Lake County Sentinel
Captains rally falls short in loss to TinCaps 6-5
BY TIM SHIRER
CAPTAINS BEAT WRITER
(EASTLAKE, OH) - The Lake County Captains returned home on Tuesday night to play the Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres) with a two-game lead in the Midwest League Eastern Division and a magic number of four to clinch the second half division title. The number did not decrease on Tuesday night as the TinCaps took down the Captains 6-5.
Captains starting pitcher Rodney Boone was on fire in the first three inning striking out seven of the first nine batters he faced. The TinCaps then led off the fourth inning with a Brandon Valenzuela home run to take a 1-0 lead. The home run was Valenzuela’s eighth of the season.
The Captains struck right back in the fifth when Connor Kokx hit his seventh home run of the season tying the game 1-1.
Boone went six innings allowing only the one run and striking out 12 TinCaps but was left with a no decision in the game as Zach Hart entered the game in to relieve Boone and imploded allowing four runs in the seventh inning giving the TinCaps a 5-1 lead.
The Captains mounted a comeback in the bottom of the inning closing the gap to two runs, scoring two making the deficit 5-3.
The TinCaps added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a solo home run by Josttin Diaz to extend the TinCaps advantage to 6-3. The long ball was Diaz second of the season and ended up mattering in the final result.
The Captains looked like they might comeback in the bottom of the ninth as they loaded the bases and scored two runs. But Christian Cairo came up with two outs and worked the count to 2-2 when he popped up to the shortstop to end the threat securing the TinCaps 6-5 win.
TinCaps starter Bodi Rascon picked up the win for the TinCaps he pitched six innings allowing just one run, it was earned on two hits while striking out six Captains hitters. With the win Rascon improves to 1-2 with a 9.37 ERA. Hart went one third of an inning for Lake County allowing four runs, all earned on two hits. He also allowed two base on balls and one strike out. Hart took the loss and falls to 6-4 with a 5.19 ERA.
The Captains and TinCaps will play game two of the six game series on Wednesday afternoon at 12:05 pm. Efrain Contreras will take the mound for the TinCaps. Contreras, a righthander is 0-5 with a 6.46 ERA. Will Dion will tow the rubber for Lake County. Dion, a lefty was a ninth-round pick of the Cleveland Indians in the 2021 July draft. In one start for Lake County Dion is 0-1 with a 1.35 ERA.
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com or follow Tim on Twitter @TBBucsTim Check out our IndiansNation fan Page
POSTED 09/06/2022 21:12
Lake County Captains Center Fielder Connor Kokx . Photo by Tim Shirer
