Lugnuts win in walk-off fashion

July 29, 2013

The Lansing Lugnuts defeated the Bowling Green Hot Rods, 6-5, in dramatic walk-off fashion Monday night at Cooley Law School Stadium. The Lugnuts came back from three deficits in the game to take the rubber match of the three-game series and improve their record in the second half to 13-23.

Looking like the division leaders they are, the Hot Rods jumped on Lugnuts starter Ben White early, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning. The Lugnuts, however, retaliated with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second, when first baseman Kevin Patterson started things off with a leadoff double to left field. After advancing to third on a groundout, Patterson would score two batters later on a Carlos Ramirez RBI single. Lansing left fielder Chris Hawkins cashed in Ramirez with an RBI triple, before crossing the plate himself after a pickoff throwing error from Bowling Green catcher Geoff Rowan.

Despite giving up three quick runs, White managed to sort things out and give the Lugnuts six innings of work. He finished the night with four strikeouts and three walks, and was charged with four earned runs in total after Bowling Green managed to tack one more run on and take the lead in the top of the fourth inning. That lead wound up to be short-lived as well, though, as Lugnuts center fielder Dalton Pompey hit a solo home run over the left field wall in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at four.

Left-handed reliever Chad Girodo came in for the Lugnuts in the seventh and got two quick outs, but two singles sandwiched around a walk quickly gave Bowling Green a 5-4 lead. But for the third time in the game, the Lugnuts tied things up the very next inning, as Santiago Nessy hit a two-out double to give the Lugs their fifth run of the game.

After Lugnuts right-hander Ian Kadish pitched a scoreless ninth, Hawkins led off the bottom half of the inning with his second triple of the game. With the game-winning run just 90 feet away, third baseman Kellen Sweeney roped an RBI single down the left field line to score Hawkins and give Lansing the 6-5 victory and a 2-1 series win over the first-place Hot Rods.

The Lugnuts start a two-game series against the South Bend Silver Hawks in Lansing tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m.