Lugnuts surge past Hot Rods, 3-1

LANSING, Mich. - The Lansing Lugnuts (31-34, 67-68) used the combination of early offense and strong pitching to halt the Bowling Green Hot Rods (43-22, 80-54), 3-1, and tighten the Eastern Division playoff race on Wednesday night at Cooley Law School Stadium.

The Lugnuts' second straight win coupled with the Great Lakes Loons' second straight loss brings the Nuts within 1.5 games of the Loons for the final Eastern Division playoff berth.

J.B. Woodman lashed an RBI double in the first inning, and Andrew Guillotte and Cavan Biggio supplied back-to-back RBI singles in the second inning to build a quick 3-0 lead against Hot Rods southpaw Genesis Cabrera (Loss, 11-5).

Lansing only recorded one hit for the rest of the game - but three runs proved enough, thanks to the efforts of Angel Perdomo, Geno Encina and Andrew Case.

Perdomo (Win, 5-7) whiffed seven Hot Rods in 5 2/3 innings, increasing his league-leading total to 149 strikeouts while allowing merely a fourth-inning sacrifice fly to Kevin Padlo.

Encina made his Midwest League debut with two outs in the sixth inning, and proceeded to strike out three more Hot Rods in 2 1/3 comfortable frames.

Case (Save, 9) finished the tandem effort, pitching around a two-out single in a scoreless ninth.

First baseman Juan Kelly and right fielder Joshua Palacios each extended on-base streaks to 31 games, with Kelly going 1-for-4 with a single and Palacios dashing off three singles in four at-bats. Palacios additionally extended his hitting streak to 18 consecutive games.

The second game of the three-game series is at 7:05 p.m. on a Labatt Thirsty Thursday Gone Wild: St. Patty's Day in September featuring $2 beers, half off craft brews and drink specials! Lansing sends left-hander Ryan Borucki (9-4, 2.44) to the bump against Bowling Green right-hander Jose Mujica (8-3, 3.40). For more information or to purchase your tickets, call 517-485-4500 or visit lansinglugnuts.com.

 

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