Lansing - A dramatic ninth inning comeback on a drizzling Sunday afternoon at Oldsmobile Park allowed the Lugnuts to steal a 4-3 win.
Catcher Carlos Marmol, playing in his first game as a Lugnut after being called up from extended spring training in Mesa, Ariz., tripled in the ninth, driving in two and tying the score at 3. Then with two outs and Marmol on third, shortstop Ronny Cedeno hit a bloop single, falling in among Fort Wayne’s left fielder, shortstop and third baseman, which drove in the winning run.
Lugnuts manager Julio Garcia said it’s good to see his team handle pressure situations so well.
“Anytime you have a come from behind win like that it’s good for our guys and good for our fans,” he said.
Garcia said Marmol could have folded under the pressure, but instead excelled in the spotlight.
“I’m sure he was a little nervous,” Garcia said. “But to get a hit like that at a time like that, I know he has to be ecstatic.”
Garcia said both teams have played each other close all series long.
The Lugnuts (9-8) and the Wizards (10-7) are in the midst of a seven-game home-and-home series, with the final three being played in Lansing. Each of the games has been decided by a single run, thus far.
The Wizards took three of four at home from the Lugnuts, with Lansing winning 7-6 on Thursday, before Lansing opened the three-game portion of the set with a 2-1 win at home Saturday, before Sunday’s win.
Both starting pitchers had strong outings in Sunday’s low-scoring game, with neither picking up the decision.
Angel Guzman threw seven strong innings for Lansing, allowing two runs on four hits, and Wizards starting pitcher Nobuaki Yoshida threw six and one-third innings, allowing one run on seven hits. Both starting pitchers also struck out two.
Reliever Yorkin Ferreras picked up his first win of the season for two-thirds of an inning of work. Fort Wayne closer Anthony Kozol, who had been 8-for-8 in save chances, blew the save and picked up his first loss.
The Wizards scored first, picking up a run on right fielder Cedrick Brooks’s RBI double. Fort Wayne added some cushion to their lead by scoring one on third baseman Jon Benick’s single to right field.
The Lugnuts failed to cash in on a pair of golden opportunities in the first two innings. In the first, Lansing had runners on first and second and failed to score. Fort Wayne worked their way out of a bases loaded jam in the second, getting three consecutive outs to keep the Lugnuts off the board.
Garcia said the wasted chances hurt his team early on and could have been the difference in the game.
“Now you see just how important it is to have the leadoff runner on,” he said. “A lot of things can happen.”
The Lugnuts finally capitalized with runners in scoring position in the eighth and got within one run, 2-1. Left fielder Hector Miliano led off the inning with a double to the right field corner, before scoring on center fielder Buck Coats’s line drive single to center.
Miliano had three hits in the game, two doubles and a single.
Miliano said teams can never count the Lugnuts out of a close game, because they have the hitters to comeback.
“We had chances early; we just didn’t come through,” he said. “But we stayed in it and stayed focused.
“We got in done when we needed to.”
Fort Wayne added what looked to be an insurance run at the time to give them a 3-1 lead in top of the ninth, when Brooks scored from third on relief pitcher Yorkin Ferreras’s wild pitch. But the run didn’t provide enough cushion.
The Lugnuts finish up the series with the Wizards on Monday before embarking on a 12-game road trip before coming home again on May 6. Starting pitcher Sergio Mitre (1-1, 4.70 ERA) takes the hill against the Wizards on Monday, going up against Fort Wayne right-hander Jon Huber (1-1, 7.15).
