MIDLAND, MI – Infielder Rey Rivera enjoyed his first career two-homer game as the West Michigan Whitecaps topped the Great Lakes Loons on Tuesday night by a score of 6-3 at Dow Diamond.
Rivera becomes the first Whitecaps to produce a multi-homer game since Spencer Torkelson hit a pair of homers on May 29 as part of a 17-5 win over the Lake County Captains at LMCU Ballpark.
The Whitecaps opened the scoring with Andrew Navigato’s two-out RBI-single to score Gage Workman and take a 1-0 lead after two innings. In the third, Loons infielder Deacon Liput launched a solo home run, his eighth of the season, to tie the contest at one. An inning later, Parker Meadows lined an RBI-single into centerfield before Rey Rivera blasted his ninth home run – tying his single-season career-high – to give the ‘Caps a 4-1 lead. The middle innings featured scoring opportunities on both sides but no runs for either team. In the seventh, emotions began to escalate as Loons outfielder Andy Pages was nearly hit with the first pitch he saw by ‘Caps reliever Angel Reyes before blasting his 19th home run of the season – a two-run shot to bring the ‘Caps lead to 4-3. Rivera led off the eighth by collecting his second homer of the night – giving him a season-high ten homers to extend the lead to 5-3. In the ninth, Gage Workman added another insurance tally with a run-scoring single to increase the ‘Caps advantage to 6-3 and conclude the scoring in the victory.
Whitecaps reliever Michael Beinlien (2-0) tossed 2.2 scoreless frames in earning his second win of the season, while Loons lefty Alec Gamboa (3-4) took his fourth loss by allowing three runs in 3.1 frames. Zack Hess tossed a scoreless ninth to collect his seventh save of the year. The Whitecaps improve to 34-38 on the season while the first-place Loons drop to 40-33. Meadows, Workman, Rivera, and Jimmy Kerr each collected two hits in the win. Rivera now has 23 home runs in his Whitecaps career that spans three seasons.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps continue this six-game series against the Great Lakes Loons from Dow Diamond in Midland on Wednesday at 7:05 pm. West Michigan sends righty Keider Montero to the mound against the Loons Clayon Beeter. Broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty starts on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 6:50 pm. Get your tickets for all 2021 home games now at www.whitecapsbaseball.com.
