Ducks on pond cost Captains at Loons

(Midland, MI) – The Lake County Captains (25-21) suffered a 6-3 loss to the Great Lakes Loons (23-23) on Friday night at Dow Diamond. Despite multi-hit performances by George Valera, Brayan Rocchio and Raynel Delgado, each of whom contributed an extra-base hit, the Captains left 11 men on base and were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

The Loons drew first blood fast. On the second pitch thrown by Captains starter Tanner Burns, Great Lakes shortstop Leonel Valera belted a leadoff homer to right-center field. Valera’s second homer in as many days gave the Loons a 1-0 lead. Ryan Ward followed with a single, stole second, stole third and came home on a Justin Yurchak sacrifice fly to center field to extend Great Lakes’ lead to 2-0.

Great Lakes added a run in the second. Joe Vranesh led off with a single and stole second. He came home to score when Andrew Shaps hit an infield single and Rocchio’s throw from short to first went awry. Vranesh crossed home to give the Loons a 3-0 lead.

The Captains got a run back in the fourth. Delgado began the inning by grounding a single into right field. After Delgado moved to third on a ground out, Quentin Holmes knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to left that cut the Loons’ advantage to 3-1.

Ward helped the Loons punch back in the fifth. The Loons’ lefty-hitting left fielder tripled to center and scored on an RBI single to right by Andy Pages to give Great Lakes a three-run lead again at 4-1.

Lake County inched closer in the top of the seventh. Rocchio singled up the middle with one out and promptly stole second. Later in the frame, Valera knocked in Rocchio with a single to right. Valera’s RBI trimmed the Loons’ lead to 4-2.

A long ball by the league’s leading home run hitter pushed the Loons’ lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh. Reliever Alec Wisely struck out the first two men in the inning, but then Ward worked a two-out walk. Andy Pages came up next and launched a two-run shot to center field for his 14th homer of the season.

Rocchio and Valera connected for another Captains run in the ninth. Rocchio doubled with one out on a line drive to right and Valera drove him in with a triple to center. The extra-base hits gave each hitter a multi-hit night and closed out the scoring, as José Tena followed with a ground out to shortstop to end the game.

Loons reliever Jesus Vargas (5-2) picked up the win. The right-hander pitched 3.2 innings and allowed one run on three hits with one walk and one strikeout.

Burns (2-3) took the loss. The Captains’ starter struck out nine and walked one, but surrendered four runs, three earned, on seven hits across 4.1 innings.

Kevin Coulter gets the ball in game four for the Captains on Friday. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. from Dow Diamond.

About the Captains

The Lake County Captains are the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. For more information, visit the Captains’ website at www.CaptainsBaseball.com, Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/CaptainsBaseball, Twitter @LCCaptains and Instagram @LCCaptains. Fans can also get the latest Captains news and offers by signing up for the Captains’ newsletter, The Anchor.