Captains overcome Armenteros, walk off Nuts
EASTLAKE, OH – Lazaro Armenteros homered twice, the second a game-tying home run leading off the ninth, but the Lake County Captains (6-4) defeated the Lansing Lugnuts (6-4), 5-4, on an Isaiah Greene RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to take the opener of a six-game series
EASTLAKE, OH – Lazaro Armenteros homered twice, the second a game-tying home run leading off the ninth, but the Lake County Captains (6-4) defeated the Lansing Lugnuts (6-4), 5-4, on an Isaiah Greene RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to take the opener of a six-game series on Wednesday night at Classic Park.
The Captains outhit the Nuts by a 16-4 margin, piling up nine hits in the first three innings against Lansing starter Christian Fernandez, but fell behind on an Armenteros two-run homer in the second inning and didn’t take their first lead until a two-out, two-run from Yordys Valdes in the sixth off Jack Owen.
Down 4-3 entering the ninth, the Lugnuts turned again to Armenteros, who had just hit his first home run of the season in his final plate appearance in Lansing’s last game on Sunday. The native Cuban stepped up once more, blasting a hanging slider from Reid Johnston out to left field to tie the game.
¡Lazaro Armenter-dos jonrones! pic.twitter.com/4u7U0xxLtf
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) April 20, 2023
But in the bottom of the ninth, Kumar Nambiar walked Cesar Idrogo with one out, and then allowed consecutive two-out singles to right field from Joe Lampe and Greene, giving the hosts the win. It was the first run allowed of the season for Nambiar.
The Nuts’ clear standout in defeat was Armenteros, who went 3-for-4, supplying 75% of the club’s base hits and RBIs and half of the runs scored.
Lansing’s only other tally came in the third inning; Caeden Trenkle walked, moved to third base on a Max Muncy single, and scored on a throwing error by Lake County starter Aaron Davenport on an attempted pickoff of Muncy. It was one of two errors for Davenport in the game, and one of four errors in the game for the Captains overall.
The Nuts and Captains reconvene for a doubleheader beginning at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, making up Tuesday’s postponement. Lansing plays at Lake County through Sunday before returning home April 25 to welcome in the Quad Cities River Bandits for a six-game series. For more information, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
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