Captains split DH, set powerful record

Lake County split its doubleheard with West Michigan, but the big news was the team set a single-season mark for most home runs.

The Captains aren’t having a great season in the Midwest League standings, but they don’t mess around when it comes to blasting balls over fences.

In the opener of a doubleheader of seven-inning games at Classic Park on Aug. 6, home runs accounted for all of the scoring in Lake County’s 4-0 victory over the West Michigan Whitecaps.

The first of those roundtrippers was a two-run blast by Connor Capel in the bottom of the first inning. The tape-measure shot traveled an estimated 441 feet. It was Capel’s 17th of the season and raised the team’s total to 120.

That broke the previous franchise record of 119 set by the 2014 Captains and equaled by this year’s team on Aug. 4 with three home runs in a 15-9 loss to the South Bend (Ind.) Cubs.

Capel connected again in the top of the fifth inning, slamming a solo shot to center field off West Michigan starter and eventual loser Alfred Gutierrez (8-6, 3.51 ERA). His 18th home run upped his RBI total to 44..

One inning later, the Captains again got to Gutierrez for a solo home run by Emmanuel Tapia that pushed the lead to 4-0. The 21-yearold first baseman from the Dominican Republic with the nickname “Big Tapi” is putting up big power numbers. He has an MWL-high 25 home runs and a teamhigh 61 RBI.

The Captains’ 122 home runs also is tops in the MWL.

With solid pitching from starter Sean Brady and reliever Henry Martinez, those four runs were more than enough to help the Captains snap a four-game losing streak.

Brady (1-0, 1.38 ERA) blanked the normally hardhitting Whitecaps on three hits over five innings to pick up the victory. The 23-yearold left-hander from Florida is bouncing back from tendinitis in his throwing arm that prevented him from breaking camp with the Double-A Akron RubberDucks. In Selected by the Indians in the fifth round