Monster third inning dooms Captains
(Eastlake, OH) - The Lansing Lugnuts put together a monstrous third inning to down the Lake County Captains and capture the final game of a four-game series on Monday night at Classic Park. Lansing scored 10 runs on 11 hits in the third inning and defeated the Captains, 12-6.
Lake County led Lansing at the start of the second inning, 2-1, but the Lugnuts quickly stormed ahead. Captains starter Casey Shane walked Ryan Metzler to begin the inning, Cavan Biggio followed with a single and Andrew Guillotte followed with a single to score Metzler and tie the game at 2-2. Right after Guillotte's single, Joshua Palacios came through with a single to score Biggio and put Lansing in front, 3-2. The inning was far from over.
After Shane struck out J.B. Woodman for the first out of the inning, Juan Kelly and Connor Panas hit back-to-back RBI singles. Carl Wise then hit a hot-shot to third and Sam Haggerty made a brilliant diving stop on the line to save a run, but the infield single loaded the bases. The singles party continued for the Lugnuts, as Ryan Hissey drove home a pair with another single. Ryan Metzler followed with a single to put runners on the corners and Cavan Biggio knocked in another run with a sacrifice fly to give Lansing an 8-2 lead.
The sacrifice fly knocked Shane out of the game after just 2.2 innings and lefty Kenny Mathews came in from the bullpen to try to stop the bleeding. Guillotte, however, kept the Lugnuts' rally going with a two-run double to left-center. Guillotte's double was the first extra-base hit by the Lugnuts in the ballgame, but it was not the final hit of the inning. Palacios followed with an RBI single and Woodman came up next to hit a single that did not produce a run. Mathews then struck out Kelly to end a torturous inning that featured 15 Lugnuts hitters, 10 runs, 11 hits and 10 singles. The Captains limped away from the third inning, trailing, 11-2.
The Lugnuts only scored once more when Panas hit an RBI double against reliever Leandro Linares in the sixth. The Captains put together a three-run rally in the fourth. Lake County loaded the bases against starter T.J. Zeuch and knocked the right-hander out of the ballgame three innings and change into his Midwest League debut. Lefty Daniel Young came in from the bullpen, threw a wild pitch to score a run and then gave up a two-run single to Willi Castro. Martin Cervenka later produced an RBI single in the seventh against right-handed reliever Jackson Lowery.
Prior to the Lugnuts' third-inning outburst, Lansing put the first run on the scoreboard when Wise hit an RBI single against Shane in the second. The Captains responded in the bottom of the second. Bobby Ison singled and later scored on a wild pitch. Castro put the Captains ahead, 2-1, with an RBI single to score Haggerty.
Shane (8-12) took the loss after allowing 10 runs over 2.2 innings of work. The right-hander gave up nine hits, walked two and struck out two.
Young (2-1) earned the victory with three innings of scoreless relief. Though Young allowed three inherited runners to score, the lefty did not surrender a run of his own. He gave up three hits, struck out two and did not walk a batter.
The Captains took three out of four games from Lansing, but did not gain any ground in the playoff race. Lake County heads into an off day on Tuesday still 3.5 games behind the Great Lakes Loons for the final playoff spot with six games remaining. The Captains begin a three-game series on the road against the Dayton Dragons on Wednesday. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
Individual game tickets are on sale at the Classic Park box office, online at captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Season tickets, 12-, 20-, and 35-game mini ticket plans for the 2017 season are on sale now at great prices complete with several exclusive benefits. Information can be found at the Captains website www.captainsbaseball.com.