Captains split DH with Whitecaps 2-0, 4-3
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
(EASTLAKE, OH) – The Lake County Captains and visiting West Michigan Whitecaps were scheduled to play a doubleheader on Friday night. They got game one in which the Captains won 5-4 on a walk off home run by George Valera. Then the rains came and game two was postponed. Fast forward to tonight when the two teams played a doubleheader. The Whitecaps took game one 2-0. The Captains won game two in walk off fashion 4-3. With the doubleheader split and a great fireworks display as always at Classic Park the 3,511 in attendance went home happy.
GAME ONE:
The Whitecaps drew first blood in the game when Rey Rivera took Captains starter deep Daniel Espino deep 397 feet over the right center field fence to lead off the third inning. Espino was not amused by the home run and struck out the next three Whitecaps to end the inning on just 10 pitches. Espino went five innings. The only hit he surrendered was the home run. He issued one base on balls and struck out 11 batters lowering his ERA to 5.48.
The Whitecaps added another run in the seventh inning when Daniel Cabrera led off the inning by drawing a base on balls off Captains reliever Nathan Ocker. After Ocker retired Andrew Navigato on a fly ball and Cabrera moved to second base. Parker Meadows followed with a single to right field and Cabrera scored.
Meanwhile Reese Olson was putting up zeroes for the Whitecaps. He went five shut out innings scattering four hits, one base on balls and struck out 10 Captains. Olson picked up the win and improved to 6-4 lowering his ERA to 3.71. Bryce Tassin pitched the final two innings for West Michigan picking up his fourth save of the season. Espino took the loss for Lake County falling to 0-4.
GAME TWO:
Game two was more of the same as the West Michigan offense got started in the top of first inning. With one out Wenceel Perez singled to second base. He then rode home on Daniel Cabrera’s seventh home run of the season giving the Whitecaps a 2-0 lead.
The Captains cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning Julian Escobedo led off with a double of the right field wall. George Valera then drew a base on balls. Whitecaps starter Garrett Hill then got Jose Tena to fly out to left field and both base runners held. With Micah Pries at the plate Escobedo was thrown out trying to steal third base by Cole MacLaren. Pries then doubled to right field and Valera scored cutting the lead to 2-1.
The Captains tied the game in the third inning when the Captains put together three straight singles by Escobedo, Valera and Tena. The Tena single drove home Escobedo tying the game 2-2.
The Captains took the lead in the fourth inning when Raynel Delgado ended Hill’s night when he put 2-2 fastball over the right center field fence for his fifth home run of the season giving Lake County its first lead in the doubleheader at 3-2.
Captains closer Jerson Ramirez entered the game in the ninth inning attempting to notch his eighth save of the season, it did not happen. As the first hitter he faced Gage Workman singled to right field. After Rivera struck out swinging Cole MacLaren singled to right field on a sharp line drive. Jimmy Kerr then followed with a soft singled to center field which loaded the bases. One batter later Jose King hit a sacrifice fly to medium left field and Workman came home to tie the game 3-3. Perez then grounded out to end the inning and send the game to the bottom of the ninth tied.
The Captains offense said, no, no to extra innings. With two outs in the inning Quentin Holmes was hit by a pitch by West Michigan reliever Angel Reyes. Holmes fell immediately to the ground. After dusting himself off he remained in the game and took first base. One hitter later Escobedo belted a double high off the center field wall and Holmes came all the way home giving the Captains a 4-3 walk off win.
Ramirez picked up the win for Lake County and improves to 2-0 with a 4.00 ERA. Reyes took the loss for the Whitecaps and falls to 1-4 with a 3.95 ERA.
The two teams will finish the series on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Brendan White will take the mound for the Whitecaps. White is a righthander and is 3-5 with a 3.99 ERA. Mason Hickman will take the hill for Captains. Hickman also a righthander is 6-6 with a 5.07 ERA.
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POSTED 08/14/2021 21:47