MIDLAND, MI – The West Michigan Whitecaps broke the longest losing streak in franchise history by virtue of a 4-3 win over the first-place Great Lakes Loons in front of 6,130 fans on Tuesday at Dow Diamond.
The Whitecaps, who had not won a ballgame since April 24, clubbed two homers and rode a great start by pitcher Hayden Minton to snap their 14-game losing streak, which included back-to-back six-game sweeps at the hands of the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Dayton Dragons over the past two weeks. Before the losing skid, the ‘Caps held a one-game lead over the Loons for first place in the Midwest League’s Eastern Division.
The Whitecaps relied on a familiar face to score the first run of the contest, when first baseman Garrett Pennington launched his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot to give West Michigan a 1-0 lead. Andrew Sojka scored on a wild pitch in the third to extend the lead to 2-0 before the Loons Nico Perez launched a solo home run to bring the ‘Caps lead to 2-1. In the fifth, an infield single by Bryce Rainer plated Cristian Santana, which led to a solo homer by catcher Ricardo Hurtado to bring the ‘Caps lead to 4-1. Run-scoring singles in the seventh and eighth innings by the Loons Sam Munoz and Victor Rodrigues respectively, trimmed the Whitecaps lead to 4-3, but reliever Luke Stofel slammed the door with a scoreless ninth, ending the contest with a strikeout of MLB Top-100 Prospect Mike Sirota to propel the Whitecaps to their first win in nearly three weeks.
The Whitecaps improve to 13-21 while the Loons fall to 20-13. Minton (1-2) earns his first win of the year for striking out six batters over five innings of one-run baseball, while lefty Jacob Frost (5-1) suffers his first loss of the season for Great Lakes after surrendering two runs in 3.2 innings on the mound. Stofel pitched the all-important scoreless ninth to slam the door on the Loons and pick up the first save in his Whitecaps career. As an offense, West Michigan only collected three base hits but also added eight walks, as Pennington led the way with his home run to go along with a pair of free passes in the victory.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps continue this six-game series at Dow Diamond against the Great Lakes Loons, switching back to the evening schedule with first pitch at 6:05pm. Pitcher Ben Jacobs gets the start for West Michigan against the Loons Sterling Patick. Broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty begins on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 5:50pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’, and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids, or listen to all the action on whitecapsbaseball.com.