Harris goes deep twice in Nuts' 6-1 win

LANSING, Mich. – Brett Harris homered in each of his first two at-bats to help the Lansing Lugnuts (12-17) cruise to a 6-1 victory over the Dayton Dragons (20-8) on Wednesday night at Jackson® Field™.

Stevie Emanuels struck out seven in five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and two walks, as the Lugnuts handed the team with the second-best winning percentage in all of Minor League Baseball a rare defeat.

The Lugnuts wasted little time, ambushing Dayton starter Bryce Bonnin for three runs in the first inning behind a Marty Bechina RBI triple and Harris 405-foot two-run homer to center.

Harris’s next at-bat arrived leading off the fourth inning, whereupon he victimized Bonnin with a drive to left for his team-leading fifth home run of the year. Five batters later, Brayan Buelvas singled home Sahid Valenzuela for a 5-0 lead.

Harris came up to the plate twice more, drawing a walk in the fifth and singling to left in the eighth.

Euribiel Ángeles capped the scoring for the hosts, providing an RBI single in the sixth to extend his hitting streak to nine games.

Dayton’s only offense came in the sixth, thanks to an Alex McGarry RBI triple off Trayson Kubo.

Both Ángeles (20 years old) and McGarry (24 years old), coincidentally, delivered run-scoring hits on their birthday.

The Dragons did threaten again in the eighth against Brock Whittlesey, loading the bases with none out, but Whittlesey fanned McGarry and Allan Cera before inducing a groundout to second from Garrett Wolforth.

Angello Infante then pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to end the game.

Right-hander Jeff Criswell (4.32 ERA) starts the third game of the six-game series, a Labatt Blue Thirsty Thursday featuring $2 domestics and $5 crafts. Dayton counters with right-hander Thomas Farr (6.75 ERA). First pitch is at 7:05 p.m., with gates opening at 6 p.m. Wednesday for a 7:05 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.

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