Captains scalped by Chiefs 7-2

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Lake County Sentinel

Captains scalped by Chiefs 7-2

BY TIM SHIRER

CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER

(EASTLAKE, OH) - The Lake County Captains welcomed the Peoria Chiefs to town on Saturday night to kick off a three-game series. It was a special occasion at Classic Park as the Captains were celebrating Cleveland Sports History night with many distinguished guests including Julian Tavares, Josh Cribbs, Ted Ginn, Jr, and Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Silver Medalist Siamak "Matt" Ghaffari. Like a lot of Cleveland sports history things did not go as well for the Captains as they fell 7-2 to the Chiefs sending the 5,737 faithful at Classic Park home unhappy.

The Chiefs who entered the game 2-8 in their last ten games and 5-22 in the second half got on the board first in the first inning off Captains starting pitcher Alex Royalty. After Royalty retired the first two batters of the game, he issued a base on balls to Brady Whalen. Then the big blow in the inning came as Royalty allowed a home run just over the top of the right field fence to give the Chiefs a 2-0 lead.

The Chiefs added to their lead with two more runs in the third inning when Brendan Donovan led off the inning with a single to center field. He scored when Delvin Perez doubled on a line drive to left field. With Whalen at the plate Royalty uncorked a wild pitch and Perez moved to third base. Perez then trotted home when Whalen grounded out to the first baseman giving Peoria a 4-0 lead.

The Captains got on the board in the fourth inning courtesy of a solo home run by Bo Naylor. The home run was his eighth of the season.

The Chiefs came back with three more runs in the fifth inning. That was the end of the night for Royalty as he didn’t make it out of the inning. His final line was not pretty, as he gave up seven runs, all earned on seven hits. He issued two base on balls and struck out three Chiefs.

The Captains made an attempt at a comeback in the eighth inning but could only manage a single run on an RBI single by Ruben Cardenas.

Thomas picked up the win for the Chiefs. The start was his first start in the Midwest League, he went five innings allowing one run, it was earned on three hits and he struck out five Captains. He is now 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA. Royalty took the loss for Lake County and fell to 5-5 with a 4.25 ERA.

The Captains and Chiefs will play game two of the series on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Righthander Parker Kelly will be on the mound for the Chiefs. Kelly is 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA. The Captains will send lefty Zach Draper to the hill. Draper is 5-2 with a 2.69 ERA.