Captains bats remain quiet in 4-1 loss to Lugnuts
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
(EASTLAKE, OH) - The Lake County Captains played game two of their six game series with the Lansing Lugnuts on Thursday night. They were set to play game two on Wednesday night, but it was postponed due to poor field conditions and will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm. Thursday night was another cold night at the ballpark and the Captains bats remained cold as the Lugnuts prevailed 4-1 in front of 1,007 hearty souls at Classic Park.
With one out in the second inning Captains starter Aaron Davenport issued a base on balls to Lugnuts speedster Brett Harris. Harris then advanced to second base on a balk by Davenport who did not come to a complete stop in his delivery. Davenport then got Jack Winkler on strikes for the second out. Then with Lazaro Armenteros at the plate Davenport uncorked two consecutive wild pitches and Harris moved up a base each time scoring on the second to give Lansing a 1-0 lead.
Davenport pitched well from that point on going four innings allowing only two hits and two base on balls while striking out four Lugnuts.
Lansing starter Joey Estes went five shutout innings allowing only three hits and issued one base on balls while striking out six Captains. The Lugnuts went to the bullpen to start the sixth inning and Joe Demers entered the game. The Captains greeted him rudely tying the game 1-1. Angel Martinez singled to lead off the inning. With Christian Cairo at the plate Martinez stole second base. The theft was Martinez fifth of the season. After Cairo went down on strikes Jhonkensy Noel singled to left field sending Martinez to third base. With men at the corners Gabriel Rodriguez grounded out forcing Noel at second base and Martinez home scoring the Captains only run of the game tying the contest 1-1.
The Lugnuts struck back in the top of the seventh inning with three runs to take a 4-1 lead which was the eventual final. Captains’ reliever Jaime Arias issued a free pass to Harris to lead off the inning. He then allowed a single to Winkler to put two men on with no outs. He then retired the next two hitters on fly balls but on the second fly ball a sacrifice by Jared McDonald Harris trotted home from third base giving Lansing a 2-1 lead. The big blow off the inning came one batter later when Brayan Buelvas smashed his first home run of the season over the left field fence putting the Lugnuts up three runs.
DeMers got the win for the Lugnuts and improves to 1-0 with a 5.56 ERA. Arias took the loss for Lake County and is now 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA.
The two teams will play game three of the series on Friday night at 6:35 pm. Righty Grant Holman will be on the mound for the Lugnuts. Holman is 1-3 with a 3.90 ERA. Lenny Torres will tow the rubber for Lake County. Torres, also a righty is 0-0 with a 3.18 ERA..
POSTED 04/28/2022 21:53