Clearly, Kellen Sweeney needs to stop singling in the 9th inning

Infielder Kellen Sweeney

Two posts during the season, each one following a defeat, haha!

Well, Wil Browning is now 0-2 out of the pen, although he pitched far better last night in Bowling Green and looks like he could be really tough on batters down the road.  Meanwhile, Kellen Sweeney singled in the ninth inning in each defeat -- around three strikeouts of his teammates.  Ah, coincidence!

Two key plays last night in the Lugnuts' 4-3 loss:

   1.  In the top of the 6th, Emilio Guerrero was picked off third base by Bowling Green catcher Justin O'Conner.  A little later on, Gustavo Pierre homered, tying the score at 3-3.  But... it could've been 4-3.

   2.  In the bottom of the 6th, with a runner at first, Lansing catcher Santiago Nessy pounced on a dribbler (off the bat of O'Conner) and fired it into center field gunning for a force out.  The error led directly to Bowling Green taking a 4-3 lead.

And that was the final score:  Hot Rods 4, Lugnuts 3.

*

It was a rough start by the Lugs' Daniel Norris, but he's getting his feet beneath him.  All things considered, allowing only three runs on eight baserunners (six hits and two walks) plus a wild pitch shows a pretty good job of limiting damage.

On the bright side, everyone around Norris has come out of the gates strongly.  Roberto Osuna, Javier Avendano, Taylor Cole, Alonzo Gonzalez... that's one heck of a debut week.

Early one today... game time 10:35 a.m. local (Central) time.