History vs. Dayton Lansing Lugnuts The Nuts are 9-2 this year and 163-136 all-time Class A Affiliate, Toronto Blue Jays • 16-18, 59-45 vs. the Dragons, 89-66 at home, 74-70 road. LHP Matt Gunter (4.94 ERA) 1st Half Score 2nd Half Score 4/23 at LAN W, 10-7 7/28 at DAY at 4/24 at LAN W, 7-0 7/29 at DAY 4/25 at LAN W, 13-2 7/30 at DAY 4/26 at LAN W, 8-7 7/31 at DAY Dayton Dragons 5/14 at LAN W, 4-3 8/8 at LAN 5/15 at LAN W, 10-9 (10) 8/9 at LAN Class A Affiliate, Cincinnati Reds • 17-17, 48-54 5/16 at LAN W, 12-2 8/10 at LAN 5/17 at LAN W, 4-1 8/24 at DAY RHP Austin Orewiler (3.59 ERA) 6/1 at DAY W, 12-1 8/25 at DAY 6/2 at DAY L, 5-4 (10) 8/26 at DAY 6/3 at DAY L, 11-8 8/27 at DAY FIFTH THIRD FIELD 1ST PITCH: 7:07 PM SATURDAY, JULY 28TH, 2018 Tonight: The Lansing Lugnuts, the Class A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, play the opener in a four-game series at the Dayton Dragons, affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds, the fourth game of a seven-game road trip. The Nuts are 9-2 against the Dragons, winning the first nine meetings before losing the last two. Last Night: Lugnuts 5, South Bend Cubs 2. Norberto Obeso slugged a two-run homer, Brandon Grudzielanek hit a tape-measure solo shot, and relievers Brody Rodning and Dany Jimenez combined for 11 strikeouts in six scoreless innings, powering the Lugnuts to the rubber match victory at Four Winds Field. On Deck: The Nuts play the Dragons through Tuesday before returning to Michigan’s state capital Wednesday for a three-game homestand vs. South Bend. On the Air: Jesse Goldberg-Strassler and Dante De Caria have the call on 730 The Game WVFN and the Tune-In Radio app, streaming online at lansin- glugnuts.com. and thegame730am.com, with Lugnuts Pregame starting at 6:45 p.m. PITCHING PROBABLES IN A NUTSHELL 2:07 p.m., Sunday, July 29th LHP Jordan Barrett (4.20), Lugnuts at RHP Mac Sceroler (6.00), Dragons 43-27 1st half, 16-18 2nd half 7:00 p.m., Monday, July 30th RHP Maximo Castillo (5.46), Lugnuts at RHP Patrick McGuff (1.80), Dragons Streak: Won 2, Won 3 of 4 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 31st RHP Graham Spraker (2.63), Lugnuts at RHP Hunter Greene (4.48), Dragons Home: 30-23 Night: 46-29 7:05 p.m., Wednesday, August 1st LHP Brendon Little (4.88), Cubs at RHP Kyle Weatherly (3.52), Lugnuts Road: 29-22 Day: 13-16 Lug•Notes vs. LHP: 22-17 vs. RHP: 37-28 Headlines: 3-game series: 11-8 The Lugnuts are playoff bound, winning the first-half Eastern Division wild card with a 43-27 record and setting a first-round date with the 4-game series: 5-2-4 Bowling Green Hot Rods. The Nuts will host Game 1 of the best-of-three series vs. Bowling Green on Wednesday, September 5th, the day after the 12th annual Crosstown Showdown presented by Auto-Owners Insurance against Michigan State University. Series sweeps: 6-4 Series openers: 18-11 The newest Lugnut is 1B , formerly with the Asheville Tourists, acquired via trade from the Colorado Rockies with Double-A Chad Spanberger Rubber games: 5-3 OF Forrest Wall in exchange for P Seunghwan Oh. Drafted by the Rockies in the sixth round last year from Arkansas, Spanberger ranked 1st in the South Atlantic League with 110 hits, 75 runs batted in, 202 total bases and a .579 slugging percentage; 2nd with a .315 batting aver- Doubleheaders: 2-2 age, 65 runs scored and 45 extra-base hits; and 3rd with 22 home runs. He won the 2018 South Atlantic League Home Run Derby, crushing a total of 29 homers in the competition. Scored 1st: 41-16 Opponent scored 1st: 18-29 Lansing leads the Midwest League in walks (419) and on-base percentage (.345). The Nuts are tied for 1st in runs (537), doubles (195) and triples (35). The Lugnuts have also pitched the most innings (915 2/3). Shutouts: 5-4 Two former Lugnuts have reached the Majors this year, bringing the all-time total to 131 Lugnuts to make the Major Leagues in 23 seasons: 1-run games: 17-13 2011-12 RHP Marcus Walden debuted on April 1st for Boston and 2016 LHP Ryan Borucki debuted on June 26th for Toronto. 