Lansing Lugnuts History vs. West Michigan Class A Affiliate, Toronto Blue Jays • 15-7, 1st The Nuts are 174-179 vs. the Whitecaps, 91-83 at home, 83-96 road. Gm. 1 RHP Yennsy Diaz (0.40 ERA) Gm. 2 RHP Colton Laws (2018 debut) 1st Half Score 2nd Half Score at 4/13 at LAN W, 4-2 7/2 at WM 4/27 at WM W, 11-7 7/3 at WM West Michigan Whitecaps 4/27 at WM L, 7-4 7/4 vs. WM Class A Affiliate, Detroit Tigers • 13-8, 2nd 4/28 at WM W, 13-5 7/5 vs. WM Gm. 1 LHP Eudis Idrogo (0.53 ERA) 4/29 at WM 8/15 at WM Gm. 2 RHP Dylan Stock (2018 debut) 4/29 at WM 8/16 at WM 8/17 at WM FIFTH THIRD BALLPARK GM. 1 1ST PITCH: 2:00 PM SUNDAY, APRIL 29TH, 2018 This Afternoon: The Lansing Lugnuts play their second doubleheader at West Michigan, closing a five-game, three-day series at Fifth Third Ballpark. This is also the final day that the two teams will match up in the first half. The Lugnuts are 3-1 against the Whitecaps this year, beating the ‘Caps on April 13th in Lansing, splitting Friday night’s twinbill and winning a rout yesterday. Those three wins exceeds the amount of victories for the Lugnuts against West Michigan last year in 12 meetings. Yesterday: Nuts 13, Whitecaps 5. The Nuts swatted three homers for the second time in three games, with Kacy Clemens going long twice and Brock Lundquist once in a Saturday matinee laugher. Kevin Smith singled, doubled and tripled for Lansing in support of 18-year-old Maximo Castillo, who whiffed five in five innings. On Deck: Tomorrow is a league-wide off day, followed by a six-game homestand against the Western Division’s Kane County Cougars and Quad Cities River Bandits . On the Air: Jesse Goldberg-Strassler has the call today on The Game 730 AM WVFN and via the Tune-In Radio app, streaming online at lansinglugnuts.com and thegame730am.com. Lugnuts Pregame for Game 1 begins at 1:45 p.m. PITCHING PROBABLES IN A NUTSHELL Monday, April 30 off day Overall: 15-7 7:05 p.m., Tuesday, May 1 LHP Mack Lemieux (4.74), Cougars at RHP Turner Larkins (5.54)), Lugnuts 10:35 a.m., Wednesday, May 2 RHP Brian Shaffer (3.66), Cougars at LHP Zach Logue (2.78), Lugnuts Home: 7-4 Night: 13-4 7:05 p.m., Thursday, May 3 RHP Kevin McCanna (4.67), Cougars at RHP Maverik Buffo (7.16), Lugnuts Road: 8-3 Day: 2-3 vs. LHP: 8-2 vs. RHP: 7-5 Lug•Notes Meet the Lansing Staff: 3-game series: 1-1 Cesar Martín (Mar-TEEN) enters his second season as Lugnuts manager, his tenth season as manager overall. In his Lansing debut, Martín directed 4-game series: 2-0-1 the Nuts to a 37-29 first half and a 63-73 mark for the year. His career record as a manager is 377-302, with a .555 winning percentage. Martín was Series sweeps: 1-0 originally signed by the Blue Jays out of Santiago, D.R., as a 17-year-old infielder. On his way up the Blue Jays’ ladder, his current position coach, Dave Pano, was his hitting coach. Series openers: 6-1 Rubber games: 1-1 Antonio “Tony” Cáceres (CAH-ser-es) returns as Lugnuts pitching coach after spending the past seven years with advanced-rookie Bluefield. Cáceres previously served as Nuts pitching coach in 2009 and 2010, sending 12 Lansing pitchers onward to MLB debuts. Doubleheaders: 1-1 enters his first season as Lugnuts hitting coach as well as his first year in the Blue Jays organization. Young played 20 games in 2011 Matt Young Scored 1st: 10-1 with the Atlanta Braves and then five games in 2012 with the Detroit Tigers, where he debuted as the No. 2 batter in the starting lineup, hitting in front Opponent scored 1st: 5-6 of Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Dmitri Young. Dave Pano (PAN-o) enters his first season as Lugnuts position coach after spending the last seven years with the Vancouver Canadians, where he Shutouts: 1-0 won four Northwest League championships (2011-2013, 2017). Pano previously worked as a scout for the Yankees and Pirates. 