Loons drop close one to Timber Rattlers

Michael Pineda struck out 11 Loons batters in seven innings and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers avoided a sweep at the hands of Great Lakes, winning a Sunday day game by a final score of 3-2 at Fox Cities Stadium.

The Timber Rattlers struck first in the game in the first against Loons’ starter Thomas Melgarejo. Denny Almonte, who entered the game 0-for-9 with seven strikeouts, doubled home Edilio Colina and Ron Garth to give the Rattlers an early two-run cushion.

The Loons tied the game in the fourth. With runners at the corners, Brandon Taylor bounced a ground ball under the glove of shortstop Juan Diaz to score Andrew Lambo, who led off the inning with a double. The next batter Jaime Ortiz singled to bring home Eduardo Perez with the tying run.

But Wisconsin answered in the bottom of the fourth. Alex Liddi hit a solo homer to left to give his team a 3-2 lead, which proved to be enough offense in the game.

Melgarejo (2-6) recorded the loss and left the game with an injury with two outs in the fourth. Miguel Sanfler pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief of Melgarejo. Bob Zimmerman added a scoreless eighth.

Pineda (7-5) was dominant, striking out a career-high 11, the highest strikeout performance for Wisconsin in over a year. Jeff Dunbar extended his scoreless innings streak to 8 1/3 with a one-inning save, his third of the season.

The Loons (46-66 overall, 16-27 second half) start a four-game home series Tuesday against the West Michigan Whitecaps. Tuesday’s game begins at 7:05 p.m. and features a pitching matchup of right-hander Josh Lindblom (0-0, 2.70 ERA) for the Loons against lefty Jon Kibler (11-4, 1.78), a product of Michigan State, for the Whitecaps.