Owen Nearly Perfect as Nuts Win 1-0 Pitcher's Duel
July 8, 2022 - Midwest League (MWL)
Lansing Lugnuts News Release
LANSING, Mich. - Tyler Soderstrom doubled in Drew Swift in the third inning, and Jack Owen and a pair of relievers took care of the rest, leading the Lansing Lugnuts (6-7, 31-48) to a 1-0 triumph over the Great Lakes Loons (8-5, 48-31) on Friday evening at Jackson® Field™.
The Lugnuts have beaten the Loons three times in four games, the first time since early June that Loons lost as many as three games in a series.
Used primarily as a reliever with Single-A Stockton, Owen had totaled seven innings in his first two starts for the Lugnuts after getting promoted, allowing 11 hits and four runs.
But on this night, the former Auburn Tiger retired the first 14 hitters he faced, striking out seven. José Ramos singled with two outs in the fifth for the first Loons base runner; undeterred, Owen set down the next four batters to wrap up six brilliant one-hit shutout innings in just 69 pitches.
Kumar Nambiar followed Owen to the mound. The southpaw from Yale allowe a two-out Eddys Leonard single and Imanol Vargas walk before pitching out of a seventh-inning jam, and then turning in a perfect eighth.
Trayson Kubo whiffed the top three hitters in the Great Lakes order, Alex De Jesus, Diego Cartaya and Jorbit Vivas, in a perfect ninth to conclude the two-hit shutout in two hours and three minutes.
Great Lakes received fine pitching itself, with Carlos Duran striking out six batters in three innings, Emmet Sheehan following with six strikeouts over four two-hit scoreless innings and Ben Harris working around a Soderstrom single in a scoreless eighth.
But the damage had already been done: Drew Swift led off the third inning with a first-pitch HBP from Duran and was balked to second base. After Euribiel Ángeles flied to left, Soderstrom drove a double into the left-center gap, allowing Swift to trot home with ease.
Soderstrom finished the game 2-for-3 with a walk, a single and a double. Jack Winkler, Joshwan Wright and Patrick McColl each singled to supply the rest of the Nuts' five hits.
On Saturday, Frank Tanana and Steve Avery will be inducted into the Michigan Baseball Hall of Fame in a special pregame ceremony before the fifth game of the six-game series, with LAFCU Fireworks following a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Lugnuts right-hander Blake Beers (3.10 ERA) starts opposite Loons right-hander Nick Nastrini (5.26) in a traditional Big Ten battle of Michigan Wolverine vs. UCLA Bruin. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
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