Lugs tally eight to stop eight-game skid

LANSING, Mich. – Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang and Jake Garland scattered five singles in a tandem gem, and the Lansing Lugnuts (1-4, 33-37) scored in each of the first six innings to end an eight-game losing streak with an 8-1 thumping of the West Michigan Whitecaps (4-1, 35-36) on Wednesday evening at Jackson® Field™.

The game was completed in two hours and two minutes.

The Whitecaps had collected 17 hits in a 15-9 slugfest victory in the opener, but Zhuang and Garland turned the lights out on their offense. Zhuang needed only 52 pitches (35 strikes) to twirl five scoreless innings, striking out one, walking none and allowing a pair of singles. Garland followed with four innings of three-hit relief, giving up a run in the sixth on a Roberto Campos RBI single but nothing further, while fanning two.

West Michigan starter Carlos Marcano and reliever Jack Anderson did not fare as well, each tagged with four runs in three innings. Euribiel Ángeles ripped an RBI double in the first inning, Cole Conn supplied a sacrifice fly in the second, Will Simpson knocked a two-run homer in the third, Jonny Butler socked a two-run triple in the fourth, Luke Mann lined an RBI single in the fifth, and Butler returned for an encore with an RBI triple in the sixth.

In the end, the Nuts settled for 12 hits, featuring two-hit performances from Ángeles – who extended his hitting streak to 11 games – Butler, Simpson, Casey Yamauchi and Danny Bautista, Jr.

The third game of the six-game series and nine-game homestand is a 90s Night edition of a Coors Light Thirsty Thursday, with dynamic Whitecaps right-hander Jaden Hamm facing Lugnuts right-hander Mitch Myers. For tickets and further information, visit milb.com/lansing or call (517) 485-4500.

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