Eastlake, OH- The Lake County Captains (67-48) have been on a roll once again and were looking for their sixth win in a row against the Cedar Rapids Kernels (68-49). The Captains are three games ahead of West Michigan in the Midwest League for the second half playoff spot. Starting on the mound for the Captains was LHP Rodney Boone (4-3, 5.73 ERA), while the Kernels RHP David Festa (6-2, 2.45 ERA) would be looking to stop the Captains win streak.
After two solid innings from each pitcher the Kernels struck first in the top of the 3rd inning. CF Willie Joe Garry Jr, doubled to center, followed with a single by 1B Jake Rucker, putting runners on the corners. SS Brooks Lee hit a rocket to third where Captains 3B Gabriel Rodriguez made a tremendous stop and threw out Lee at first, however Garry Jr scored from third, giving the Kernels a 1-0 lead.
The Captains threatened in the bottom of the 3rd after lead off hitter Gabriel Rodriguez hit a single, and was able to advance to second on a overthrow from Kernels 3B Seth Gray. Unfortunately for the Captains their next three batters all grounded out to end the inning without gaining any ground. Cedar Rapids still led 1-0.
The Kernels extended their lead in the top of the 5th inning. After a single by RF Dylan Neuse, CF Willie Joe Garry Jr absolutely smashed a fastball deep, hitting the top of the battling cages behind the right field advertisement boards for a 2 run home run. His 2nd home run of the year. Giving the Kernels a 3-1 lead.
Captains Rodney Boone was relieved in the top of the 6th inning by RHP Elvis Jerez (2-2, 2.25 ERA). Boone went 5 innings, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits, all earned, while walking only 1 batter, and striking out 6.
In the top of the 6th Jerez walked the first batter of the inning in Kernels DH Mikey Perez. A wild pitch allow Perez to get to second base, Then a fly out by C Pat Winkel to deep center advanced Perez to third. Next 2B Wander Javier hit a sacrifice fly to right field scoring Perez and giving Cedar Rapids a 4-0 lead.
Cedar Rapids pulled David Festa with two outs and runners on the corners for the Captains. Festa went 5.2 innings, giving up 2 hits, no runs, no walks, and struck out 6. His replacement was Matt Mullenbach (4-1, 1.31 ERA), who was able to get Lake County's Alexfri Planez to ground out to end the inning.
The Kernels would not let up after a self inflicted wound in the form of an error on Captains P Elvis Jerez. The first batter of the top of the 7th, Willie Joe Garry Jr hit a soft grounder down the first base line. Jerez grabbed the ball and tried to make a circus throw to first which went down the right field line and allowed Garry Jr to get to 3rd. The next batter 1B Jake Rucker was hit in the helmet by Jerez, in a scary moment in the game. Rucker was checked out and made his way to first base. Jerez then threw a ball almost into the crowd trying to pick of Rucker at first which scored Garry Jr from third, in a disastrous inning. Jerez then walked Cedar Rapids SS Brooks Lee, and that was enough as Lake County's Coach Greg Dicenzo pulled Jerez in favor of RHP Davis Sharpe (8-3, 1.96 ERA). Sharpe was able to get the next three batters in order and mitigate what could have been a huge inning for the Kernels. Still though, Cedar Rapids was leading 5-0
Heading into the seventh inning stretch, Lake County was having trouble getting anything going offensively, with only two hits in the game up to that point. The Captains were able to get a base runner on board, but the cost was Christian Cairo getting hit by a pitch and then having to be removed from the game. The Captains could not do anything with the base runner as they ended the inning without even advancing the runner.
The Captains went into the bottom of the 9th facing a huge deficit and for as many times as they have clawed back this year and pulled out wins when everyone thought the game was over, this was not one of those nights. RF Alexfri Planez tried to pull off some late game heroics with a massive solo bomb to right field. His 18th homer of the year, but Lake County was just out of gas on this night and their win streak ends at five. The Captains drop to 67-49 on the season while the win by Cedar Rapids moves them to 69-49.
Lake County will be at it again with Cedar Rapids on Saturday with a 6:35 P.M. start time. RHP Aaron Davenport (4-6, 4.91 ERA) will draw the start from Lake County as he faces of against Cedar Rapids LHP Jaylen Nowlin (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
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