Escobedo’s ninth inning blast lifts Captains

(South Bend, IN) – Julian Escobedo broke a 5-5 tie in the top of the ninth with his first home run for the Lake County Captains (56-48) in a 6-5 win over the South Bend Cubs (46-57) on Wednesday night at Four Winds Field. The win pulls the Captains within one game of the final playoff spot.

Lake County jumped in front in the top of the third. Joe Donovan led off with a soft single to shallow left field. With one out José Tena followed with a dunk single to right center. That brought up Micah Pries who hit a bouncing ball back to the pitcher Alexander Viscaíno who turned and whipped a throw to third that escaped third baseman Jake Slaughter for an error on Slaughter. Donovan scored on the play with Tena reaching third and Pries on first. Jhonkensy Noel followed by smoking a double down the left field line to drive in both Tena and Pries. With Noel on second Johnathan Rodríguez smacked a single through the left side to move Noel to third base. The Captains had runners on the corners for Joe Naranjo who kept the line moving with another single that plated Noel to make the score 4-0 Lake County.

The Cubs rallied in the fourth, but Tanner Burns limited the damage. After blanking South Bend in the first three innings, Burns allowed a leadoff single to Yohendrick Piñango and then walked Tyler Durna. Alexander Canario singled up the middle to score Piñango and Burns loaded the bases with a walk to Bryce Ball. Burns then got Jake Slaughter to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, but Durna scored from third to cut the Captains’ lead to 4-2. Burns then induced a pop up to shortstop off the bat of Yonathan Perlaza to end the inning.

South Bend took the lead on one big swing in the sixth. With two men aboard and two outs, Perlaza took lefty Tim Herrin deep with a three-run shot over the left-center field wall to put the Cubs in front, 5-4.

The Captains answered right back in the top of the seventh. Quentin Holmes reached with a leadoff walk. Tena followed by roping a single to right field, but the ball snuck under the right fielder Perlaza’s glove, rolling all the way to the wall in right. Holmes scored from first to even the score, 5-5.

Escobedo led off the top of the ninth by hooking a home run down the right field line to give Lake County a 6-5 lead.

Kevin Kelly (4-4) earned the win for the Captains. He tossed the final 1.2 innings with three strikeouts and did not allow a base runner. Kelly also crucially stranded two runners in the eighth. He inherited a first-and-second situation from Nick Gallagher and struck out a pair to keep the game tied.

Burl Carraway (3-3) took the loss after allowing the Escobedo home run in the top of the ninth. It was the only run he allowed in two innings on the mound. Carraway walked one and struck out four.

Xzavion Curry the mound on Thursday for game three of the six game series. First pitch between the Captains and Cubs is set for 7:05 at Four Winds Field.

About 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.