Captains end skid take down Whitecaps 5-3
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
(EASTLAKE, OH) – The Lake County Captains and West Michigan Whitecaps were postponed on Wednesday night due to heavy storms that moved through Northeast Ohio. That game will be made up as a traditional twin bill on Friday. Thursday night the two teams played game two of the series. The Captains entered the game losers of four in a row, but that streak is over as the Captains in front of 1,669 fans at Classic Park as they beat the Whitecaps 5-3.
The Whitecaps got on the board first in the top of the second inning when Captains starter Tanner Burns hit Andrew Navigato with a pitch putting him on first base. Burns retired the next two Whitecaps on strikes. Ulrich Bojarski followed and came through for the Whitecaps when he singled to rightfield and drove home Navigato giving the Whitecaps a 1-0.
The Captains struck back to take the lead in the bottom of the inning with a two-out rally. Raynel Delgado started the rally with a single to left field. Joe Donovan drew a base on balls from Whitecap’s starter Adam Wolf to put men on first and second. The big blow in the inning came when Wilfri Peralta a laser double to left field driving home Delgado and Donovan to give Lake County a 2-1 lead. The inning ended when Peralta attempted to stretch the double into a triple.
The lead did not last long. In the top of the third with one out Jose King drew a base on balls. Things went downhill from that point for Burns as Gage Workman came to the plate next and took him deep to right field, 406 feet and put the Whitecaps back on top 3-2. Daniel Cabrera then doubled to left field and Navigato then drew a base on balls to put men on first and second. Jimmy Kerr then grounded out to first base to move the runners up a base with two outs. Burns was able to get out of the trouble with no further damage and keep the deficit at one run.
The seesaw continued in the bottom of the third inning when Julian Escobedo led off the frame with a single. He then stole second, his first stolen base as a Captain. George Valera then smacked a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence 421 feet away to put Lake County back on top 4-3. Jose Tena followed by blasting the first pitch he saw over the right center field fence to increase the Captains lead to 5-3.
Zach Draper who entered the game with two outs in the third inning picked up the win. Draper pitched _ and a thirds innings allowing only one hit, issued one base on balls and struck out four. With win Draper improves to (0-0) and a 3.05 ERA. Wolf took the loss for the Whitecaps. Wolf went two and one thirds innings allowing five runs, all earned on five hits. He also issued four base on balls while striking out three hitters. With the loss Wolf falls to 3-4 with a 4.56 ERA.
The Captains remain a game and a half out of the second High-A Central playoff spot behind the Dayton Dragons, Cedar Rapids Kernels and a game behind the Great Lakes Loons.
As mentioned above Friday will feature a doubleheader between the Whitecaps and Captains. The Whitecaps will throw a pair of righthanders. In game one Reese Olson will take the mound. Olson is 5-4 with a 3.96 ERA. Austin Berger will tow the rubber in game two. Berger is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA. The Captains will also send two righthanders to the mound. Xzavion Curry will go in game one. Curry is 3-1 with a 2.86 ERA. Game two will be Daniel Espino. Espino is 0-3 with a 6.50 ERA.
POSTED 08/12/2021 22:37