Miller leads Loons pitching staff in tossing gem

Justin Miller, Matt Sartor and Miguel Ramirez combined for a two-hit shutout of the Peoria Chiefs Sunday for a 2-0 win in front of 3,390 fans at Dow Diamond.

Miller picked up the victory in the ballgame, improving his record to 2-1 on the season. The right-hander went six innings allowing only two hits while striking out five. Sartor and Ramirez combined for three perfect innings in relief with Ramirez picking up his fifth save of 2008. The trio combined to retire the last 16 batters they faced and pitched to just one batter over the minimum in the game.

The Loons picked up the first of their runs in the third, when Andrew Lambo doubled off the wall in right-center field and Travis Vetters followed with an RBI single to make it 1-0.

In the fifth, Brian Mathews connected for a solo home run down the left field line to make it 2-0, concluding the scoring.

Chris Siegfried started for Peoria and went five innings allowing two runs on eight hits in picking up the tough-luck loss, dropping his record to 0-2.

After a strong pitching performance by Steven Johnson to pick up a 7-4 win in the opening game of the series Friday, the Loons saw there winning streak snapped Saturday. Peoria took an early 9-0 advantage, but Great Lakes battled back powered by two Andrew Lambo home runs to come within two. That was as close as they would get falling 9-7.

With Sunday’s win the Loons improve to 9-7 on the season and fall into a three-way first place tie in the Eastern Division with West Michigan and Lansing. Meanwhile the Chiefs fall to 7-10.

The Loons will host the Midwest League’s best team as the 14-2 Kane County Cougars come to Dow Diamond Monday for the start of a three-game series. Game time is 7:05 p.m. Bryan Morris is scheduled to start for the Loons. The Loons are celebrating Pirate night at the ballpark, so come dressed in your best pirate apparel.