‘Caps Ride Extra Effort to 8-6 Win
LANSING, MI – The West Michigan Whitecaps offense was clicking on all cylinders Tuesday night, as the team clubbed a season-high nine extra-base hits as part of an 8-6 win over the Lansing Lugnuts at Jackson Field. An early onslaught by West Michigan set the tone early, with three extra-base
LANSING, MI – The West Michigan Whitecaps offense was clicking on all cylinders Tuesday night, as the team clubbed a season-high nine extra-base hits as part of an 8-6 win over the Lansing Lugnuts at Jackson Field.
An early onslaught by West Michigan set the tone early, with three extra-base hits in the opening inning, giving the Whitecaps a lead they never relinquished. Seven of the Whitecaps nine starters collected hits of the extra-base variety, which was the most in a game by the ‘Caps since they collected 11 as part of a 15-4 victory over these Lugnuts at Jackson Field on July 19 of last season.
The Whitecaps hit Lansing with an early offensive barrage, collecting four hits from their first five batters, as an RBI triple by Roberto Campos got West Michigan the game's first run in the opening frame. Garrett Pennington and Ricardo Hurtado followed with run-scoring doubles to extend West Michigan’s lead to 3-0. Lansing countered with a pair in the bottom of the frame when Athletics Top 10 Prospect Devin Taylor lofted a two-run opposite field home run to bring the Lugnuts within a run at 3-2. The score remained the same until the fourth, when Hurtado blasted a solo home run – his first as a Whitecap – onto the left field lawn to extend the ‘Caps lead to 4-2.
Back-to-back doubles popped up again in the fifth when Junior Tilien banged a fastball off the center field wall before Jackson Strong put one off the right-field padding to increase the ‘Caps lead to 5-3. A leadoff home run in the bottom of the inning by Bobby Boser trimmed the Whitecaps lead to 5-3. Cristian Santana’s sacrifice fly in the sixth gave West Michigan a three-run lead at 6-3. The ‘Caps plated a pair of what turned out to be vital insurance runs with two more in a seventh inning highlighted by Patrick Lee’s run-scoring double off the top of the center field wall to take an 8-3 lead. The Lugnuts, always with a flair for the dramatic, scored a run in the eighth and two more in the ninth before loading the bases and putting the potential winning run on base before reliever Ethan Sloan induced a game-ending groundout by C.J. Pittaro to end the threat and give the Whitecaps the series-opening victory.
West Michigan improves to an even 5-5 on the young season, while Lansing drops to 5-4. Whitecaps reliever Jalen Evans (1-0) gets the first win of his professional career with two innings while striking out three out of the bullpen, while Lugnuts starter Jackson Finley (1-1) took the loss after allowing four runs in 3.1 frames. Hurtado led the offensive explosion by going 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, two runs scored, the home run, and two RBI. Both ‘Caps infielder Woody Hadeen and outfielder Roberto Campos left the ballgame with injuries suffered during the contest.
UP NEXT
The ‘Caps continue this six-game series against the Lansing Lugnuts on Wednesday at 6:05pm. Pitchers Hayden Minton and Steven Echavarria get the starts for Great Lakes and West Michigan. Broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty begins on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 5:50 pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’, and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids, or listen to all the action on whitecapsbaseball.com.