Lansing - The Lansing Lugnuts had a bad combination Sunday - no hitting and poor pitching.
The Lugnuts (27-28) lost 7-0 to the Peoria Chiefs at Oldsmobile Park, 505 E. Michigan Ave., and have dropped the first two games of the series by a combined score of 22-2.
“They’re a good hitting team,” Lansing manager Julio Garcia said. “They’re aggressive and they put the ball in play.
“It was hard for us to overcome today.”
The Lansing bats were stifled by Peoria right-hander Richie Burgess. Burgess (4-3) allowed three hits and no walks in eight shutout-innings for the win.
Lansing first baseman Brad Bouras said Burgess did most of his damage with his curveball and change-up pitches.
“He had a lot of good off-speed pitches and he kept them all down in the strike zone,”Bouras said. “If the umpire is calling them strikes there’s nothing much you can do, except try to swing at them and you can’t hit those balls hard.”
Garcia said his team’s inability to get hits when runners were in scoring position was key. The Lugnuts had only three hits, but all were doubles that came with one out or less.
“We just couldn’t scratch a run across,” Garcia said. “I think it might have been a little different game if we would have scored that first run early on. It would have given us a little bit of confidence and momentum.”
With Lansing trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Lugnuts second baseman Ronny Cedeno hit a lead-off double. Third baseman Corey Slavik followed with a grounder to second that moved Cedeno to third. Then, Burgess retired the next two batters, stranding Cedeno at third.
The Chiefs (33-21) would add to their lead with a three-run fifth inning.
With one out and runners on second and third, a sacrifice fly by Peoria right fielder Tim Lemon made the score 2-0. The Chiefs would get the next two runs on back-to-back RBI-doubles by third baseman Gabe Johnson and shortstop John Nelson. Johnson was 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs. Nelson was 2-for-3 with one run and an RBI.
Lansing left-hander Carmen Pignatiello gave up six runs - five earned - on 13 hits in six and one-third innings. The 13 hits were the most Pignatiello (5-3) has given up this season.
Garcia said Pignatiello did not pitch as bad as his stat line suggests. He said the Chief batters just took advantage of his mistakes.
“He got a couple balls up,” Garcia said.
“And obviously that’s what hurt him. And unfortunately for him, that’s all it took.”
The Lugnuts will look to get back in the series at 7:05 p.m. today at Oldsmobile Park. The probable starter for the contest is right-hander Sergio Mitre (2-6).
