Injury bug not kind to Captains in last stretch

As the Captains close in on the end of the regular season in the Midwest League, they lose an outfielder for the year to a broken finger and two more regulars during a 7-6 loss to South Bend.

The injury bug is taking a stinging bite out of the Captains in the waning days of the 2018 season.

Before the Captains opened a three-game series against the South Bend (Ind.) Cubs on Aug. 21 at Classic Park with a 7-6 loss, they learned left fielder Oscar Gonzalez has a broken finger on his right hand. He will miss the remaining 12 games of the regular season.

Gonzalez broke the finger sliding into a base on Aug. 20 in a 3-1 loss to West Michigan. He had an outstanding season, batting a team-high .292 with 13 home runs and 52 RBI in 114 games.

Center fielder Gabriel Mejia and second baseman Richie Palacios were forced from the game against the Cubs with an injured finger and ankle, respectively..

Third baseman Erlin Cerda injured his left shoulder on Aug. 19 in the 5-4 victory over West Michigan. Captains manager Luke Carlin said Cerda is out for the duration, too.

“It’s just one of those things,” Carlin said of the late-season crush of injuries. “Guys are playing hard and pushing their bodies to the limit. There’s some bad luck, involved, too.”

Before the game on Aug. 21, the parent club Indians filled the hole at third base by purchasing the contract of Dane Hutcheon from the Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League.

In 71 games with the Crushers, the 24-year-old Hutcheon was batting a team-high .305 with three home runs and 29 RBI in 71 games.

The evening started poorly for the Captains and starting pitcher Felix Tati.

In the first inning, three Lake County errors had much to do with the Cubs scoring four runs on two hits. Three of those four runs were unearned.

The Cubs added two runs in the top of the third inning on solo home runs by Austin Filiere and Austin Upshaw. Delvin Zinn added another solo shot in the top of the fifth inning.

Tati (1-4, 4.50 ERA) took the loss. The 21-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic gave up seven runs, four earned, on seven hits in five innings.

The Captains were no slouches with the bat on a night when the wind blew strong and scattered showers in the area stayed clear of the Eastlake ballpark.

They scored single runs in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Jonathan Laureano and in the bottom of the second on an RBI grounder by Hutcheon.

Palacios led off the bottom of the third inning with a solo home run. Will Benson’s RBI ground out later in the frame shaved the Cubs’ lead to 6-4.. Miguel Eladio’s solo home run in the bottom of the fourth drew the Captains closer at 6-5. Jose Vicente’s RBI grounder in the bottom of the fifth made it 7-6.

The Captains slipped to 24-33 in the second half with their second straight loss.

South Bend improved to 25-32.