Lugs complete sweep, trail wild card by two games

Osman Gutierrez struck out six batters in five innings, picking up his first win of the year. (Tyler Marcotte)

By Jesse Goldberg-Strassler

June 8, 2017

LANSING, Mich. - Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs and Bo Bichette extended his hitting streak to 17 games, lifting the Lansing Lugnuts (33-24) to a 7-3 win over the Dayton Dragons (36-23) on Thursday afternoon at Cooley Law School Stadium.The Nuts finished a three-game sweep of Dayton, drawing

LANSING, Mich. - Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs and Bo Bichette extended his hitting streak to 17 games, lifting the Lansing Lugnuts (33-24) to a 7-3 win over the Dayton Dragons (36-23) on Thursday afternoon at Cooley Law School Stadium.

The Nuts finished a three-game sweep of Dayton, drawing within two games of the Dragons for the Eastern Division wild card with ten games to play in the first half.

The Dragons scored runs in the first, second and third innings against Lugnuts starter Osman Gutierrez , building a 3-0 lead, only to see the Lugnuts seize control.

Consecutive run-scoring hits by Bichette, Guerrero and Nash Knight tied the game at 3-3 in the third inning against Dayton starter Andrew Jordan.

In the fourth, Rodrigo Orozco broke the tie with an RBI double off reliever Matt Blandino(Loss, 1-1).

J.B. Woodman singled in Guerrero in the fifth inning for a 5-3 lead.

Guerrero applied the finishing touch in the seventh, victimizing Joel Kuhnel with a two-run single up the middle.

Gutierrez (Win, 1-4) rebounded to pitch five innings, striking out six batters while allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks.

All-Star reliever Geno Encina set down nine straight Dragons from the sixth through the eighth innings, and Kirby Snead worked around a walk in a scoreless ninth.

All told, the Lugnuts' relief corps pitched 11 1/3 scoreless innings in the series.

Bichette (2-for-4) raised his league-leading batting average to .385, and has now hit safely in 43 of 48 games. Guerrero increased his own average to .344 and has reached base in 48 of 51 games played with Lansing.

Left fielder Nick Sinay was hit by a pitch for the 18th time, first in the Midwest League, tied for second in Minor League Baseball, and accomplished in the span of just 25 games.

Next up for the Lugs: a seven-game road trip to the Hoosier State, beginning with the first of a four-game series at the Fort Wayne TinCaps at 7:05 p.m. Friday night. Lugnuts right-hander Denis Diaz (0-2, 5.80) starts against Fort Wayne right-hander Ronald Bolaños (1-1, 5.79).

The Lansing Lugnuts return home from June 16-18, hosting the archrival West Michigan Whitecaps. Tickets may be purchased at the Cooley Law School Stadium box office, by calling (517) 485-4500 or via lansinglugnuts.com.
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