Lugnuts’ magic falls short in 6-3 loss

LANSING, Mich. – Caden Kendle and Poncho Ruiz swatted back-to-back home runs, and the Cedar Rapids Kernels (19-15, 59-41) used a strong relief effort to top the Lansing Lugnuts (14-21, 50-51), 6-3, before a Saturday night crowd of 7,868 at Jackson® Field™.

Lansing shortstop Leo De Vries went 2-for-5 with an RBI triple, his first Lugnuts extra-base hit, in the loss. It came at the turning point of the game.

The Kernels scored two runs in the first, added Kendle and Ruiz’s home runs in the second, and brought a 4-2 lead to the bottom of the fifth inning. Ryan Lasko led off with an infield single against Jose Olivares, taking second on a throwing error by third baseman Danny De Andrade. De Vries followed with a drive to deep right that glanced off the glove of the diving Kendle, scoring Lasko.

But with De Vries standing at third as the potential game-tying run, Olivares set down Casey Yamauchi, T.J. Schofield-Sam and – after a walk to Pedro Pineda – Cameron Leary to end the inning.

Samuel Pérez then blanked the Nuts over the sixth and seventh innings, and Paulshawn Pasqualotto followed suit in the eighth and ninth to give Cedar Rapids a third win in five games.

In the loss, Lansing starter Kyle Robinson struck out six in five innings while allowing three hits, three walks and four runs (three earned), and De Vries and debuting C.J. Pittaro each collected a pair of hits while Lasko scored a pair of runs.

Right-hander Kenya Huggins makes his Lugnuts debut in the Sunday finale at 1:05 p.m., taking on Cedar Rapids lefty Garrett Horn on a Capital City Market Kids Day. Gates open at 12 noon. Tickets are available for purchase at the stadium box office, (517) 485-4500 or by clicking here.

# # #