Lugnuts blank Whitecaps in record-setting 104 minutes

LANSING, Mich. – The Lansing Lugnuts (2-4, 34-37) needed only one hour and 44 minutes to shut out the West Michigan Whitecaps (4-2, 35-37), 3-0, in front of 5,895 on Thursday evening at Jackson® Field™.

It was the fastest nine-inning game in franchise history, topping a one-hour, 46-minute 1-0 loss at Cedar Rapids on May 24, 2009.

Brayan Buelvas drilled a two-run double in the first inning and Euribiel Ángeles lined a sacrifice fly in the third inning off West Michigan starter Jaden Hamm, supplying the scoring.

The Lugnuts collected only one further base hit, an Ángeles first-inning single, alongside six walks and an HBP against Hamm and reliever Yosber Sanchez, but it proved to be plenty considering the dominance of Lansing pitching trio Mitch Myers, Grant Judkins and Hunter Breault.

Myers tossed five innings on 57 pitches, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out five. Judkins followed with three innings on 32 pitches, fanning two while allowing a hit and a walk. Breault blew through a perfect ninth, striking out two to close out the Nuts’ fourth shutout of the year.

All three Whitecaps hits came from leadoff-hitting shortstop Jim Jarvis, who singled in the first, doubled in the fourth, singled in the sixth, and whiffed in the ninth.

The 2024 Lugnuts are no strangers to quick baseball. The Nuts set a seven-inning franchise speed record with an 83-minute victory over Peoria on June 2 in Game 1 of a doubleheader, and had just defeated West Michigan on Wednesday night, 8-1, in a scant two hours and two minutes.

Lansing goes for a third straight win in the series on Friday night at 7:05 p.m., sending right-hander Luis Morales against West Michigan lefty Joe Adametz on Pink Out the Park Night / Breast Cancer Awareness with postgame LAFCU Fireworks. Gates open at 6 p.m. For tickets and further information, visit milb.com/lansing or call (517) 485-4500.

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