gouldsmith and C.J. Pittaro. The Nuts also committed four errors, tied for the most in a game this season.

The Lugnuts end the first half with back-to-back losses against a Whitecaps team they’ve struggled against so far this season, going 4-10.

West Michigan pounced early on Echavarria, scoring four runs in the first inning highlighted by a Rainer two-run home run over the left-field wall.

Pennington kept it rolling in the second, smashing his two-run homer into center field to tack more runs on the manual scoreboard that sits in left field at LMCU Ballpark.

In his last two starts, Echavarria has allowed five home runs, three against Cedar Rapids on June 9 and two tonight against the ‘Caps.

West Michigan tallied two more runs off of the starter before his night came to an early end. In total, Echavarria allowed nine runs (six earned) on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts before giving the mound to Gerlin Rosario.

The change in pitcher didn’t help the situation. West Michigan added six more runs to complete an eight-run inning. From there, the ‘Caps coasted to the victory.

Rosario was charged with those six runs (two earned) on six hits with two walks before Tzu-Chen Sha made his first appearance from the bullpen this season after switching to a relief role with the Lugnuts. Sha fired two innings, giving up a run on three hits with four strikeouts.

Riley Huge worked the seventh and eighth innings scorelessly, striking out four.

Lansing starter Samuel Dutton takes the mound for the Lugnuts for the third game of the series on Friday, opposing West Michigan right-hander Lucas Elissalt. The Nuts play the Whitecaps through Sunday, returning to Lansing to host Great Lakes from June 23-28. For tickets and more information, call (517) 485-4500 or visit www.milb.com/lansing.

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