That trip came last week, when I was able to take in four Lugnuts games from Monday to Thursday, with Nicolino and Sanchez scheduled to pitch on the Thursday night. I had kept last Friday open in the event of a postponed game while I was down there, but both hurlers pitched on Thursday as planned. Here’s what I noted about Nicolino, and I’ll have a separate article coming on Sanchez.

Note: The velocities mentioned below were an average of a nearby scout’s gun and the stadium gun, which was unreliable at times as it consistently read 2-3 mph higher or didn’t give a reading at all. I did bring my gun with me, but for whatever reason I discovered very quickly into the first game on Monday that it didn’t pick up accurate readings from a variety of different seating locations, so I was forced to improvise for the rest of the trip.

Nicolino, like Sanchez, entered last Thursday’s game without having allowed a single run so far this season, but with Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos in attendance, he finished his outing having allowed three earned runs on a season-high six hits with four strikeouts. He didn’t necessarily have his best stuff, but I still walked away quite impressed.

Nicolino’s smooth, repeatable delivery was noticeable, and confirmed the work that he has put in to iron out his mechanics since pitching with Vancouver last year. His fastball was 89-93 mph, touching 94 on the stadium gun once, and he commanded it to both sides of the plate, running it inside to right-handers. He dazzled with his plus changeup at times, ranging from 82-86 but consistently sitting 83-84, both up and down in the zone. His sweeping 75-79 mph curveball worked well against left-handers and he threw it with good wrist action that caused a sharp 2-8 break. He did throw the curve for strikes, but his command could have been better as he missed the zone more often that not with it, especially outside to left-handed hitters.

Getting the start, Nicolino managed to erase a leadoff single in a scoreless first inning with a heads-up pickoff throw 1-3-6 in his third toss over to first base. Outside of a missed swing with his changeup, he stuck primarily with his fastball during the inning.

In a scoreless second, Nicolino mixed up his pitches a lot more, and his polish became much more evident; he faced four hitters in the frame and took little time to color me impressed. The first thing that stood out was the way he handled Bowling Green leadoff hitter Todd Glaesmann, a right-handed hitter. After throwing a 90 mph fastball down the middle for a called first strike, he switched to his curveball, which was ruled high and inside for a ball. Then, instead of throwing a different pitch, Nicolino went right back to his curveball and placed the offering a hair less inside to get the strike call, before inducing a weakly hit grounder that resulted in an infield single.

The second thing that impressed me that inning wasn’t that Nicolino not only got ahead 0-1 on each of the final three batters of the inning, but that he did so using three different pitches. He threw a 91 mph fastball down the middle to Cameron Seitzer, an 84 mph changeup over the plate to Josh Sale, and a 79 mph inside curveball to Joel Caminero, all for strikes. Facing Caminero with two out, Nicolino toggled exclusively between his curveball and changeup to eventually strike him out swinging. Lugnuts No. 2 broadcaster Keaton Gillogly tweeted a few weeks about how Nicolino’s nasty changeup lives up to the hype, and after seeing it in a game situation first-hand, I certainly agree.

The third inning was really the only spot where Nicolino got into a bit of trouble, where two weak runs were scored on him. After he fielded a chopper to the mound but couldn’t get the runner in time on his throw, a first-pitch single and a double steal quickly put runners on second and third with nobody out. A sacrifice fly and a ground out quickly put two outs on the board but two runs as well, before Nicolino struck out left-handed hitter Jeff Malm swinging on an inside fastball to end the frame.

Leading off the top of the fourth, Nicolino struck out Glaesmann on six pitches: 90 mph fastball outside (ball), 83 mph changeup high (swinging strike), 90 mph fastball outside (swinging strike), 92 mph fastball (foul), 91 mph fastball inside (ball) and an 82 mph changeup low (swinging strike three). After getting his next hitter to ground out, it looked as though Nicolino was going to have a routine 1-2-3 inning. But the next batter, Josh Sale, hammered a 1-0 pitch all the way into a parking lot across the street in right field for a solo home run. It came on a fastball, and was the first home run that Nicolino had surrendered in his pro career.

A single and an error from Lugnuts third baseman Andy Burns quickly put runners on first and second, but Nicolino struck out Bowling Green’s Tyler Goeddel swinging to end the threat. After tossing a first-pitch strike with a fastball, Nicolino impressed me once again by going to his curveball in a jam and throwing it for consecutive strikes.

After his latest start on Tuesday, Nicolino now has a 1.33 ERA in 27 innings for the Lugnuts this season. He’s given up 25 hits over that span, including 12 in his last eight innings, but also has 27 strikeouts to just three walks for a 9:1 ratio.

Even not at his best, Lugnuts left-hander Justin Nicolino was impressive. (KEVIN W. FOWLER, Lansing State Journal)

- JM

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Walden limited the Hot Rods to just two hits in his outing, with four strikeouts and two walks. Although he did not give up a run in his five innings, the right-hander didn’t have his best stuff, frequently missing outside to left-handed hitters with his fastball and operating almost exclusively on the right side of the plate all night.

After stranding a runner on third base in the second inning, Walden ran into some trouble in the third. A fielding error from Lugnuts first baseman K.C. Hobson and a walk put runners on first and second with nobody out, but Walden managed to get a fly out on a ground ball that should have resulted in an inning-ending double play. Hobson dove to stop a hard grounder and threw to get the runner at second, but the throw to first wasn’t in time and the inning was kept alive. Covering first on the play, Walden made a nice scoop on the short throw from Lugnuts second baseman Jon Berti to prevent a run from scoring.

Walden then issued an ill-timed walk to standout Rays prospect Drew Vettleson to load the bases, but induced a grounder to end the inning unscathed. He calmed down after that, however, retiring five consecutive Hot Rod hitters en route to two shutout innings.

After scoring two runs in the third inning, the Lugnuts’ offense broke out in the fifth, capitalizing on Bowling Green’s mistakes. After a single, stolen base, passed ball and two walks quickly loaded the bases, a groundout from Berti scored the first run of the inning before leadoff hitter Kenny Wilson scored on another passed ball to put the Lugnuts up 4-0.

Lansing Lugnuts reliever Blake McFarland throws in the eighth inning of the Lugnuts' 7-3 win over Bowling Green on Wednesday.

That brought up Carlos Perez, who has been quite aggressive at the plate recently, swinging at first pitches and getting behind in counts during multiple at-bats. In what should have been an inning-ending flyout, Hot Rods left fielder Josh Sale lost the ball in the sky and it dropped for a double, scoring two more runs for the Lugnuts.

Lansing shortstop Andy Burns continued to impress during this homestand, hitting a long double in the sixth inning off the left field wall that was just short of being his fifth home run of the season. He made some great defensive plays as well, including an impressive running throw on a grounder behind the mound.

The Lugnuts send “Sancholino” — their impressive pitching tandem of southpaw Justin Nicolino and right-hander Aaron Sanchez — to the mound tomorrow, with Nicolino opening the contest at 7:05 p.m.

-JM

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