Captains drop thriller to Dayton

(Eastlake, OHI) – The Lake County Captains (11-14) lost their seventh straight game in a back and forth affair, 10-9 to the Dayton Dragons (15-10) on Tuesday from Classic Park.

Dayton scored the first run of the game in the top of the second inning, A two-out walk to Bren Spillane extended the inning. He stole second base to move into scoring position, then scored on a soft ground ball from Francisco Urbaez to give the Dragons a 1-0 lead.

In the top of the third the Dragons extended their lead without getting a hit. Hunter Gaddis walked four of the first five batters in the inning to force in a run and end his day. Nathan Ocker entered out of the Captains bullpen with the bases loaded. He induced a ground ball off the bat of Miguel Hernandez but the Captains could not turn the double play. The ball was thrown away by Aaron Bracho allowing Quincy McAfee and Alex McGarry to score and give the Dragons a 4-0 advantage.

W**ill Brennan* put the Captains on the board in the third inning with a towering home run. After *Quentin Holmes** singled with two outs and stole second, Brennan blasted a two-run shot over the batting cage in right to cut the Dragons’ lead to 4-2.

The Dragons added three more runs in the top of the sixth. Lefty Kellen Rholl came out of the bullpen and gave up a leadoff single to Miguel Hernandez, followed by a walk to Bren Spillane. Francisco Urbaez came up next and cracked an RBI double to center that scored Hernandez. Jacob Hurtubise followed with a line drive single to center that plated Spillane. A double play ball off the bat of Siani later in the inning scored Urbaez to give Dayton a 7-2 lead. Rholl then walked Quincy McAfee and Quin Cotton before hitting Alex McGarry to load the bases. Kevin Kelly relieved Rholl and escaped the bases-loaded jam by striking out Eric Yang looking.

J**osé Tena* got the Captains back in the game in the bottom of the sixth. *Jonathan Engelmann, who replaced Holmes defensively in the top of the inning, blooped a double into right field to start the frame. **Brayan Rocchio singled into right field two batters later to put runners on the corners. Later in the frame, Tena ripped a two-run single to left field with two outs to cut Dayton’s lead to 7-4.

The Captains stormed back to take the lead in the seventh. Mike Amditis singled to lead off the inning. He stole second base with one out, and with two down came around to score on a single from Brennan. Center fielder Michael Siani bobbled the Brennan single so he advanced to second on an error. Brayan Rocchio turned on a fastball and lined it down the left field line to score Brennan and cut the Dragons lead to 7-6. That brought Aaron Bracho to the plate and he connected on a no doubt home run to straight away center field to give the Captains an 8-7 lead.

Dayton answered in the top of the eighth. With one out Siani walked, then stole second base. He moved to third base on a passed ball and came home to score on a ground ball to second base, just beating the throw home from Bracho. The run from Siani tied the game at 8-8.

J**oe Naranjo* led off the bottom of the eighth with a single to left field. *Ray Delgado** got hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second base. Amditis grounded into a double play but Naranjo moved up to third base. He came home to score one pitch later on a wild pitch from Jake Gilbert to give the Captains a 9-8 lead.

Gilbert (3-0) threw 1.1 innings allowing three hits and two runs to earn the win for Dayton.

In the top of the ninth Dayton struck back to retake the lead. Eric Yang got hit by a pitch to start the inning. A single from Hernandez put two runners on, and a walk of Urbaez loaded the bases. Hurtubise followed by bouncing a ball back to the mound but

Nick Gallagher’s throw to second base was offline. Everybody was safe for Dayton and Yang scored to tie the game. With two outs Gallagher walked McAfee to give the Dragons a 10-9 lead.

Gallagher (0-2) took the loss out of the bullpen for the Captains. He allowed two runs on one hit, while striking out two in the ninth inning.

Braxton Roxby (2) worked a clean ninth inning to earn the save for Dayton.

L**ogan Allen** takes the mound for the Captains in the second game of the series on Wednesday as Classic Park returns to full capacity. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. from Classic Park.

A**bout the Captains**

The Lake County Captains are the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. For more information, visit the Captains’ website at www.CaptainsBaseball.com, Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/CaptainsBaseball, Twitter @LCCaptains and Instagram @LCCaptains. Fans can also get the latest Captains news and offers by signing up for the Captains’ newsletter, The Anchor.