Captains lay an egg to start second half with 7-2 loss

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Lake County Sentinel

Captains lay an egg to start second half with 7-2 loss

BY TIM SHIRER

CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER

(BOWLING GREEN, KY) - The Lake County Captains (0-1, 29-42) and Bowling Green Hot Rods (1-0, 48-22) were in a rain delay nearly as long as they played baseball on Thursday night at Bowling Green Ballpark in the first game after the All-Star Break. In a game that featured a two hour and four minute rain delay in the fifth inning, the Captains lost to the Hot Rods, 7-2. The two sides played two hours and 35 minutes of baseball in a game that began at 7:38 p.m. ET and ended at 12:17 a.m. ET.

The Hot Rods jumped on Captains starter Jean Carlos Mejia early, scoring four runs in the first inning on three doubles and two singles. Vidal Brujan began the frame with a double and Taylor Walls followed with a single. Mejia struck out Zach Rutherford for the first out, but Walls swiped second and Moises Gomez ripped a double to the left-centerfield alley that brought home both Brujan and Walls to give Bowling Green a 2-0 lead. Ronaldo Hernandez then came through with a double to left that scored Gomez. After Carl Chester grounded out to shortstop, Devin Davis singled to centerfield to send Hernandez home and give Bowling Green a 4-0 lead.

Mejia battled through adversity over the next four innings and kept the Hot Rods off the scoreboard, despite allowing runners in scoring position every frame. With runners on the corners and one out in the sevond, Mejia induced a ground ball to Ernie Clement and the shortstop turned two to end the frame. Mejia then hit Hernandez with a pitch in the third and ultimately stranded him at second. In the fourth, Mejia gave up a leadoff single to Jim Haley and walked Eleardo Cabrera. After a fly out to center by Vidal Brujan, Walls bounced into a 3-6 force out at second. With runners on the corners and two outs, Rutherford flied out to center to end the frame.

Mejia (0-1) took the loss for Lake County. The right-hander pitched four innings and allowed four runs, all of which came in the first inning, on eight hits. He struck out three, walked one and hit a batter.

Hot Rods starter Austin Franklin stifled the Captains over five shutout innings. The right-hander had held the Captains scoreless over five innings in late April and copied that feat on Thursday. Franklin (5-2) eventually earned the win, allowing just two hits, walking one and striking out five. His only trouble came in the first when Clement hit a double to right-center on the first pitch of the game and was eventually stranded on third.

After Franklin shut down the Captains in a one-two-three fifth, the rain fell hard and the ballgame went into a delay. Play halted at 9:03 p.m. ET and did not resume until 11:07 p.m. ET. When it restarted, the Hot Rods hardly wasted time adding to their lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, Bowling Green plated three runs – one earned – against Captains right-hander Felix Tati. Devin Davis reached on a leadoff error by Clement. Jim Haley followed with a single and Tati hit Eleardo Cabrera with a pitch to load the bases. Vidal Brujan then knocked in two with a single. Two batters later, Zach Rutherford came up with runners on second and third and one out. He chopped a ball to short and Clement fired home to pin Cabrera in a brief rundown, in which he was quickly tagged out by catcher Josh Rolette. The rundown moved Brujan to third and, after Rutherford stole second, a wild pitch brought Brujan home to give the Hot Rods a 7-0 lead.

Lake County's only tallies came on one swing in the top of the seventh. Tyler Friis worked a leadoff walk against Hot Rods right-hander Orlando Romero. The reliever retired the next two men, but Ulysses Cantu cracked a two-run homer over the tall right-centerfield wall to make the score 7-2.

The Hot Rods' victory extended their franchise-record winning streak to 12 games. Lake County has lost four in a row to Bowling Green, dating back to a three-game series at Classic Park leading into the All-Star Break. The Captains and Hot Rods will square off again on Friday night at Bowling Green Ballpark in game two of a four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. ET.