Messick Dazzles with Career-High 11 K's, Captains Smack Cubs 10-4

EASTLAKE, OH - Lake County needed just three hits in the fourth inning today to muster a six-spot and give the home side a 7-0 lead. They coasted the rest of the way as Parker Messick was nearly untouchable and the Captains took a 2-0 series advantage.

Tyler Santana made his first start for the Cubs since the middle of May and through his first three innings allowed just one run on a two-out single in the third from Chase DeLauter. Santana fanned five in those three innings and then came out for the fourth and walked Joe Lampe, who was the last batter he'd face.

Michael McAvene climbed the mound next in hist return with South Bend, his first High-A outing since tallying the save in game two of the Midwest League Championship last year. McAvene struggled with the control in his first outing in nearly two months. The right-hander from Louisville walked the first two batters he faced to load the bases and then gave up an RBI single to Will Bartlett. Nate Furman followed with an RBI via a walk and Jake Fox, the Captains leadoff hitter, hammered a two-run double to bust the game wide open. That capped off the first six batters reaching to begin the frame and a DeLauter RBI single for the second inning in a row finished the rally.

With the lead at 7-0, it really became the Messick show. The Guardians No. 16 prospect faced a bases loaded situation with just one out in the first inning but got through unscathed. From there it was smooth sailing en route to five shutout frames for the second start in a row for the lefty from Florida State. He punched out a career-high 11 batters and at one point seven straight outs he recorded were via the punch out.

Johzan Oquendo took over for McAvene and stopped the hemorrhaging, allowing just one run in 2.2 innings. Oquendo did allow five hits on the afternoon, four more than he allowed in all of July with Myrtle Beach. The one run scored against him was in the sixth; Kahlil Watson walked with one down, stole second, and scored on DeLaughter's third RBI single on the day. DeLauter finished with a four-hit game.

South Bend avoided the shutout with a three-spot in the eighth inning even though they didn't record a hit. Josh Wolf, one of the the pieces Cleveland got back in the Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco trade with the Mets, came out for his third inning in relief in the eight but completely lost his feel of the zone. He walked the first three batters of the frame on a mere 13 pitches, and then with the bags packed walked Christian Franklin to give the Cubs their first run and help the visitors avoid being shutout for what would've been just the third time this season. Franklin's walk chased Wolf and brought in Shawn Rapp. Ed Howard picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice and then Luis Verdugo cranked a sac-fly to the track in right.

Lake County added two runs in the bottom of the inning on a single from Lampe, and the cubs scored the final run of the game in the ninth on a James Triantos sac-fly.

The Captains have taken the first two games in the series and tomorrow night at 7 ET we will see the South Bend debut of Grant Kipp, who was promoted to High-A earlier in the week.