Lake County Sentinel
Captains lose third straight falling to the Loons 4-3
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
The Lake County Captains were trying to get on the right track on Friday night after they opened the second half of the season on Thursday night with a 2-1 loss to the visiting Great Lakes Loons. On Friday night, it wasn’t much better as the Captains committed errors early and fell to the Loons 4-3 in front of 4,359 at Classic Park.
The Loons jumped on Captains starting pitcher Casey Shane immediately as the game's leadoff hitter Gage Green singled to left field and Brendon Davis followed Green with his own single to left and Davis went to second base. After Donovan Tate flew out, Ariel Sandoval reached on an error by Captains third baseman Ordomar Valdez which allowed Green to cross the plate with the Loons first run and Davis advanced to third base. Jake Henson then grounded out to Valdez at third and Davis came home with the second run, giving the Loons a 2-0 lead after a half inning.
The Loons added to their lead in the top of the fourth inning when Jake Henson blasted a solo home run to right field. The home run by Henson was his fourth of the season. Things continued to unravel in the inning when Omar Estevez reached on a throwing error by Valdez, his second of the game. Estevez eventually scored on a fielder's choice and throwing error by Willi Castro to put the Loons up 4-0.
The Captains finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning when Jose Medina belted a solo home run just over the right field fence. The home run for Medina was his second of the season. One batter later Anthony Miller added another solo shot with his seventh home run of the year, a laser shot into the grass over the right field fence to cut the Loons lead to 4-2.
The Captains added a third run in the eighth inning, but it was too little too late.
Captain’s starter Casey Shane took the hard luck loss. Shane gave up four runs, only one was earned in six innings of work. He scattered seven hits while striking out three and issuing one base on balls. With the loss Shane falls to 5-5 with a 4.12 ERA. Imani Abdullah picked up the win for The Loons. Abdullah started and pitched five innings allowing two runs on only four hits. Abdullah had the Captains number as he struck out ten hitters and didn't issue a base on balls. With the win the Loons righty improves to 1-2 with a 2.84 ERA.
The two teams will continue the four game set with game three on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. Lefty Michael Boyle will be on the mound for the Loons. Boyle is 4-4 with a 2.87 ERA. The Captains will counter with Matt Esparza. Esparza a righty is 6-3 with a 3.71 ERA.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @IndiansTim Check out our IndiansNation fan page
POSTED 06/24/2016 22:22
