Lugs Dealt L by Noel in Fort Wayne Series Opener
July 12, 2022 - Midwest League (MWL)
Lansing Lugnuts News Release
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Behind the strong pitching of southpaw Noel Vela, the Fort Wayne TinCaps (6-10, 33-49) continued their mastery of the Lansing Lugnuts (7-9, 32-50), winning 7-1 in the Tuesday night opener of a six-game series at Parkview Field.
The TinCaps improved to 10-3 against the Lugnuts in 2022, though this was the first game between the two clubs played away from Lansing.
In his last meeting with the Lugnuts, on June 17, Vela had allowed one run in six innings with six strikeouts in a TinCaps 7-2 win. On this night, he again allowed one run in six innings, but he struck out only one - Matt Cross ending the sixth, the final batter he faced.
The Lugnuts' only run came in the third, affording the Nuts a brief 1-0 lead. With one out, Gabriel Maciel singled and Jared McDonald doubled him to third. Jack Winkler followed with a groundout to short, bringing Maciel in.
Lugnuts starter Mac Lardner came in with two straight six-inning scoreless starts under his belt. He opened well with three straight scoreless innings, but gave up an RBI single to Brandon Valenzuela in the fourth inning before departing due to injury precaution after fielding a Corey Rosier bunt single. Joe DeMers relieved Lardner and allowed two inherited runners to score, giving the TinCaps a 3-1 lead.
Fort Wayne then added two in the fifth off DeMers before closing out the scoring on an Adam Kerner two-run double in the sixth off Diego Granado.
Shohei Tomioka pitched the seventh and eighth innings scorelessly, allowing two singles and striking out three. It was his second consecutive outing with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts.
In the loss, McDonald singled and doubled in four at-bats and Joshwan Wright went 1-for-4 with a single in his final at-bat, extending his on-base streak to 12 games.
The second game of the series is a 12:05 p.m. matinee Wednesday, with newly acquired right-hander Christian Fernandez scheduled to make his Lugnuts debut against a TinCaps starter yet to be named. The Athletics received Fernandez and Triple-A outfielder Cal Stevenson in a weekend trade for Christian Bethancourt; Fernandez joins Euribiel Ángeles (San Diego Padres) and Joey Estes (Atlanta Braves) as prospects acquired by the Athletics via trade this year.
The next Nuts homestand runs from July 22-24 against the Lake County Captains. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
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