(Midland, MI) - The Lake County Captains (26-38) were four outs away from splitting a four-game series with the Great Lakes Loons (22-40) and then it all fell apart. The Loons came back to tie the score on a wild play in the eighth and defeated the Captains in the
(Midland, MI) - The Lake County Captains (26-38) were four outs away from splitting a four-game series with the Great Lakes Loons (22-40) and then it all fell apart. The Loons came back to tie the score on a wild play in the eighth and defeated the Captains in the ninth on a walk-off homer by Jared Walker. Great Lakes won Monday's game, 7-6, and the series at Dow Diamond, three games to one.
Lake County carried a 6-3 lead into the eighth, but the Loons loaded the bases with one out against Jonathan Teaney . The right-hander responded by striking out Marcus Chiu and then ran the count full on Mitchell Hansen. That is when madness ensued. Hansen hit a high bouncing ball over Teaney and behind second base. Carlos Rincon scored from third as Captains shortstop Ernie Clement made a sliding stop on the outfield grass. When Clement rose to his feet, Romer Cuadrado, who started the play on second base, was hung up between third and home. Clement threw home, but the throw was low and late. When Hansen saw the throw go home, the batter took off for second. Catcher Jonathan Laureano gathered the ball and fired to second base, but the throw was not in time. As Laureano's throw went to second, Eric Peterson, who had begun the play on first base and was now on third, sprinted home. Peterson scored without a throw to tie the game at 6-6. The Loons had evened the score with three runs on a ball that barely left the infield.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth. Dace Kime came in to pitch for the second day in a row for Lake County. The right-hander retired the first two men. Brayan Morales grounded out to shortstop and Kime threw out Brandon Montgomery attempting to bunt for a hit. With two outs and nobody on, however, Walker went deep to right field. The All-Star's team-leading eighth home run of the year lifted Great Lakes to victory.
The Captains jumped out to an early lead on Monday, thanks to Laureano. He hammered a long solo homer to left field in the first inning against Great Lakes starter Victor Gonzalez, who was making his 2018 debut after recovering from Tommy John Surgery.
Great Lakes answered in the bottom of the first. Morales led off with a triple and scored the tying run on Walker's single down the right field line. Captains starter Gregori Vasquez then balked Walker to second, walked Rincon and balked the runners to second and third. Romer Cuadrado singled home Walker with the go-ahead run and Peterson hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Rincon to give Great Lakes a 3-1 lead.
The Captains came back to tie the score with a run in the fourth and another run in the sixth. Jose Vicente started the sixth-inning rally with a two-out double and Will Benson doubled to right to bring him home. In the sixth, Nolan Jones reached on an infield single with one out, Benson walked with two outs to put runners on first and second and Todd Isaacs came through. Isaacs hit a sharp grounder that glanced off the diving glove of Peterson at third and kicked into left. Jones scored to tie the game at 3-3.
Lake County took the lead with three runs in the seventh. Loons reliever Riley Ottesen walked Tyler Friis and Ernie Clement with one out and then hit Laureano to load the bases. After Ottesen struck out Jones, he walked Vicente to force home Friis with the go-ahead run. Connor Strain came in from the bullpen to put out the fire, but Benson slammed a two-run single to left field.
Loons reliever James Carter picked up the win. Carter (2-0) pitched a scoreless top of the ninth. He allowed one hit and struck out two.
Kime (1-1) took the loss the day after grabbing his first win since 2016. The right-hander entered in the ninth and pitched 2/3 of an inning before giving up the game-winning home run to Walker.
The Captains will head back home and start a six-game homestand to wrap up the first half. Lake County takes on the Lansing Lugnuts on Tuesday to begin a three-game series. First pitch at Classic Park is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Information about Classic Park or the Captains can be found online at www.captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-<st1:stockticker w:st="on">WINS (9467). Affordable ticket packages and group party and picnic options are available now.
