Captains edged in pitchers duel 2-1

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Lake County Sentinel

Captains edged in pitchers duel 2-1

BY TIM SHIRER

CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER

(EASTLAKE, OH) - Monday night the Lake County Captains welcomed the Dayton Dragons to town. Both teams were coming off wins in their last game, so something had to give. It turned out to be in favor of the Dragons as they came out on top in the pitcher’s duel 2-1 and sent the 1,984 in attendance at Classic Park home disappointed.

The Dragons got on the board in the seventh inning when Alejo Lopez doubled to lead off the inning and then Jeter Downs followed with a double to score Lopez and give the Dragons a 1-0 lead. The run came off Captains starter Kirk McCarty who pitched a brilliant game. McCarty went seven innings allowing only one run on four hits. He also struck out seven Dragons hitters. Unfortunately for McCarty he was tagged with the loss as the Captains offense could get nothing going. With the loss McCarty falls to 1-8 with a 5.20 ERA.

The main problem for the Captains offense was Dayton starting pitcher Hunter Greene. Greene was the Cincinnati Reds number one pick and second overall in the 2017 draft and he showed why on Monday night. Greene went seven scoreless innings throwing only 69 pitches, 52 were strikes. He struck out 10 Captains hitters and did not issue a base on balls. Greene picked up the win and improved to 2-6 with a 4.18 ERA.

The Dragons scored a pivotal insurance run in the top of the ninth inning when Leandro Santana belted his sixth home run of the season a solo shot to give the Dragons a 2-0 lead.

The Captains finally got on the board in the ninth inning when with one out Jesse Berardi doubled to right field. Two batters later Jose Medina singled to left field and Berardi scored the only Lake County run of the evening.

Both Dragons manager Luis Bolivar and Captains skipper Luke Carlin commented after the game that both Greene and McCarty had their best starts of the season.

The Captains and Dragons will play game two of the short two game series on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. Righthander Tyler Mondile will be on the hill for the Dragons. Mondile is 2-6 with a 6.59 ERA. The Captains will send Juan Hillman to the mound. Hillman, a southpaw is 1-8 with a 5.45 ERA.