Fernandez, Lugs blank Bandits briskly
LANSING, Mich. – Lazaro Armenteros belted his league-leading sixth homer and Christian Fernandez combined with two relievers on a two-hit shutout in one hour and 58 minutes, helping the Lansing Lugnuts (9-7) win their fourth straight home game, 5-0, over the Quad Cities River Bandits (7-9) on Wednesday night at
LANSING, Mich. – Lazaro Armenteros belted his league-leading sixth homer and C**hristian Fernandez** combined with two relievers on a two-hit shutout in one hour and 58 minutes, helping the Lansing Lugnuts (9-7) win their fourth straight home game, 5-0, over the Quad Cities River Bandits (7-9) on Wednesday night at Jackson® Field™.
Caeden Trenkle added his second home run of the season for the Nuts, who have topped the River Bandits in the first two tilts of the six-game series.
In an hour and 58 minutes,
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) April 27, 2023
🔩 Christian Fernandez, Grant Holman and Jorge Juan combined on a two-hitter
🔩 Lazaro Armenteros crushed his league-leading 6th HR
🔩 Caeden Trenkle launched his 2nd HR, extending his on-base streak to 14 games
📽️ 🍿 pic.twitter.com/Ng9kCIZoNL
Quad Cities was held to a third-inning Paxton Wallace infield single off Fernandez and a seventh-inning Juan Carlos Negret single off reliever Grant Holman in Lansing’s first shutout of the year.
For his part, Fernandez turned in the Lugnuts’ first quality start of the year, striking out five while pitching around four walks in six innings. He yielded to Holman for the seventh and eighth before Jorge Juan whiffed two Bandits in a perfect ninth.
Jorge Juan 🪝🪝 pic.twitter.com/t5l4wNaMYt
— Jesse Goldberg-Strassler (@jgoldstrass) April 27, 2023
Armenteros supplied all the offense that would be needed by leading off the second inning against Quad Cities starter Noah Cameron with a screaming liner below the videoboard in left field, giving him six home runs in his last six games.
An inning later, Trenkle launched a skyscraping two-run homer to right for a 3-0 lead, extending his on-base streak to 14 games.
The Lugnuts then closed out the scoring in the eighth against Anderson Paulino. With two outs, Trenkle singled to right and Jack Winkler doubled down the right field line. Max Muncy followed with a weak bouncer toward third, with Cayden Wallace barehanding and winging toward first. The throw tailed into the base line, where first baseman Shervyen Newton first caught it and then had the ball jarred free by the arriving Muncy, bringing in both runners.
The Nuts go for a third straight victory over Quad Cities and a fifth consecutive home win overall on a Coors Light Thirsty Thursday, sending right-hander Mitch Myers (4.00 ERA) against Bandits right-hander Luinder Avila (1.46 ERA). Gates open at 5 p.m. for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch. For more information, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
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