A mediocre start to the Lansing Lugnuts’ season carried over to their weekend series with cellarmate South Bend at Oldsmobile Park on Friday and Saturday.
The Midwest League’s two bottom-dwellers split a pair of games in Lansing before heading to South Bend to finish the four-game series Sunday and today, according to the Lugnuts’ front office.
The Lugnuts (3-7) prevailed 5-3 in Friday’s series opener, thanks in large part to a 10-hit barrage from their suspect offense.
But a completely different team showed up Saturday, as the Lugnuts’ poor showing at the plate, in the field and on the mound led to a 10-1 loss and another last-place tie with the Silver Hawks (3-7) in the league.
The Lugnuts’ No. 1 problem Saturday was that their four hits in the game matched the number of errors they made in the field.
They committed three of their four errors in the second inning alone, as South Bend jumped out to an early 3-0 lead.
Then the Silver Hawks exploded for five runs in the top of the third, punctuated by a two-run double by Kervin Jacobo, who had three RBIs in the game, and RBI singles from Luis Terrero and Craig Ansman.
Already down 8-0, outfielder Mike Mallory smacked his first home run of the season off Silver Hawk starter Bill White in the third inning. But that was the only tally the Lugnuts managed to put on the board, as the South Bend pitching staff shut down Lansing.
Renyel Pinto took the loss on the mound for Lansing.
First baseman Blair Barbier did his best to make sure Friday’s game was much brighter for the Lugnuts though, going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs in the series opener.
Lansing stranded eight runners in the game, including leaving the bases loaded in the third, but it got the key hits to produce the runs it needed.
Outfielder Jason Dubois ripped an RBI triple in the fifth, and was brought home by Barbier’s RBI double, giving Lansing a 4-2 lead.
The Lugnuts’ suddenly potent hitting gave starting pitcher Jonathan Leicester all he needed, as he went six strong innings before giving way to excellent relief from Scott Fries and Eric Albright.
The Lugnut bullpen only allowed one hit in its three innings of work, snuffing out any chance of a Silver Hawk comeback as Albright picked up his second save of the young season.
The win was the first of the year for Leicester (1-1)
The Lugnuts finish their four-game series with the Silver Hawks at 7:30 p.m. today and then open a four-game homestand at Oldsmobile Park against Dayton on Tuesday. Game time all four nights is 6:05.
The Lugnuts are in the middle of a stretch in which they play a game on 15 consecutive days.
