González impresses in Nuts' 5-3 loss
LANSING, Mich. – James González, just called up from Single-A Stockton, struck out six in five innings of scoreless relief, but the Lansing Lugnuts (19-26, 50-60) fell to the Great Lakes Loons (21-24, 66-44), 5-3, in front of 6,714 on Thursday night at Jackson® Field™. Great Lakes tallied once in
LANSING, Mich. – James González, just called up from Single-A Stockton, struck out six in five innings of scoreless relief, but the Lansing Lugnuts (19-26, 50-60) fell to the Great Lakes Loons (21-24, 66-44), 5-3, in front of 6,714 on Thursday night at Jackson® Field™.
Great Lakes tallied once in the second and three times in the third against Lansing starter Jacob Watters before adding a Nick Biddison RBI single in the fourth inning against John Beller to build a 5-0 lead.
Then González entered, and that was all for the visitors’ offense. The 22-year-old southpaw from Panama struck out two in a perfect fifth inning, fanned while working around a two-out single in the sixth, whiffed one and erased a single with a double-play ball in the seventh, stranded two walks in the eighth, and erased another single with a second double-play ball in the ninth. All told, he needed only 65 pitches, 40 for strikes.
Consider this your official introduction to James González's change-up.
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) August 18, 2023
Five scoreless innings in relief in his 2023 Lugnuts debut! pic.twitter.com/Js4AvqcVzy
But the Lugnuts were similarly silenced by strong relief work.
Colby Thomas homered, a 441-foot solo shot to left, and Danny Bautista, Jr. added a sac fly to bring the Nuts within 5-2 in the fourth inning against Great Lakes starter Peter Heubeck.
🧀 COLBY JACK 🧀
— Lansing Lugnuts (@LansingLugnuts) August 18, 2023
110 mph off the bat, soaring 441 feet to Big Lug's Playground!#GoNuts 🔩 pic.twitter.com/klT2ghvsj4
Five Loons relievers worked the rest of the way, each handling an inning. They combined to allow only one run, a Thomas sixth-inning RBI groundout, and one hit, a Colby Halter seventh-inning single. Benony Robles finished things up with a perfect ninth, striking out two, for his 11th save.
Friday, the fourth game of the six-game series, features LAFCU postgame fireworks following the 7:05 p.m. start. Gates open at 6 p.m. Tickets are available at the stadium box office, via lansinglugnuts.com or by calling (517) 485-4500.
# # #