Lunkers' win streak meets rude ending

With the post-season out of reach, the Brainerd Lunkers saw their five-game winning streak come to a close as the Alexandria Beetles got to starting pitcher Dennis O'Grady early and often as the Lunkers fell 11-1 at Mills Field on Friday night.

The Lunkers saw their post-season hopes come to a close the night before. Despite a Brainerd victory, the Rochester Honkers defeated the Madison Mallards 12-2 to eliminate the Lunkers from the playoffs.

The Lunkers looked to ever-reliable O'Grady and his 1.04 season ERA to keep them above .500 on the season. O'Grady seemed to be primed for another spectacular outing after striking out three of the first four batters he faced, but struggled the rest of the game.

When O'Grady returned to the mound in the second inning, the Beetles scored twice on three singles and a double before Tim Roberson grounded out to third for the first out of the inning. After issuing a walk to the next batter, the Beetles were headed for a big inning until O'Grady induced a ground ball and Lunkers' third baseman Shon Roe robbed a line drive hit to end the inning with just three runs scored.

Alexandria 11, Lunkers 1

The key: Beetles' Curtis Hudson kept the Lunkers' hitters quiet as they scored just one time but stranded six base runners.

Attendance: 549

Records: Brd 17-15, Alex 16-14

Next: Brainerd hosts Alexandria at Mills Field 7:05 p.m. Saturday

After retiring the side in order in the third, O'Grady gave up three hits and two runs in the next two innings before finishing his night after the fifth inning as the Lunkers trailed 5-0.

O'Grady saw his perfect season vanish as he suffered his first loss of the season, thanks to an atypical game in which he gave up five runs on eight hits and struck out five through five innings of work. With the loss O'Grady's ERA rose to 1.58 on the season in his final home start of the year.

With the Beetles' hitters finding gaps and running out infield hits, the Lunkers went to the bullpen in the sixth inning. Lunkers' lefty Luke Rasmussen failed to turn things around for the Lunkers who have seen late-game heroics out of their bullpen recently.

The bad breaks continued for the Lunkers, however, as back-to-back errors with one out in the sixth inning kept the inning alive for the Beetles and resulted in a pair of unearned runs. Rasmussen continued to fight as he struck out two and gave up just one run as he faced ten batters through two innings.

Rasmussen gave way to side-arm pitcher Bret Severtson in the eighth inning. Severtson struck out two of the batters he faced and induced a pop-up to center field to get out of the eight inning unscathed.

While the Lunkers' pitchers struggled, Beetles' starting pitcher Curtis Hudson was baffling Lunkers hitters all night long as he struck out eight, issued just one walk, and allowed six scattered hits through eight innings. "He was able to throw three pitches for strikes and keep us off balance," Lunkers manager Ryan Levendoski said. "We didn't get many good swings the first time through the order."

The Lunkers were finally able to put together a couple of hits against Hudson in the eighth inning. O'Grady started the sequence, driving a 2-2 pitch into left-center field for a base hit before advancing to second when Stephen Wickens dropped a single into left field. David Valesente made the best of his only plate appearance as he lined one to right center field for a two-out pinch-hit RBI single to score O'Grady from second.

The Beetles retaliated in the ninth as the first five batters reached safely, resulting in three more runs during the ninth inning and stamping an exclamation point on the 11-1 route.

The loss drops the Lunkers to 17-15 in the second half, and 33-32 overall with just three games remaining.

"These guys are playing hard," Levendoski said, "but we're going to have some fun these last couple of games. We're still playing for a decent record and playing for the city of Brainerd."

Alexandria 0 3 0 1 1 2 1 0 3 - 11 14 4

Brainerd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 6 2

Alexandria: Curtis Hudson, Brendan Alvey

Brainerd: Dennis O'Grady, Luke Rasmussen, Bret Severtson, Kyle Spurley

WP: Hudson. LP: O'Grady.

2B: Alx-Ben Kuhlmann, Mikel Alvarez

3B: Jayson Langfels (Alx)

SB: Brd-Michael Gedman, Alx-Chase Porch, Langfels, Alvarez

RBIs: Brd-David Valesente, Alx-Langfels, Sean Olenek (2), Kuhlmann (3), Trevor Edwards, Alvarez, Tim Roberson (2)

DP: Brd 1, Alx 0

LOB: Brd 6, Alx 8

T: 2:23