Whitecaps Fall on Friday, 9-3
MIDLAND, MI – The West Michigan Whitecaps took an early lead but watched their opponent erupt against their bullpen for the first time in the series as part of a 9-3 loss to the Great Lakes Loons on Friday night at Dow Diamond. Entering play on Friday, West Michigan’s bullpen
MIDLAND, MI – The West Michigan Whitecaps took an early lead but watched their opponent erupt against their bullpen for the first time in the series as part of a 9-3 loss to the Great Lakes Loons on Friday night at Dow Diamond.
Entering play on Friday, West Michigan’s bullpen had been a strength throughout the week, posting a combined ERA of 2.25 in 16 innings pitched. That changed when the Loons broke out against the ‘Caps bullpen with six runs in the span of two innings, pushing Great Lakes to their third straight win of the series.
The Whitecaps plated the game’s first run in the second when Junior Tilien laced a run-scoring single into center field to score Luke Shliger from second base to give West Michigan a 1-0 lead. In the third, the Loons loaded the bases with one out and took advantage of ‘Caps reliever Duque Hebbert with a two-run single by Eduardo Guerrero to put Great Lakes on top by a score of 2-1. A four-run fourth inning for the Loons put the game out of reach, as a throwing error allowed two runs to score before base hits to score single runs by Guerrero and Eduardo Quintero opened a 6-1 lead after four frames. In the sixth, ‘Caps outfielder Jackson Strong stroked his first home run of the season with a two-run blast over the right field wall to trim the deficit to 6-3. The late innings saw the Whitecaps opt to use a position player as a pitcher when outfielder Caleb Shpur tossed the final 1.1 innings of relief and stranded a pair of baserunners to end the seventh. The Whitecaps brought the potential tying run to the plate on multiple occasions during the late innings, but couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it most as the Loons cruised to their third straight win.
The Whitecaps record falls to 13-24 while the Loons improve to 23-13. Jakob Wright (2-1) was solid with five innings of one-run baseball in collecting his second win of the season and first as a starter, while Hebbert (1-2) gave up six runs in 1.2 innings to suffer his second loss of the year. The Whitecaps went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and have combined to hit just .083 (3-for-36) with runners at second and third base this week. The Whitecaps have lost 17 of their last 18 games.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps play the penultimate game of this six-game series at Dow Diamond against the Great Lakes Loons on Saturday night, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:05pm. Rayner Castillo gets the start on the mound for West Michigan against righty Aidan Foeller for Great Lakes. Broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty begins on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 5:50pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’, and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids, or listen to all the action on whitecapsbaseball.com.