Great Lakes Walks All Over Lake County

Loons score nine runs on eight hits and nine walks

By Noah Wolf

April 21, 2022

MIDLAND, Mich. – With the new pitch clock rules in place across Minor League Baseball, a three-hour-long game is nearly impossible. On Thursday night at Dow Diamond, the Great Lakes Loons and Lake County Captains combined for 12 runs, 15 hits, five errors, three hit batsmen and 20 walks. Final

MIDLAND, Mich. – With the new pitch clock rules in place across Minor League Baseball, a three-hour-long game is nearly impossible.

On Thursday night at Dow Diamond, the Great Lakes Loons and Lake County Captains combined for 12 runs, 15 hits, five errors, three hit batsmen and 20 walks.

Final time of game? Two hours, 55 minutes. Great Lakes wins the third game of the six-game set, 9-3.

Lake County (5-7) scored first in the game, pushing a run across in the first inning – the first time that the Loons have given up a run in the opening frame of a contest this season. The leadoff batter Joe Naranjo smacked a single, then after a walk, Christian Cairo got a two-out RBI knock to give the Captains the early lead, 1-0.

That lead was short-lived. The Loons (4-8) had the immediate answer, scoring four runs in the first inning. Captains starter Mason Hickman (L, 0-2) got the first two outs of the first frame, but allowed a two-out, four-pitch walk to Eddys Leonard. After that, the Loons had four straight RBI hits: an Aldrich De Jongh double, an Ismael Alcantara single, an Imanol Vargas single, then a Zac Ching double. Four runs on four hits for the Loons in the first game them a 4-1 lead, and they would never trail after that.

The Captains, High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, made it interesting in the fifth and sixth innings, scoring a run in each frame. They loaded the bases with none out in the fifth inning, but scored just one run, thanks to a 1-2-3 double play and a strikeout from Julian Smith (W, 1-0). The first batter Smith faced in the sixth, Micael Ramirez, hit his first home run since 2018, and the next two Captains reached base, but the southpaw Smith got out of the inning without another blemish. At that point, the Loons had a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the sixth.

Jonny Deluca gave Great Lakes some immediate insurance, leading off the home half of the sixth with a solo home run, his Midwest League-leading sixth blast of the young season. The Loons scored four more runs in the inning, all unearned, on just one more hit, thanks to four walks surrendered and two errors committed by Lake County. De Jongh got an RBI with a sacrifice fly, then Joe Vranesh got his first hit of the day with a two-run single. The Loons, High-A partners with the Los Angeles Dodgers, led at that point, 9-3, which would end up as the final.

Great Lakes pitching kept the Captains bats at bay, but there was plenty of production by the visitors. They had six hits and were walked 11 times, with all six Loons pitchers walking at least one batter. But the Loons pitchers were able to successfully bend, but not break, keeping Lake County from putting up a crooked number in any inning.

Nick Nastrini had a solid start, picking up four strikeouts in his two innings of one-run baseball. Adam Scoggins made his High-A debut for the Loons, and one base on balls was his lone blemish, striking out one in his inning. Braydon Fisher’s first inning as a Loon was perfect including one punchout, before he walked three batters and allowed a run in the next frame. Michael Hobbs and Aldry Acosta finished things off for Great Lakes, combining in the final three innings for no hits, no runs, and three walks while striking out two.

In a game where the Captains committed five fielding errors, the Loons played an errorless contest, their third such game of the year.

Great Lakes takes a 2-1 lead in the six-game series, heading into the fourth game Friday night. Lake County starts right-hander Gavin Williams (0-0, 3.12 ERA), the seventh-ranked prospect in the Guardians’ farm system, per MLB.com. For the Loons, southpaw Lael Lockhart (1-0, 0.00 ERA) takes the hill. It’s Feast Friday at Dow Diamond, presented by Isabella Bank: $2 hot dogs, $1 potato chips, $1 ice cream sandwiches, $1 16 oz. sodas. Tickets are still available on loons.com. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.; the Loons On-Deck Circle driven by Garber Chevrolet Midland begins at 5:50 p.m. on ESPN 100.9-FM.

The Great Lakes Loons have been a Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of total hits in the game. It was 15, not 14.