Lugnuts whiff first-place Captains, 6-4

LANSING, Mich. - The Lansing Lugnuts (7-5) beat the Eastern Division-leading Lake County Captains (10-5), 6-4, in the opener of a four-game series on Thursday night at Cooley Law School Stadium.

The Captains had struck out a total of 18 times in three games in a series victory at West Michigan in the first leg of their Michigan road trip. They nearly matched that total in one game against a trio of Lugnuts pitchers.

Starter Angel Perdomo (Win, 1-0) set the tone, allowing only one hit and one run - a second-inning double and run-scoring balk - while firing five masterful innings.

The Lugnuts' offense built a 6-1 lead to support him, scoring two runs against Lake County starter Shao-Ching Chiang (Loss, 1-2) in the first inning and adding four more runs in the fifth. First baseman Justin Atkinson supplied the key blows in each frame, lasering an RBI single early before crushing a two-run double to knock Chiang out of the game.

That last hit proved important. Starlyn Suriel struck out four batters in two innings in relief of Perdomo, but he also served up a three-run seventh-inning homer to Anthony Miller, carving the Lugnuts' lead to two runs.

Colton Turner (Save, 2) took care of the rest of the game, recording three strikeouts in the final six outs and stranding Captains at first and second base to end the game.

The Caps' leadoff, eighth-place and ninth-place batters, Silento Sayles, Nate Winfrey and Bobby Ison, combined to go 0-for-11 with 11 strikeouts.

In the win, catcher Ryan Hissey went 2-for-4 for the third consecutive game, raising his batting average to a team-high .393. Both Atkinson and Andrew Guillotte added multi-hit games, with Atkinson doubling his season RBI total to six with his two big swings.

Lansing and Lake County reconvene at 7:05 p.m. on a Freebie Friday: College Students Eat FREE, with Lugnuts right-hander Sean Reid-Foley (1-1, 1.69) matching up with left-hander Tom Pannone (1-0, 0.64).

To purchase tickets to Go Nuts, stop by the Cooley Law School Stadium box office, call (517) 485-4500 or visit lansinglugnuts.com.

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