Lake County Sentinel
Captains demolish Hot Rods 10-2
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
(EASTLAKE, OH) - On Sunday at Classic Park, the Lake County Captains tried to salvage game three of their three game series with the visiting Bowling Green Hot Rods. Thing went very well as the Captains took apart the Hot Rods 10-2 in front of 1,571 fans.
The Captains bats came alive in the third inning when with one out Tyler Friis singled. Austin Wade followed with a double, driving home Friis to give the Captains a 1-0 lead. Hot Rods catcher Ronaldo Hernandez was then charged with a passed ball allowing Wade to move to third base. After Jorma Rodriguez fouled out to Hernandez, Nolan Jones singled sharply to center field driving Wade. The RBI for Jones was his third of the season and gave Lake County a 2-0 lead.
The Hot Rods came right back in the top of the fourth inning with a single run when with one out Brendan McKay drew a base on balls. Captains starter Elijah Morgan then uncorked a wild pitch allowing McKay to move to second base. Hernandez then singled to left field and McKay lumbered home to cut the Captains lead in half at 2-1. Morgan was able to escape the inning with no further damage.
The Captains answered back in the bottom of the fourth with two runs. The first run came with two outs in the inning and Jonathan Laureano deposited a pitch from Bowling Green starter Alex Valverde over the right field fence, near the foul pole for his first home run of the season and second RBI. The solo homer put the Captains in front 3-1. The damage was not done as Friis then reached on a fielding error and Wade drew a base on balls to put runners at first and second. Rodriguez then singled and Friis scored on a close play at the plate. Irritable Hot Rods manager Craig Albernaz did his best Billy Martin impression, but to no avail as home plate umpire Ben Rosen turned a deaf ear to his antics and the runner was safe. That was the last batter of the day for Valverde as the irritated Albernaz pulled him in favor of Jose Disla. Disla was not any better as he allowed a double to Jones, the first batter he faced, allowing both runners to score. Jones second and third RBI of the game gave Lake County a 6-1 lead. Disla then retired Oscar Gonzalez on a ground ball to end the inning.
The scoring continued in the top of the fifth inning when Taylor Walls drew a lead off base on balls. He then stole second base, his third steal of the season and moved to third and then scored on back to back ground outs. The second ground out by Hernandez tallied the Hot Rods catcher his fourth RBI of the season. The run pulled the Hot Rods to within four runs at 6-2.
The Captains blew the game wide open in the seventh inning when they put four more runs on the board to extend the lead to 10-2. The big blow in the inning was a three run, bases loaded double by Laureano. Laureano entered the game with just one RBI and now has five on the year as he tallied four in today’s game.
Aside from Laureano, several Captains had nice days offensively. Jones had his best day of the year as he went 2 for 4 with a double, a run scored and three RBI.
Morgan picked up his first win of the year in a nice effort for Lake County. The eighth-round pick went five and two thirds innings allowing just two runs, both earned on four hits. He issued three base on balls and struck out four to improve his record to 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA. Nick Gallagher picked up the save for Lake County in relief of Morgan. Gallagher went three and one third innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. The save was Gallagher’s first of the year. Valverde took the loss for the Captains. He went three and two thirds innings allowing six runs, only three were earned on six hits. The righty issued two base on balls and stuck out five Captains in the losing effort. With the loss Valverde falls to 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA.
The Captains will continue their seven game homestand on Monday night when they welcome in the West Michigan Whitecaps for four games. Eudis Idrogo will be on the mound in game one for the Whitecaps. Idrogo, a lefty is 0-1 with an 0.82 ERA. The Captains will counter with their own southpaw Juan Hillman. Hillman is 0-2 with a 12.15 ERA.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @IndiansTim Check out our IndiansNation fan Page
POSTED 04/22/2018 17:04
Photo by Phillip Goth