Garland shows his quality, helps Nuts win third straight  

EASTLAKE, OH – Jake Garland tossed a season high six innings, and the Lansing Lugnuts (9-11, 41-44) tallied a pair of unearned runs to edge the Lake County Captains (10-9, 51-34), 2-1, on Saturday night at Classic Auto Group Park.

The Lugnuts improved to 11-6 overall against Lake County, 7-4 on the Captains’ home field; the Caps are 25-10 at home otherwise.

The starting matchup pitted 260-pound Garland against 270-pound Captains southpaw Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson. The Caps’ lefty acquitted himself well with seven strikeouts in five innings – but allowed a run in the fourth inning on a walk, a single, and a dropped-catcher error by second baseman Jake Fox, and a run in the fifth inning on a single, a fielding error by first baseman Maick Collado, and a Danny Bautista, Jr. sacrifice fly.

Garland, conversely, received spotless defense while limiting Lake County to three singles and two walks, striking out three, allowing only one run – a Cooper Ingle RBI fielder’s choice in the sixth.

The right-hander from Miami has made only one longer appearance in his professional career, a seven-inning, two-hit, one-run, ten-strikeout gem against Lake County in his 2023 Lugnuts debut.

Garrett Irvin relieved Garland and tossed a scoreless seventh inning, fanning two batters around a pickoff and caught stealing of Jonah Advincula, the first time in 23 attempts that Advincula had been caught stealing.

Colton Johnson worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, gave up a single to Collado to open the ninth, induced a double play from Advincula, and then struck out Jose Devers to end the game and record his ninth save of the year.

The game saw 13 combined hits, all singles. Brayan Buelvas led the Lansing offense, going 2-for-4 with his 20th stolen base.

The Nuts go for a fourth straight win and a series victory on Sunday at 1 p.m, sending Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang against Lake County righty Zach Jacobs.

The Lugnuts next return home following the Major League All-Star Break, opening a three-game series with Great Lakes from July 19-21. For tickets and further information, visit milb.com/lansing or call (517) 485-4500.

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