Taylor sets single-game steal record in Lugnuts' 8-4 victory

MIDLAND, Mich. - Samad Taylor stole a franchise record four bases, Ryan Gold keyed a six-run first inning with a three-run triple, and the Lansing Lugnuts (9-2, 52-29) took three of four games from the Great Lakes Loons (1-10, 25-54) with an 8-4 win on Sunday afternoon at Dow Diamond.

The Lugnuts have won 12 of their last 13 games, going 7-1 against the Loons in an 11-day span to start the second half.

Great Lakes starter Alfredo Tavarez (Loss, 0-3) set down leadoff batter Kevin Vicuña on a groundout, but Chavez Young and Ryan Noda knocked back-to-back doubles, Brandon Grudzielanek and Brock Lundquist drew back-to-back walks, Taylor was hit by a pitch to force in a run, and Gold smoked a fly ball to the wall in right-center to clear the bases for a 5-0 lead. That was the final pitch that Tavarez threw. Jesus Navarro capped the rally with a sacrifice fly off reliever Luis Pasen, bringing in Gold.

The Loons carved away at the lead with two runs against Lugs starter Matt Gunter in the second inning and two more runs in the fourth inning off reliever Dalton Rodriguez . Dany Jimenez (Win, 4-1) took over for Rodriguez in the sixth, tossing two scoreless innings.

The Nuts added two runs on three Loons fielding errors in the seventh inning to add insurance, and it was here that Taylor wrote his name in the record books. The Lugnuts second baseman had stolen third base in the third inning and both second and third base in the fifth inning to tie the team mark. In the seventh, he stepped to the plate and reached on a fielder's choice and a run-scoring throwing error by Schueller, and then proceeded to swipe second base to take sole possession of the record.

Canadian right-hander Brayden Bouchey , a native of Vancouver, fittingly recorded the six outs on Canada Day.

The Loons had a glut of base runners -- 19 total, on 12 hits, seven walks and one throwing error - but left 15 runners left on base.

The game took three hours and 48 minutes to play nine innings.

The Lugs open up a home-and-home series with the West Michigan Whitecaps starting at 7:05 p.m. Monday at Fifth Third Ballpark, with Lugnuts right-hander Donnie Sellers (4.41 ERA) facing Whitecaps right-hander Wilkel Hernandez (MWL debut).

Get ready: The next Lugnuts home game is on the 4th of July against the Whitecaps, a 6:30 p.m. start followed by an Independence Day LAFCU Fireworks Spectacular! To purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
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