Lake County Sentinel
Captains losing skid hits five after being swept by Cubs
The Lake County Captains suffered their fifth consecutive loss on Monday with a 6-3 loss to the South Bend Cubs at Classic Park. Lake County was swept in the four-game series and is now mired in its longest losing skid of the season.
The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when a balk by Captains starter Casey Shane scored Andrew Ely, but Lake County’s defense made sure that was the only run scored. After the balk, South Bend had runners on the corners with one out and Eddy Julio Martinez hit a fly ball to left field and Donnie Dewees tagged up from third base. Ka’ai Tom made the catch and threw a strike to the plate to throw Dewees out and end the inning.
Shane settled down after Tom’s laser. The right-hander did not allow a run over the next four innings and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third. Shane lasted five innings and allowed just one run on four hits. He walked four, struck out three and left with the lead after the Captains rallied from behind.
Lake County tied the game in the fourth when a double play allowed Tyler Krieger to score the Captains’ first run. One inning later, the Captains went in front. In the top of the fifth, Sam Haggerty was hit by a pitch and Nate Winfrey worked a walk to put a pair of runners on with one out. Tom then roped an RBI single and Willi Castro copied Tom with an RBI knock to give Lake County a sudden 3-1 lead. That lead did not last long, however.
Cortland Cox came out of the bullpen for the Captains in the sixth. The right-hander had been activated from the disabled list earlier in the day and was pitching in his first game since April 29 after suffering a groin injury. Cox struck out the first man he faced, but then walked Daniel Spingola and gave up an RBI double to Jesse Hodges to make the Captains’ lead 3-2. Tyler Alamo came up next and hit an opposite-field home run over the right field wall. The homer was the first of Alamo’s professional career and gave the Cubs a 4-3 lead.
South Bend added runs in the seventh and ninth to secure the win. Eloy Jimenez hit an RBI double in the seventh and Ely scored on a balk by Kieran Lovegrove in the ninth to give South Bend a 6-3 lead.
Casey Bloomquist shut down the Captains in the eighth and ninth innings to pick up a six-out save. Bloomquist’s fourth save of the year sealed a win for South Bend starter Carson Sands. Sands (5-0) pitched seven innings and only allowed three runs on five hits. The lefty struck out three and walked two. Cox (1-1) took the loss after allowing four runs over two innings.
The Captains have fallen to three games out of first place and will head to Dayton, OH to face off against the Dayton Dragons in a three-game series. First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The Captains return home on Friday night to face the Fort Wayne TinCaps.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @IndiansTim Check out our IndiansNation fan page
POSTED 05/23/2016 22:36
