Lake County Sentinel
Captains notch franchise's 1,000th win, with dramatic walk off home run
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
The Lake County Captains returned home to Classic Park on Friday night to open a seven-game home stand. The first four games against the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Rays). The Captains entered the game with a 20-38 record and losers of six of their last eight games. The result was just what the 5,286 came to see as the Captains won the game in dramatic fashion 6-5. The win was also the 1,000th by the Captains franchise since they moved to Lake County in 2003.
The Captains got on the scoreboard first in the first in the first inning when Miguel Eladio smashed his first home run of the season over the left field fence to give the Captains a 1-0 lead. Eladio's long ball came off Bowling Green starter J.D. Busfield, the third he's given up this season.
The Hot Rods answered right back in the top of the second inning when Adrian Rondon smacked his fourth home run of the season off Captains starter Brady Aiken. The home run was Rondon's fourth of the season and the third home run surrendered on the year by Aiken.
The Hot Rods took the lead in the top seventh inning when they got two runs off Aiken. The seventh inning was the lefty's last as Michael Letkewicz entered the game with one out in the inning to record the final two outs. The second run in the inning was charged to Aiken, but scored when Letkewicz gave up a two out single to Garrett Whitley to drive in Rene Pinto and give the Hot Rods a 3-1 lead.
The Captains stormed right back in the bottom of the inning when Gavin Collins was hit by a pitch. Collins then advanced two bases when Busfield attempted to pick him off first and made an errant throw to first that went up the right field line. Emmanuel Tapia then hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Collins scored to pull the Captains to within one run at 3-2. The RBI was Tapia's 30th of the season which leads the Captains. Jose Medina then drew a base on balls followed by a two-run home run from Jose Vincente to give the Captains a 4-3 lead. The long ball by Vincente was his second of the season.
The Hot Rods countered in the top of the eighth inning with a single run to tie the game at 4-4 off Letkewicz gave up the run and was then replaced in the game by Midwest League All-Star Ryder Ryan, who finished the inning. But before the inning could end Ryan balked with a runner at third base, to give the Hot Rods a 5-4 lead. Ryan had given up a single to the first batter he faced Michael Brosseau, who ended up scoring the go ahead run on the balk.
Once again, the Captains were never say die and came through again in the bottom of the eighth inning when Brian McAfee entered the game in relief of Busfield. Things did not go well for McAfee as blew the save when he allowed a leadoff single to Eladio, his third hit of the night. Li-Jen Chu followed with a single to left field, putting men at first and second. Collins then grounded into a double play and Eladio ended up at the third base. The Hot Rods then chose to intentionally walk Tapia to put men at the corners. Finally, Medina hit a ground ball deep in the hole at short and was safe at first base, scoring Eladio to tie the game at 5-5.
But in the end the Captains had one more blast in them, with one out in the bottom of the ninth Todd Isaacs blasted his seventh home run of the season over the left field fence to give the Captains a 6-5 win.
Ryan picked up the win for Lake County. With the win, he improves to 2-2 with a 0.78 ERA. McAfee took the loss for the Hot Rods falling to 0-3 with a 2.79, the blown save was his third.
The Captains and Hot Rods will play game two of the series on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. The game will make game 2,000 in the history of the Captains franchise (1,000-999). Chris Pike will be on the mound for Bowling Green. Pike, a righthander will be making his 2017 debut. Lefty Juan Hillman will be on the mound for Lake County. Hillman, enters the game with a 2-3 record and a 6.84 ERA.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @IndiansTim Check out our IndiansNation fan Page
POSTED 06/09/2017 22:22
Lake County Captains Outfielder Todd Isaacs. Photo by Greg Goth
