Lugs Edge Kernels, 3-2
LANSING, Mich. – After allowing 20 hits and 24 runs to the Cedar Rapids Kernels (28-21) last night, the Lansing Lugnuts (22-27) shut them down tonight with great pitching and a couple big swings from Euribiel Angeles and Daniel Susac. The Kernels once again scored two runs in the first,
LANSING, Mich. – * After allowing 20 hits and 24 runs to the Cedar Rapids Kernels (28-21) last night, the Lansing Lugnuts (22-27) shut them down tonight with great pitching and a couple big swings from *Euribiel Angeles and Daniel Susac.
The Kernels once again scored two runs in the first, this time off a two-run home run from Kala’i Rosario, but that’d be all they would get in front of 5,875 fans at Jackson® Field™. When all was over, Cedar Rapids managed just four total hits.
Lugnuts starter Jacob Watters got his first win (1-5) of the season and racked up a career high nine strikeouts in five innings of work. He allowed only three hits, the lone mistake the bomb in the first.
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Mac Lardner* came in and got eight straight Kernels out with a couple of strikeouts and then Tyler Baum retired four of the five he faced to pick up the save (4). The three Lugnuts pitchers combined to strike out Cedar Rapids hitters 12 times.
Outside of good pitching, the Lugnuts still needed some runs. They used the home run to provide just enough. Euribiel Angeles hit his second round-tripper of the week to get Lansing on the board in the third. Then, an inning later, after Max Muncy walked, Daniel Susac greeted Alejandro Hidalgo’s first strike with his fourth home run to put the Lugnuts up for good, 3-2.
Susac’s home run was the seventh home run in this series (four games) for Lansing, it was the first though with runners on base. The Lugnuts had six straight solo home runs before the former first rounder’s two-run blast in the fourth.
Outside of the two home runs, Lansing only had two more hits on the evening, a double from Junior Perez and a CJ Rodriguez single in the eighth.
The win snapped the Lugnuts three-game losing streak as they grabbed their first win in June. The loss halted the Kernels six-game win streak and seven-game road winning streak, both season highs.
Nuts right-hander Jack Perkins starts the fifth game of the series on a Defenders of the Diamond Night, with LAFCU Fireworks to follow. The Nuts will wear specialized uniforms. Cedar Rapids counters with left-hander Christian MacLeod. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. with gates opening at 6 p.m. Tickets are available via lansinglugnuts.com or by calling (517) 485-4500.