Captains let lead slip, Cubs win eighth straight

(South Bend, IN) - The Lake County Captains (24-37, 51-79) grabbed an early three-run lead on Friday night, but let it slip away and fell to the red hot South Bend Cubs (33-28, 72-58) at Four Winds Field, 7-4. The Cubs climbed out of an early hole with a combination of timely hitting and untimely Captains defensive miscues to capture their eighth straight win and pull within three games of a playoff spot.
Luke Wakamatsu jump-started the Lake County offense with a leadoff home run in the first inning. As the very first batter of the game, Wakamatsu took an 0-2 pitch from lefty Bryan Hudson deep over the left field wall to give the Captains a 1-0 lead.

The Captains added another run the following inning thanks to a leadoff triple by Conner Capel . Capel roped a ball into the right field corner and hustled up to third base to begin the frame. Jose Vicente then hit a bouncing ball to third base and Andruw Monasterio lunged at Capel, attempting to tag out the runner who was a couple of feet off the base. The tag missed and the Captains had runners on the corners with nobody out. A wild pitch then plated Capel and gave Lake County a 2-0 advantage.
Wakamatsu again found himself at the center of the Captains' offense in the third. The shortstop was hit by a pitch and then moved to second base when Cubs shortstop Aramis Ademan made a web-gem caliber play, charging a soft grounder by Alexis Pantoja and throwing the batter out at first base while diving forward in the infield grass. Mitch Longo followed with a single to put runners on the corners for Li-Jen Chu . With Chu at the plate, Longo took off for second and Chu hit a grounder to third base. Monasterio threw to second, but Longo beat the throw. Second baseman Yeiler Peguero's throw to first retired Chu, but Wakamatsu scored to give the Captains a 3-0 lead.
The Cubs scratched their first run across in the third. South Bend catcher Tyler Payne, who had replaced injured backstop Alberto Mineo during the previous half inning, singled against Captains starter Luis Jimenez to lead off the inning. Jimenez balked, moving Payne to second base and a one-out grounder by Luis Ayala put Payne on third. Shortly thereafter, Payne came home on a wild pitch to cut Lake County's lead to 3-1.
The Captains were the victims of rotten luck in the fourth and the Cubs capitalized to take the lead. D.J. Wilson hit a one-out single and then Jimenez hit Kevonte Mitchell with a pitch. Austin Upshaw then singled to score Wilson, pulling the Cubs within one run. Chris Pieters flied out to left field for the second out and then Payne hit a lazy fly ball to centerfield that should have been the last out of the inning. Captains centerfielder Gabriel Mejia , however, lost the ball in the lights and the ball fell behind him. Mitchell scored the tying run and Upshaw scored all the way from first to give the Cubs a 4-3 lead.
Lake County tied the score in the fifth inning thanks to Mejia's hustle. The switch-hitter worked a leadoff walk and advanced to second when Hudson's pick-off throw went awry. Mejia then caught Hudson and Payne napping and swiped third base. The Cubs pulled the infield in and Pantoja singled up the middle to tie the score at 4-4.
Jimenez held the Cubs scoreless in the fifth and sixth, but another outfield miscue helped South Bend score a pair of runs against reliever Ryan Colegate in the seventh. Pieters led off the inning and hit a fly ball down the left field line, but Capel over-ran the ball and it fell out of his reach as he lunged back in desperation. Pieters hustled all the way to third with a triple and the Captains brought the infield in. Payne then singled past a diving Wakamatsu and into left field, scoring Pieters with the go-ahead run.
The Cubs held a 5-4 lead, but kept working to tack on an insurance run. After Payne's single, Colegate walked Peguero, who was trying to bunt, and the Captains' infielders called a mound conference. Ayala came up next and also tried to bunt, but the Captains were prepared. Pantoja charged the bunt from third and Wakamatsu slid over to cover third base. Pantoja threw out Payne at third for the first out, putting runners on first and second. Colegate, however hit Monasterio with a pitch to load the bases and the Captains again brought the infield in. Ademan hit a sharp grounder to Miguel Eladio , but the second baseman double-clutched the throw before firing home. The Captains got the force out at the plate, but did not have time to turn an inning-ending double play. The inning continued and Colegate walked Wilson to force home Ayala and give South Bend a 6-4 lead.
The Cubs added one final run in the eighth against Colegate. Upshaw singled to begin the frame and Payne followed two batters later with his fourth single of the day. Two batters after that, Ayala hit a two-out RBI single that brought home Upshaw, giving South Bend a 7-4 lead.
Manuel Rodriguez fired two scoreless innings for South Bend to nail down the win and earn his second save. Rodriguez gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one in just his second outing with the Cubs. The save sealed a win for Hudson (8-3). The lefty pitched seven innings and allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on five hits. Hudson walked two, hit one batter and struck out five.
Colegate (2-2) took the loss. He pitched two innings and allowed three runs on five hits. He walked two batters, hit one and struck out a pair.
The Captains and Cubs square off again on Saturday night at Four Winds Field in the second game of their four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.
Individual game tickets for all Captains games are on sale at the Classic Park box office, online at captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Mini ticket plans for the 2017 season are still available for great prices complete with several exclusive benefits. Information can be found at the Captains website www.captainsbaseball.com.