Owen silences Loons again in 2-1 Lugs win
MIDLAND, Mich. – On July 8, Lansing Lugnuts starter Jack Owen shut out the Great Lakes Loons over six innings in a 1-0 win, earning the nod as Midwest League Pitcher of the Week. Round 2 was more of the same. Owen fired six more scoreless innings, Euribiel Ángeles homered,
MIDLAND, Mich. – On July 8, Lansing Lugnuts starter Jack Owen shut out the Great Lakes Loons over six innings in a 1-0 win, earning the nod as Midwest League Pitcher of the Week.
Round 2 was more of the same.
Owen fired six more scoreless innings, Euribiel Ángeles homered, and the Lugnuts (12-17, 37-58) shaded the Loons (17-12, 57-38), 2-1, on Saturday night at Dow Diamond.
The result ended a three-game losing streak for the Lugnuts and presented the potential of a six-game split in Sunday’s matinee finale.
Two batters into the game, Ángeles thumped his second homer of the season to give the Nuts a 1-0 lead against Loons right-hander Carlos Duran.
Three innings later, a single by Tyler Soderstrom and walks to Jack Winkler and Jared McDonald loaded the bases. After a strikeout of Denzel Clarke, Duran tossed a wild pitch to bring in Soderstrom, giving the Lugnuts a 2-0 lead.
The rest of the game belonged to the Nuts’ arms, led by Owen. The southpaw needed only 25 pitches to fire three perfect innings, stranded two runners apiece in the fourth and fifth innings, and wrapped up his third quality start with three straight groundouts in the sixth inning. In all, Owen used 80 pitches, 51 strikes, in recording four strikeouts while walking none and allowing three base hits.
Owen’s Auburn University teammate, Calvin Coker, pitched the next 1 2/3 innings scorelessly before yielding to Osvaldo Berrios for the final out of the eighth.
Berrios allowed singles to Jorbit Vivas and Kekai Rios in the ninth, followed by a Luis Diaz RBI groundout, before striking out Harold Restituyo to end the game.
In their last five wins against the Loons, Lugnuts pitchers have allowed just two runs in 45 innings.
Right-hander Blake Beers (3.67 ERA) takes the mound in Sunday’s series finale against Great Lakes right-hander Ben Casparius (7.63 ERA). First pitch is at 1:05 p.m.
Following the conclusion of the series on Sunday, the Lugnuts return home August 2-7 to welcome in the West Michigan Whitecaps. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
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