Aguilar keys Captains' power surge

After being held to one hit in the opener of their doubleheader Saturday, Jesus Aguilar helped the Lake County Captains turn things around in a big way.

Aguilar slugged three of the Captains' seven home runs as Lake County earned a split of the twinbill with a 14-4 rout of the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

Anthony Gallas contributed a pair of long balls and Taylor Cannon and Carlos Moncrief also went deep for the Captains, who got all of their runs on homers.

"Well, all the home runs we hit in the second game were huge," said Lake County manager Ted Kubiak. "[Aguilar] hit three of them and had six RBIs, and they were all huge.

"Aggy is showing us he has power to right field. He hits them high and he hits them far. It was nice to see him do some damage after we couldn't do anything in the first game."

Bowling Green's C.J. Riefenhauser came within two outs of no-hitting the Captains in the opener, but Aguilar erased a 1-0 deficit in the nightcap with a two-run blast in the bottom of the first inning that cleared the center-field fence.

The 20-year-old first baseman from Venezuela bashed another two-run shot in the second and capped the most productive game of his four-year career with a third two-run homer in the fifth.

"They were throwing him everything outside," said Kubiak, a former Major League infielder. "It looked like they were all breaking balls. He's been having trouble chasing that [outside] pitch a lot, but when they don't get it out there far enough, he knows what to do with them.

"He got a little help from the wind, but he hit them all well."

When Aguilar made contact in the fifth, Kubiak knew right away he became the second Minor Leaguer this season to hit three homers in a game.

"With the wind blowing that way, he hit it so high, there was no doubt," Kubiak said.

Aguilar signed with the Indians as a non-drafted free agent in November 2007. After two seasons in the Dominican Summer League, he split last year between the Rookie-level Arizona League and the short-season New York Penn League. In 61 games, he batted .251 with nine homers and 39 RBIs.

"He's intense and attentive. He's always in the game," Kubiak said. "He's been a real nice surprise."

While Kubiak admitted his club got some help from blustery weather conditions, he wasn't going to take anything away from his hitters.

"Every home run that was hit today got a little help from the wind, but they were all hit well and they all count," he said. "[Bowling Green] had the same opportunities and they didn't do it. And we did."