MWL1 Great Lakes Loons

Loons Hang on for Series-Opening Win

July 10, 2013 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Great Lakes Loons News Release


MIDLAND, Mich. - The Great Lakes Loons (41-49, 14-6) held off a ninth-inning rally from the Burlington Bees (31-53, 5-14) to earn a 5-4 win in the first game of the Loons' six-game homestand Wednesday at Dow Diamond. With runners at the corners, Great Lakes reliever Craig Stem was able to get Bees designated hitter Pedro Toribio to ground out to Loons third baseman Brandon Dixon to get Great Lakes the win.

"First of all, it's a good win to get," Loons manager Razor Shines said. "It was a little tighter than we anticipated going into the ninth inning, but we got a couple of key hits and they made some mistakes that we benefited from. That's what good teams do; they get their foot in the door and try to get through it."

Julio Urias started the game for the Loons, but the 16-year-old's innings are being closely monitored and he was done after just one inning in which he struck out a batter and hit another.

The Loons got things started offensively in the second inning when Aaron Miller led off with a single and scored on a Jose Capellan ground ball that got by Bees third baseman Sherman Johnson. Capellan and Jeremy Rathjen later scored on a Robbie Garvey bloop single off of Bees starter Nic DellaTorre, giving the Loons a 3-0 lead.

"Since it was a lefty on the mound, I just wanted to let the ball get deep and stay on it," Garvey said. "I knew they were going to come with off-speed stuff, so I was just trying to stay on the ball and drive it the other way. You just want to bear down and not get beat."

The 30th round pick of Los Angeles Angels went five innings for the Bees, giving up five runs, all of which were unearned, on six hits, while walking three and striking out two.

Anthony Bemboom led off the top of the fifth inning for Burlington by hitting a 330-foot home run to right field on a 2-1 pitch from Geoff Brown (8-1). It was Bemboom's sixth of the season and cut the Loons lead to 3-1.

Brown had another stellar outing for Great Lakes, pitching five innings in relief and allowing one run on five hits. The University of Washington product also walked two and struck out two.

"My fastball was really working for me today and I threw a lot of them," Brown said after the game. "Fastball command kind of did it all for me today. And right now, I'm the most extended guy in the bullpen and they feel they can rely on me to give them four or five solid innings."

Garvey singled for the Loons with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. After Leo Rodriguez walked, Corey Seager hit a two-run double that dropped in front of Bees centerfielder Chevy Clark, increasing the Loons lead to 5-1, with Garvey and Rodriguez coming home.

Things remained quiet until the top of the eighth inning when Burlington cut the Great Lakes' lead to 5-2 on a Toribio double to left-center field, over a diving Malcolm Holland, which scored Chevy Clarke from first.

The Loons went down in order in the eighth and the Bees went back to work in the top of the ninth inning. Bemboom, Chance Ross and Garrett Cannizaro loaded the bases through a single and two walks. Clarke came up and drove a single up the middle, past Loons reliever Luis Meza, scoring Bemboom and Ross and shaving Great Lakes' lead to just 5-4. But Stem was able to come in and get his 10th save of the season, preserving the win for the Loons.

Both teams are back in action Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. as Chris Anderson (0-0, 3.68 ERA) is slated to go for Great Lakes and Reid Scoggins (1-4, 4.40 ERA) is set to pitch for Burlington. It's also a $1 Family Feast Night, presented by Chemical Bank, at Dow Diamond on Thursday.

The Great Lakes Loons are a seventh-year Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. For tickets and more information about the Loons, visit Loons.com or call 989-837-BALL.

Check out the Great Lakes Loons Statistics



Midwest League Stories from July 10, 2013


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central