The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Slow start dooms Captains in loss
Opportunity knocked a handful of times for the Lake County Captains in an Aug. 7 game against the visiting Lansing Lugnuts.
Unfortunately, the home team wasn’t able to answer as much as it would have liked.
The Captains outhit the Lugnuts, 8-5, but came up on the short end of a 5-2 score at Classic Park.
“We had seven or eight hits. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to be abler to score runs,” said manager Greg DiCenzo. “We could have 25 hits, but if we only have 2-3 runs …”
The Captains had plenty of scoring opportunities but left nine runners on base. They left two runners on in both the third and the eighth innings. Couple that with some bad luck and inopportune mistakes, and it cost the team.
The Captains (44-39) trailed early, 3-0, because of such bad luck and inopportune mistakes.
A ball that could have been fielded in the first inning led to a Jared McDonald sacrifice fly and a 1-0 Lugnuts lead. In the second, a balk and a passed ball aided another Lugnut
THE SCORE LUGNUTS 5, CAPTAINS 2
rally to up the ante to 3-0.
“We’ve got to be ready to go out of the gate,” DiCenzo said of the slow start. “That’s not just pitching, that’s our defense, our baserunning, our coaching. It has to be ready when the puck drops at 7. There are times we miss on a 7 o’clock start and think it’s 7:10. Those 10 minutes could be vital.”
After the slow start, Captains starter Hunter Gaddis got dialed in. He went six innings — the final four being scoreless — walked three and struck out seven.
DiCenzo said he and Gaddis have talked about mental toughness, and Gaddis showed it on this night.
“I don’t really reset, per se,” Gaddis said. “It makes me mad and I pitch better when I’m mad. It’s as simple as that.”
The Captains closed the gap to 3-2 with a Joe Naranjo single in the third to score Julian Escobedo and a Quentin Holmes single in the fourth that plated Joe Donovan, who had tripled.
Donovan had a pair of hits in the game. He said he’s benefitted from more playing time of late.
“I’m feeling good,”
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he said. “Sometimes it’s pretty rough to go out and get a rhythm when you’re only getting three or four atbats a week. The extra atbats have been appreciated. I feel like I’m more comfortable. I’m having fun out there.”
The Lugnuts pretty much put the game out of reach in the seventh when Cobie Vance blasted a two-run homer to make it 5-2.
The Captains had runners on the corner in the eighth, but a pop to short right ended the rally. The Captains went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game.
Shohei Tomioka (4-5) received the win after allowing one run in 3 1/3 innings out of the bullpen. He allowed three hits with four strikeouts.
Gaddis (3-7) took the loss. Brock Whittlesey registered the save for the Lugnuts. He struck out the side in the ninth and collected four strikeouts in two innings. He allowed one hit.