Cardenas shines in return, Captains suffer rain-soaked loss

(Lansing, MI) - Ruben Cardenas went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored in his first game back from the Injured List, but the Lake County Captains (4-1, 44-30) suffered their first loss of the second half on Tuesday night. Lake County fell to the Lansing Lugnuts (3-2, 35-39) in the opening game of a four-game series at Cooley Law School Stadium, 6-4, in a game that featured a pair of rain delays.

Tuesday's game was delayed by 36 minutes before beginning at 7:41 p.m. Two innings into the ballgame, Jake Brodt gave Lansing a 1-0 lead with a solo homer off of Captains starter Juan Mota .
Cardenas pulled the Captains into the lead in the third. With Bo Naylor and Jose Fermin on base following a pair of singles, Cardenas smoked a double off the left field wall to score both men and give Lake County a 2-1 advantage.
Another rain delay halted play before the bottom of the fourth. The game resumed after 51 minutes. Shortly thereafter, the Lugnuts tied the score. Johnny Aiello led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and D.J. Neal hit a weak grounder in the grass toward third. Henry Pujols fielded the bouncing ball and threw wild to first. Jonathan Engelmann left first base to knock the ball down, but Aiello scored from second to tie the score at 2-2.
Lake County regained the lead in the sixth, again with help from Cardenas. He led off the inning with a single and scored two batters later when Engelmann lifted a double off the base of the left-centerfield wall to give the Captains a 3-2 lead.
Lansing put up a crooked number in the sixth, scoring four runs against Captains reliever Luis Araujo to take a 6-3 lead. Gabriel Moreno led off the inning and shot a grounder into the right field corner. Cardenas fired to Daniel Schneemann , who relayed the ball to Pujols at third. Pujols tagged Moreno and Umpire Clay Williams initially ruled Moreno out, but changed the call to safe when he saw the ball loose next to Pujols. After the leadoff triple, Araujo retired the next two batters, but then walked L.J. Talley and hit Aiello to load the bases. Neal followed with a ground ball single to right field that scored Moreno and Talley to give Lansing the lead. Reggie Pruitt then drove a triple into the right-centerfield alley that scored both Aiello and Neal to extend the lead.
The Captains nearly mounted a two-out rally in the eighth, but fell short of scoring. Lansing reliever Mike Pascoe hit Engelmann with two outs and then walked Cody Farhat and Schneemann to load the bases. The Lugnuts called on Cre Finfrock to relieve Pascoe and the Captains sent Miguel Jerez up to pinch hit for Pujols, but Finfrock fanned Jerez to end the inning.
Naylor pulled the Captains a run closer in the ninth. With one out and nobody aboard, he slammed a home run to right-centerfield to cut Lansing's lead to 6-4. Cardenas doubled two batters later to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs. Finfrock then got Josh Rolette to fly out to left to end the game.
Finfrock earned his seventh save and lefty reliever Marcus Reyes picked up the win. Finfrock pitched 1.1 innings and allowed one run on two hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Reyes (3-1) pitched three innings and allowed one run on three hits with two strikeouts and one walk.
Araujo (1-2) suffered a blown save and a loss. The right-hander allowed four runs in one inning. Araujo surrendered three hits, walked one, hit one batter and did not record a strikeout.
The Captains have a quick turnaround on Wednesday. Game two of the three-game series between Lake County and Lansing is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. at Cooley Law School Stadium.
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 2019 season are still available for great prices complete with several exclusive benefits. Information can be found at the Captains website www.captainsbaseball.com.