Lake County Sentinel
Captains out slug LumberKings 8-6
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
Monday night the Captains wrapped up their six game homestand and three game series with the Clinton LumberKings. The Captains finished the homestand in style as they outslugged the LumberKings 8-6 in front of 3,871 at Classic Park.
The LumberKings got on the board first in the first inning when Joe Rizzo hit his seventh home run of the season to right center field. The homer run was a solo shot.
The Captains answered back in the bottom of the first inning with three runs. Luke Wakamatsu doubled to lead off the inning and then Miguel Eladio doubled to drive home Wakamatsu and tie the game 1-1. The big blow of the inning came with two outs and Emmanuel Tapia blasted a line drive for his 22nd home run of the season over the center field fence. At first the hit was not ruled a home run, then the home plate ump Trevor Dannegger consulted with the base ump Robert Nunez and the hit was ruled a home run, giving the Captains a 3-1 lead. The exit speed off Tapia's bat on the home run was 110 mph, which is Major League type exit speed.
The Captains added their fourth run in the second inning when Logan Ice hit a solo home run to right center field. The home run gave the Captains a 4-1 lead and was Ice's eighth long ball of the season.
The LumberKings answered back with a run in the top of the third courtesy of a walk and an RBI single given up by Captains starter Brady Aiken. The run closed the Captains to 4-2.
The Captains added their fifth run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Junior Soto walked and advanced to second on a balk. Soto was then driven home when Wakamatsu singled to center field and increased the lead to 5-2.
Lake County increased the lead by two more runs in the fifth inning on combined four singles by the Captains and two errors by Clinton to give the Captains the 7-2 lead.
Clinton cut into the lead with 8-4 in the sixth inning, when they knocked Aiken out of the game. Aiken entered the inning at 78 on his pitch count and 53 strikes of the 78. In the inning, he threw 12 pitches and only two strikes one of which was a base hit, which was the end of his night without recording an out in the inning.
Lake County increased the lead to four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning when Wakamatsu led off the inning with a single and then scored on a balk and making the score 8-4.
Clinton added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to close the gap to 8-6.
Aiken picked up the in for Lake County and improved to 4-10 with a 4.14 ERA. Starter Danny Garcia took the loss the LumberKings. Dalbert Siri picked up the save was his tenth of the season. Garcia, gave up seven runs on 11 hits. He also issued one base on balls and struck out two Captains. With the loss, the lefty falls to 6-8 with a 6.13 ERA.
The Captains have an off day on Tuesday and will be back in action to begin a seven-game road trip on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. in South Bend, Indiana against the South Bend Cubs. South Bend's pitcher is TBA. Juan Hillman will be on the mound for Lake County. Hillman, a lefty is 5-4 with a 4.70 ERA. In Hillman's last start he went eight scoreless innings giving up only four hits and striking out four, for a no decision. In the lefty's last ten starts he is 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @IndiansTim Check out our IndiansNation fan Page
POSTED 07/24/2017 22:39
Captains First Baseman Emmanuel Tapia. Photo by Phillip Goth
