Loons get walk-off win

by Jason Wolverton

On firefighter appreciation night at Dow Diamond Tuesday, the Great Lakes Loons finally got the spark they needed.

Eduardo Perez’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the ninth inning capped a two-run rally that turned what was once destined to be a second straight shutout loss into a 2-1 walk-off win over the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

“I just tried to put the ball in play and be focused,” said Perez about his final at-bat. “I’m just trying to help the team win games.

Perez’s sacrifice fly followed a game-tying RBI single from Josh Bell that plated Francisco Lizarraga, who opened the inning with an infield single to light the comeback fires.

“You put yourself in a position and you just hope the guys can get something going in that last inning,” said Loons manager Lance Parrish. “I’d much rather see us score ten runs, but a win like that should boost everybody’s energy level a little bit.”

While the ninth-inning rally will draw most of the headlines, it was the Loons’ pitching that put them in a position to come back in the first place. Starter Clayton Kershaw appeared unhittable at times, as the seventh overall pick in last year’s draft worked six innings of three-hit ball, striking out a career-high 12 in getting the no decision.

“He was his usual self, that’s what I’ve become accustom to seeing,” Parrish said. “It’s no wonder why (the Los Angeles Dodgers) picked him first in the draft.”

For his part, Kershaw was much more reserved, choosing instead to focus on the team’s win rather than his performance.

“I’m just glad we won,” he said. “I think it shows character on a team when you can come back like that. I was jumping up and down with the rest of them.”

But Kerhsaw wasn’t jumping up and down in the second when a 2-0 fastball to Mark Trumbo landed in the grass just above the Stanley Steemer sign in deep right center for a home run that gave the Kernels the early lead. Kershaw would be all business after that, though, striking out 11 of the next 18 hitters and allowing only three more hits.

Miguel Sanfler would relieve Kershaw to start the seventh and would work 1 2/3 innings, allowing only one hit. Garrett White would come on to work the final 1 1/3 innings, picking up his first victory of the season when the Loons started their rally with three outs to go.

Things had looked bleak for the Loons heading into the final frame as the team had managed only four hits off four Kernels’ pitchers up to that point. But the Kernels trotted Robert Romero out to the mound to begin the ninth, and Romero promptly got Lizarraga to hit a slow chopper up the middle. P.J. Phillips ranged far to his left to snare it, but his throw was too late to beat a sliding Lizarraga. Matt Berezay then followed with a single of his own to move Lizarraga up and give the Loons their first runner in scoring position since Berezay himself swiped second after singling in the fourth.

That brought up Bell, who saw both runners advance after Romero’s first pitch rolled away from catcher Hank Conger to give the Loons runners on second and third with nobody out. Bell then singled to tie it before Perez hit a deep fly to center. Kernels’ centerfielder Peter Bourjos would actually drop the ball, but Perez was credited with a sacrifice fly and the Loons were credited with a win to improve to 7-11 on the season.

But before that, it appeared talk was going to again center on the Loons’ stagnant offense, which at one point had gone almost 20 innings without scoring a run. Even in the win, Parrish was pointed about his team’s performance at the plate.

“It’s frustrating for me,” he said. “I’m extremely excited about the way we came back tonight, but this team has got to start putting some offense together. Our pitchers can’t put zeros up there every inning of every game.”

The Loons have Wednesday off before traveling to Iowa to begin a four-game series against the Clinton Lumber Kings. Steven Johnson is scheduled to start on the mound Thursday against the Kings’ Glenn Swanson. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Game Notes

• While the Loons have made the second most errors in the Midwest league, they benefited from a trio of defensive gems on Tuesday. In the first, Bridger Hunt headed into foul territory and crashed into the fence as he caught a fly ball off the bat of Chris Pettit. Pettit would get robbed again later in the game, this time in the ninth when Elian Herrera threw him out at first after bare-handing a ball that ricocheted off White.
• But the defensive highlight of the night occurred in the eighth when Bourjos hit a sinking line drive to left center that would have scored a runner from second and given the Kernels a 2-0 lead had Berezay not laid out to make a run-saving grab.
• Tuesday’s attendance was 3,633. The Loons have now drawn 38,472 fans in the first 10 games at Dow Diamond.
• The Loons’ pitching staff combined to strike out 14 in the game, tying a season high.
• Kershaw has now struck out 28 batters in 19 innings of work and is holding opponents to a .156 batting average.

A box score of Tuesday’s game is available at milb.com.