Loons bats betray them against Beloit

by Cory Butzin

The Beloit pitching staff combined to strike out 14 batters while holding the Loons to two runs and three hits in 10 innings as the Snappers defeated Great Lakes 5-2 Thursday at Dow Diamond.

Beloit was led by Baseball America prospect David Bromberg, who is ranked as the fourth best right hander in the Minnesota Twins’ farm system. Bromberg struck out nine as the Loons fell for the seventh straight game.

“That’s been our biggest problem in this losing streak, just the hitting,” said Loons manager Juan Bustabad. “In baseball it’s like that – sometimes you’re hot, sometimes you’re cold, and right now we’re cold.”

Down 2-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Loons found just enough offense to tie the game and force extra innings. But the Snappers took the lead in the top of the tenth inning off Bobby Blevins after Chris Parmalee followed Joe Benson’s triple with a run-scoring single. Beloit added two more insurance runs in the inning to secure the win.

Great Lakes found itself in an early hole when starter Daigoro Rondon struggled in the opening half inning. Benson opened the game with a double and scored on the very next at-bat when Ben Revere singled to give Beloit the early 1-0 lead.

After the first inning Rondon settled down and went deeper into the game than any Loons’ starter had this season, going 6 2/3 innings allowing two runs on six hits with six strikeouts.

“He did a great job for us,” Bustabad said. “Anytime we get a starter to go six, seven innings it’s a great start for us.”

While most of the Loons continued to struggle at the plate, one Loon seemed to catch fire. First baseman Jaime Ortiz came up in the bottom of the second and drilled a Bromberg pitch deep into the lawn seats in right field to tie the game 1-1.

Ortiz has now homered in three consecutive games and has taken over the team lead with five.

After Ortiz’ solo blast, Bromberg settled down and went six innings allowing one run on two hits (both to Ortiz) in getting the no decision.

With two outs in the seventh inning, Rondon had retired 12 of the previous 13 batters he faced, but surrendered his only walk of the night to Mark Dolenc. Dolenc then took off for second on a Loons’ pitch out and Kenley Jansen looked as though he would throw him out by three feet. But second baseman Preston Mattingly pulled away while catching the throw and applied a high tag that allowed Dolenc to slide under safely. Chris Cates made Great Lakes pay for the defensive mistake in the next at-bat, punching one into the outfield to score Dolenc and give Beloit the 2-1 lead.

The Loons were down to their last at-bats in the bottom of the ninth when it seemed like the ball finally started to bounce Great Lakes’ way. Erik Kanaby started by hitting a slow grounder to Snappers’ shortstop Ramon Santana, who bobbled the ball and allowed Kanaby to reach first safely. Brian Matthews sacrificed Kanaby over to second with Andrew Lambo coming to the plate.

Lambo, tied for third in RBIs in the Midwest League, had been denied in a previous plate appearance when Revere made a highlight reel diving catch to keep the Loons off the board. But Lambo couldn’t be denied again as he drilled a pitch into the gap scoring Kanaby from second and tying the score 2-2.

Lambo reached third on a wild pitch and Mattingly came to the plate with two outs and a chance for the walk-off RBI, but he grounded out to third to send the game to extra innings where Beloit went ahead for good.

Matt Williams (2-0) recorded the win for Beloit, while Blevins (2-3) took the loss for the Loons.

“It comes down to execution with our hitting and trying to get the big hits,” Bustabad said. “It’s not like we’re getting blown out…we just don’t hit enough to win. We’ve got to make an adjustment, and hopefully tomorrow will be a start.”

Great Lakes will look to end their skid in the second game of the series Friday, when staff ace Justin Miller takes the mound. Game time is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.