Captains drop finale against TinCaps

(Fort Wayne, IN) – In the final regular season matchup between the Lake County Captains (32-28) and the Fort Wayne TinCaps (26-33) the Captains stranded 10 men on base in a 7-4 loss on Sunday at Parkview Field.

In the first inning Brayan Rocchio singled with one out, then stole second base to spark the Captains offense. After a Brayan Lavastida lineout, George Valera walked to put two men on. With two strikes to José Tena, Rocchio took off for third and Valera followed. Tena hit a bouncing ball on the pitch to the second baseman Justin Lopez and Valera leapt over the ball causing Lopez to bobble the grounder. His throw to first base was late and Rocchio never stopped running, scoring all the way from second on the play to put the Captains on top 1-0 with an unearned run.

A carousel of walks helped the Captains extend their lead to 2-0 in the top of the fourth. TinCaps lefty reliever Mason Feole walked five men in the frame, but the Captains only managed one run when a wild pitch plated Joe Naranjo to give Lake County a 2-0 lead. TinCaps catcher Adam Kerner helped limit the damage by picking Aaron Bracho off of first base. Right-hander Sam Keating later relieved Feole after the fifth walk and stranded the bases loaded by inducing an inning-ending ground out.

The TinCaps came back to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth. After Seamus Curran started the rally with a one-out single, Justin Lopez tripled into the right field corner to score Curran and pull Fort Wayne within a run. Ethan Skender followed and hit a high bouncer over Tena at third and down the left field line for a game-tying double that plated Lopez. Captains starter Mason Hickman then walked Adam Kerner, but got Reinaldo Ilarraza to sky out to left field. With two outs, Jonny Homza lofted a soft single into center that scored Skender with the go-ahead run to give the TinCaps a 3-2 lead.

A long ball expanded Fort Wayne’s lead in the bottom of the fifth. Jared Janczak relieved Hickman to begin the frame and gave up a one-out double to Agustin Ruiz down the left field line. Curran followed and drilled a two-run homer over the right field wall. Curran’s second homer of the series gave the TinCaps a 5-2 advantage.

The Captains got one run back in the top of the sixth. Raynel Delgado led off the inning with a triple to right-center off reliever Wen-Hua Sung. Two batters later, Quentin Holmes pulled a single to left that scored Delgado and cut the TinCaps’ lead to 5-3. Holmes later stole second, Will Brennan worked a walk, Holmes swiped third and Brennan stole second to put two in scoring position. With two outs, however, right-hander Austin Smith came in and got Lavastida to bounce to third for the final out of the frame.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh Tirso Ornelas ripped a double to the left center gap. He advanced to third on an Agustin Ruiz single. With runners on the corners, Ruiz faked a steal to second causing Bryan Lavstida to throw behind him to first. The throw was low and bounced off the glove of Naranjo far enough away to allow Ornelas to score. After Curran struck out, Justin Lopez launched a double to the left-center gap that chased Ruiz around from first to push the lead to 7-3.

Valera brought the Captains one run closer in the top of the ninth with a solo blast to right field to make the score 7-4 with one out remaining for the Captains. Tena could not extend the rally for the Captains, grounding out to second base to end the game.

Sam Keating (3-4) earned the win as one of nine pitchers to take the mound for the TinCaps in a bullpen game. He worked 1.1 scoreless with one strikeout and escaped the bases loaded jam in the fourth inning.

Hickman (3-5) took the loss after allowing three runs in four innings. He surrendered five hits, walked two and struck out four.

The Captains begin another road series after a day off on Monday. Lake County takes on the Lansing Lugnuts in a six-game series at Jackson Field, beginning on Tuesday. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

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.