4+ run games: 22-19 With Spanberger joining the Lugnuts, 47 players have now suited up for the Nuts this year: 24 position players and 23 pitchers. More hits than opp.: 34-11 #LugLife By the Numbers: Fewer hits than opp.: 19-30 Equal hits: 6-4 Consecutive games with an XBH for Samad Taylor: three games with triples followed by two straight with doubles. Taylor also leads all MWL 5 second basemen in games, chances, putouts, assists and double plays. He has committed one error in his last 52 starts, dating back to May 19th. Comeback wins: 23 Final at-bat wins: 7 RBIs for Norberto Obeso in three games in South Bend: a two-run single and a game-tying RBI double on Wednesday (supplying three of the 7 Lugnuts’ four runs), a two-run single on Thursday (supplying both runs in a 2-1 win) and a two-run homer on Friday (two of the Nuts’ five runs). Walk-offs: 6-6 Extra Innings: 4-5 14 Consecutive games reaching base for Brandon Grudzielanek, the longest current Lugnuts on-base streak. (Grudzielanek is hitting .224, 11-for-49 with 10 walks, during the streak.) Norberto Obeso has reached base in 18 consecutive road games, with a .306 avg. and 449 OBP. 9-INNING GAMES ONLY Consecutive scoreless innings tossed by Lugnuts starters: Matt Gunter (3rd inning on Sunday), Jordan Barrett (7 innings on Monday), Maximo Leading Trailing Tied 23 Castillo (6 innings on Wednesday), Graham Spraker (7 innings Thursday) and Kyle Weatherly (2 innings yesterday before allowing two runs) After 6: 39-6 12-28 5-7 Walks drawn this season by Ryan Noda, most in the Midwest League and 2nd most in Minor League Baseball. Noda also leads the Midwest After 7: 45-4 8-32 3-5 78 League with a .420 on-base percentage. Former Lugnut Cavan Biggio ranks 3rd in MiLB with 77 walks, playing for Class-AA New Hampshire. After 8: 48-1 3-35 5-4 505 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI 48912 • (517) 485-4500 • lansinglugnuts.com • @lansinglugnuts TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER #15 LHP Matt Gunter 6-1, 195 age 23 Profile Full Name ................ Matthew Thomas Gunter School ......... Hawai’i Pacific University (Honolulu, HI) Born ......................................February 7, 1995 Drafted ..................... 999th overall, 33rd round, 2017 Resides........................ Orangevale, California Bats / Throws .............................................. Left / Left Big Picture: One of 12 2017 draftees on the Lugnuts roster... one of 19 collegians on the roster... one of three players from California (Brock Lundquist, Samad Taylor)... on college web bio, lists his pastimes as biking, video games and long boarding... favorite athletes are Barry Zito and Conor McGregor... dominates the board game Settlers of Catan. Home, Home on the (O)range: Hails from Orangevale, CA, on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada... pitched at Bella Vista High School, which also produced author Nicholas Sparks, AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Carl Cranke, and journalist Joan Lunden. College Path: Attended American River College (a community college in Foothill Farms, CA, located in Sacra- mento County), picking up two straight Second Team All-BIG 8 Conference honors... American River College also produced swimmer Debbie Meyer, quarterback Tony Eason, defensive back Jarrett Bush and MLBers Dusty Baker, Dallas Braden, Manny Parra, Steve Andrade and John Vukovich. Shark Week: Transferred to Hawai’i Pacific University (HPU, the “Sharks,” located in Honolulu) for junior and Fastball, Slider, Change-Up, Curve senior years... majored in International Business... tossed seven-inning no-hitter 2/25/17 and finished with a 2.08 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP and school record 102 strikeouts in 86 1/3 innings... named the PacWest Conference Pitcher of the Year, First Team All-PacWest, the NCBWA D-II West Region Pitcher of the Year and NCBWA Honorable MiLB Firsts MiLB Highs Mention All-America.. ranked 15th in Division II in strikeouts... led conference and region with five complete games. MiLB Debut .......6/26/17 Innings Pitched ....... 6.0, 4 gms. Draft Day: Taken 999th overall in 2017 as the Blue Jays’ 33rd-round pick, inking for $1,000 as a senior sign... Start ..................8/11/17 Hits Allowed .............. 7, 6/21/18 Hawai’i Pacific teammates Brandon Bonilla (13th round, Baltimore) and Rico Garcia (30th round, Colorado) Win .....................9/1/17 Home Runs .............. 3, 7/16/18 were drafted in 2016... the top player ever from Hawai’i Pacific was Benny Agbayani, drafted by the Mets in the Save ............................. Runs Allowed ............ 6, 2 gms. 8th round in 1993 and played five years in MLB, 1998-2002, becoming a three-year cult hero for the New York CG ................................ Walks ......................... 4, 3 gms. Mets (1999-2001). Shutout ......................... Strikeouts .................. 6, 2 gms. 2017 - Gulf Coast League: Made pro debut for rookie-level GCL Blue Jays... debuted by facing one batter and retiring him, 6/26..