Diaz continues success in Lugs loss

LANSING, Mich. - Yennsy Diaz turned in his third consecutive strong start, but the Lake County Captains (6-6) edged the Lansing Lugnuts (7-5), 4-3, in the rubber match of a three-game series on Thursday night at Cooley Law School Stadium.

All four Captains runs were unearned, aided by four Lugnuts errors - three by shortstop Kevin Vicuña, who balanced his day with the Lugs' first four-hit game of the year.

Diaz tossed six innings, striking out five Captains and allowing only two hits - singles by Oscar Gonzalez and Ernie Clement that bookended a three-run second-inning rally aided by back-to-back Vicuña errors. As it turned out, they were Lake County's only hits of the game.

The 21-year-old Diaz lowered his ERA to 0.51 (one earned run allowed in 17 2/3 innings) while his opponent batting average rose to .067 (four hits in 60 at-bats).

The Lugnuts tied the score at 3-3 with two runs in the third inning and a solo tally in the fourth against Captains starter Francisco Perez, scoring those runs on a bases-loaded walk, a double-play grounder and a wild pitch.

The Captains took the lead for good in the seventh inning against reliever Brody Rodning (Loss, 1-1), thanks to a one-out walk, a wild pitch, a fielding error by Vicuña, and a sacrifice fly from Clement.

After 14 straight Lugnuts were set down from the fourth through the eighth innings by starter Perez and Captains relievers James Karinchak and Kyle Nelson, the Nuts mustered a last-ditch rally in the bottom of the ninth. Chavez Young led off with a single, moved to second base on a Samad Taylor sacrifice bunt, and advanced to third on a Vicuña infield single. With the potential tying and game-winning runs aboard, Nelson coaxed a 4-6-3 double play from Kacy Clemens to end the game.

Karinchak (Win, 2-0) tossed 2 1/3 perfect innings, striking out five, to earn the victory. Nelson recorded the final nine outs for his first save of the year.

In defeat, Taylor drew a walk to extend his consecutive on-base streak to nine games; Ryan Noda drew two walks to increase his own on-base streak to ten games; and both Clemens (1-for-4, BB) and Kevin Smith (0-3, BB) reached base for the 11th straight game.

The Lugnuts open a three-game road trip at South Bend on Friday at 7:35 p.m., sending left-hander Zach Logue (4.22 ERA) to the mound against Cubs right-hander Ricky Tyler Thomas (0.90).

The Nuts return to Cooley Law School Stadium on Monday, April 23rd, opening a four-game homestand with the Dayton Dragons on the first Dog Days of Summer of the year. To purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
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