Captains Staved Off by Lugnuts 2-1 in Pitchers’ Duel
EASTLAKE, OH – Captains (10-9, 51-34) starter Matt Wilkinson allowed no earned runs and struck out five across five innings, but Lansing’s (9-11, 41-44) two unearned runs off him were enough to hand Lake County a 2-1 loss on Saturday at Classic Auto Group Park. After Wilkinson retired 10 of
EASTLAKE, OH – Captains (10-9, 51-34) starter Matt Wilkinson allowed no earned runs and struck out five across five innings, but Lansing’s (9-11, 41-44) two unearned runs off him were enough to hand Lake County a 2-1 loss on Saturday at Classic Auto Group Park.
After Wilkinson retired 10 of his first 12 batters faced, Lansing struck first in the top of the fourth. Lugnuts 1B Will Simpson, MLB Pipeline’s No. 24 Oakland prospect, singled and CF Brayan Buelvas, MLB Pipeline’s No. 29 Oakland prospect, singled him home. Buelvas advanced to second on the throw when Captains 2B Jake Fox, MLB Pipeline’s No. 18 Cleveland prospect, dropped a throw from third, allowing Simpson to score.
In the top of the fifth, the Lugnuts doubled their lead when 2B Casey Yamauchi singled, LF Jonny Butler reached on a fielding error, and DH Danny Bautista Jr. plated Yamauchi on a sacrifice fly.
Lake County cut into its deficit in the bottom of the sixth when C Cooper Ingle, MLB Pipeline’s No. 30 Cleveland prospect, bounced into a force out but beat out a throw from second to drive in his 45th run of the season. Ingle is now tied with INF Alex Mooney, MLB Pipeline’s No. 20 Cleveland prospect, for the team lead in RBI.
In the bottom of the eighth, SS Angel Genao, MLB Pipeline’s No. 11 Cleveland prospect, and Fox both singled, while Ingle walked to load the bases. But with two outs, Lansing LHP Colton Johnson got Captains RF Jorge Burgos to ground out, retiring the side.
Johnson then allowed a leadoff single to Lake County 1B Maick Collado in the bottom of the ninth. However, Lansing turned a double play and Johnson ended the game with a strikeout, securing his ninth save of the campaign.
Lugnuts RHP Jake Garland (6-3) got the win and the quality start, going six innings, allowing one run on three hits, and striking out three while walking two. Wilkinson (2-2) tallied the loss despite not allowing an earned run, while the Captains bullpen tandem of LHP Steve Hajjar and RHP Allan Hernández combined for four shutout innings of relief.
First pitch for the finale of this week’s scheduled six-game series between the Captains and Lugnuts is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. It will be Salute to Service Day at the ballpark, where it will also be Family Fun Sunday presented by Classic Auto Group.
The game will be broadcast on the Bally Live app and MiLB.TV, with social media coverage courtesy of @LCCaptains on X and Instagram.
Notes To Know
- LHP Matt Wilkinson has now struck out 123 batters across Single-A Lynchburg and Lake County, which are the second-most strikeouts in Minor League Baseball.
- OF/2B Jake Fox paced the offense with his second three-hit game of the season, going 3-for-4. Saturday night marked his first three-hit game since July 5 versus Dayton.
- INF Angel Genao went 2-for-3 with one walk and one run scored. He has now hit safely in 23 of his first 29 High-A games.
The Lake County Captains are the High-A Affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, and have been a Class A Affiliate of Cleveland since the team was founded in 2003. To find out more information about the Captains or purchase tickets, visit CaptainsBaseball.com, or call (440) 975-8085.