1-run games: 2-2 #LugLife by the numbers: 4+ run games: 9-3 League-leading ERA for Yennsy Diaz, who has allowed four runs, one earned, in 22 2/3 innings. Diaz More hits than opp.: 9-3 0.40 also leads the league in WHIP (0.62) and opponent batting average (4-for-74, .054). Fewer hits than opp.: 5-4 MLB Pipeline Top 30 Blue Jays prospects on the Lugnuts’ roster: Equal hits: 1-0 5 • Samad Taylor - No. 13 • Kevin Smith - No. 19 • Maximo Castillo - No. 24 • Ryan Noda - No. 18 • Kevin Vicuña - No. 23 Comeback wins: 6 Final at-bat wins: 1 MWL-leading runs scored by , who has scored eight runs in the first three games of this 22 Cullen Large series. Kevin Vicuña ranks 2nd with 21 runs scored. Kacy Clemens is 3rd with 20 runs scored. Walk-offs: 1-0 MWL-leading RBIs for Kevin Smith. (Kacy Clemens ranks 2nd with 18 runs batted in.) Smith has two Extra Innings: 0-0 23 doubles, a triple and a home run in this series, giving him a league-leading 12 extra-base hits. 9-INNING GAMES ONLY Walks drawn by Ryan Noda in 19 games, most in Minor League Baseball. Teammate Kacy Clemens 26 has drawn 22 walks this year, 2nd in Minor League Baseball. Both boast .500 on-base percentages. Leading Trailing Tied After 6: 9-1 4-2 1-1 League-leading runs scored by the Lugnuts’ offense, averaging 6.95 runs per game, 41 more runs than 153 the second-highest scoring team, Burlington. The Nuts lead the league in run differential (+58), hits (197), After 7: 13-0 1-4 0-0 total bases (312), HBPs (15), walks (119), steals (41), OBP (.379), slugging (.426) and OPS (.805). After 8: 13-0 0-4 1-0 505 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI 48912 • (517) 485-4500 • lansinglugnuts.com • @lansinglugnuts THE MAN ON THE MOUND #30 RHP Yennsy Diaz 6-1, 205 age 21 Profile Full Name .........Yennsy Manuel Diaz Santana School ................................................................... n/a Born ................................. November 15, 1996 Signed ........................International Free Agent, 2014 Resides..................Azua, Dominican Republic Bats / Throws ......................................... Right / Right One of a Kind: Yennsy, pronounced “JEN-see,” is the only Yennsy to ever play professional baseball. Prospect Radar: Diaz enters the 2018 season unranked. He entered the 2017 season rated the Blue Jays’ No. 25 prospect by MLB Pipeline and the No. 28 prospect by Baseball America. In 2016, MLB Pipeline ranked him the No. 19 prospect in the organization. 2018 Season Spotlight: Named the Opening Day starter, Diaz more than exceeded expectations in a gem at Great Lakes, April 5th, holding the Great Lakes Loons without a hit until Ramon Rodriguez’s leadoff double in the sixth and finishing with 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a 12-1 Lugnuts victory... followed up with six dominant innings against the Fort Wayne TinCaps, allowing only one hit - Jack Suwinski’s one-out solo HR in the 5th... enters tonight’s game ranked 1st in lowest batting average allowed by a starter (.054), 1st in WHIP (0.62), 1st in ERA (0.40) and tied for 3rd in the MWL in innings pitched (22 2/3). Fastball (92-97), Change (88-91), Curve (81) 2017 in Lansing: Yennsy made his MWL debut on June 10 at Fort Wayne, flying in from Extended Spring to replace Patrick Murphy, working two scoreless innings before departing due to pitch count (54 pitches)... followed up with eight strikeouts at South Bend, June 15... he struck out eight batters again vs. Bowling Green, June 27... MiLB Firsts MiLB Highs tied career high with 9 K’s on August 5 at Dayton, and then again on August 26 vs. Fort Wayne... set a career high MiLB Debut .........6/3/15 Innings Pitched ...... 7.0, 8/26/17 with 7.0 IP, August 26 vs. Fort Wayne... held right-handers to .216 avg. (24-for-111). Start ..................6/26/15 Hits Allowed .............. 9, 8/13/15 2016 in Bluefield:Yennsy started the fifth game of the Appy League season, working in a tandem with Jose Nova Win ...................6/15/15 Home Runs .............. 3, 8/31/16 for his first four appearances before breaking away. In his finest start, August 2 at Burlington, he allowed two hits Save .................8/20/15 Runs Allowed ............. 6, 8/8/16 and one walk in six shutout innings, striking out eight. Baseball America ranked Diaz the No. 17 prospect in the CG ................................ Walks ........................ 5, 8/20/16 league, one of only two Bluefield Blue Jays on the list. The other was No. 1 prospect Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. Shutout ......................... Strikeouts ................. 10, 4/5/18 2015 Pro Debut: 18-year-old Yennsy’s first professional game came on June 3, 2015, in the Dominican Summer League; he suffered the loss, allowing two unearned runs in 2 1/3 innings in relief. After three more outings out of 2018 - Lansing Lugnuts the bullpen, he made six starts and caught fire. On July 13th, he struck out nine DSL Padres in five one-hit innings. One July 20th, he tossed six shutout innings against the DSL White Sox.