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Lake County Sentinel
Captains screwed by Lugnuts 9-3    
​     BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
(EASTLAKE, OH) - The Lake County Captains and Lansing Lugnuts played game two of their four game series on Saturday night. The Lugnuts were victorious 6-3 in game one. Things did not change much in game two as the Lugnuts handled the Captains 9-3 and sent the 3,734 home unhappy.

The Lugnuts got on the board quickly in the first inning with two runs off Captains starter Alex Royalty. Royalty a righthander retired the first batter of the game and then issued a base on balls to Gabriel Moreno. He then allowed consecutive singles to Griffin Conine and Jake Brodt, Brodt’s single brought home Moreno with the first run of the game. After Royalty got Nick Podkul on strikes Hagen Danner reached base on a fielding error by Captains second baseman Daniel Schneeman. Conine scored on the error giving the Lugnuts a 2-0 advantage. Royalty avoided any further damage when he got Rafael Lantigua to ground out to end the inning.

Royalty worked himself into more trouble in the second inning when he issued a base on balls to the first two batters Luis De Los Santos and Hunter Steinmetz. Royalty did help his case when he picked off De Los Santos with Steinmetz at the plate. The damage continued then when Reggie Pruitt singled and Steinmetz moved to third base. Pruitt then stole second base, his league leading 26th stolen base of the season. Royalty then issued his third base on balls of the inning to Moreno. Conine then grounded into a fielder’s choice, Moreno was retired at second base and Steinmetz came home, extending the Lugnuts lead to 3-0.

The Captains cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the second inning when with one out Mitch Reeves drew a base on balls and then Miguel Jerez blasted his sixth home run of the season over the left field wall.
The Lugnuts got a run back in the top of the third inning when Podkul reached on a throwing error by Captains third baseman Jesse Berardi, Podkul ended up at second base. Hagen Danner then grounded out moving Podkul to third base. Lantiqua followed with a sacrifice fly to center field and Podkul trotted home with the Lugnuts fourth run extending the lead to 4-2.

Some bad news for the Captains in the bottom of the fifth inning when one of the team’s spark plug’s Jesse Berardi left the game with an apparent leg injury.

The Captains pulled to within one run in the sixth inning when Will Benson tripled to lead off the inning. The triple was Benson’s third of the season. After Rueben Cardenas drew a base on balls Bo Naylor hit a long sacrifice fly down the left field line and Benson trotted home cutting the Lugnuts lead to 4-3.

The Lugnuts blew the game open in the eighth inning when they scored five runs off Captains all-star closer Manuel Alvarez. A rare bad outing for Alvarez who entered the game with a 3-1 record and a 1.38 ERA and six saves.

Joey Polido picked up the win for the Lugnuts, it was his first win of the season and he improves to 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA. Alex Royalty took the loss for the Captains. The loss was Royalty’s fourth and he falls to 1-4 with 4.95 ERA. Only two of the four runs that Royalty allowed were earned.

The Lugnuts and Captains will play game three tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Righty Josh Winckowski will take the mound for the Lugnuts. Winckowski is 6-2 with a 1.90 ERA. The Captains will send Luis Oviedo to the hill. Oviedo is 5-2 with a 4.15 ERA.. 
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @IndiansTim Check out our IndiansNation fan Page
​POSTED 06/08/2019 22:30
Lake County Captains third baseman Jesse Berardi.
Photo by Tim Shirer