Hartle's Quality Start Steers Captains to Sixth Straight Win in 3-2 Victory over Chiefs
MWL Lake County Captains

Hartle's Quality Start Steers Captains to Sixth Straight Win in 3-2 Victory over Chiefs

Published on August 16, 2025 under Midwest League (MWL)
Lake County Captains News Release


EASTLAKE, Ohio - In the fifth game of a scheduled six-game series, the Lake County Captains (30-17, 65-48) defeated the Peoria Chiefs (17-29, 43-68) by a final score of 3-2 on Saturday night at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake.

Lake County LHP Josh Hartle (W, 10-2), MLB Pipeline's No. 25 Guardians prospect, led the way for the Captains with his fourth quality start of the season. The 22-year-old tossed six scoreless innings, surrendering just one hit and three walks, while throwing four strikeouts in 79 pitches (46 strikes). Hartle's lone hit allowed was a broken-bat infield single by Chiefs LF Ian Petrutz in the top of the third inning.

Lake County LHP Michael Kennedy (S, 1) then followed with three innings of piggyback relief. The 20-year-old permitted two runs on five hits, while throwing three strikeouts to one walk in 63 pitches (40 strikes). After giving up a home run by Peoria DH Won-Bin Cho on his first pitch of the night, which began the seventh inning, Kennedy's second run allowed was courtesy of a two-out RBI double by Petrutz. But the Captains portsider induced a groundout from Chiefs 3B Anyelo Encarnacion to end the game and secure his first career professional save.

Offensively, Lake County struck first with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the first inning from C Johnny Tincher. Then, four innings later, the Captains drove in what eventually proved to be the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly from CF Jaison Chourio, MLB Pipeline's No. 6 Guardians prospect.

Peoria RHP Frank Elissalt (L, 0-2) suffered his second Chiefs loss of the season, allowing two runs on two hits, while throwing one strikeout to one walk in 26 pitches (14 strikes).

The finale of this week's scheduled six-game series between the Captains and Chiefs is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. It will be Family Fun Sunday at the ballpark, presented by Classic Auto Group, which will feature pregame player autographs and catch on the field, plus postgame kids run the bases. The Captains will also be celebrating State Fair Weekend. The game will be broadcast on the Bally Sports Live App and MiLB.com, with social media coverage courtesy of @LCCaptains on X and Instagram.

Notes to Know

- LHP Josh Hartle pitched six scoreless innings for the Captains on Saturday night. The 22-year-old has not allowed an earned run over his last six starts, leading qualified MiLB pitchers in ERA (0.00) and wins (five, tied), and ranking top-10 in opposing batting average (.117, third) and WHIP (0.77, seventh) during this span. Hartle is one of just two MiLB pitchers with at least 10 wins, at least 100 strikeouts, and an opposing batting average below .200 this season (also former Captains and current Double-A Akron RubberDucks RHP Yorman Gómez).

- INF Jose Devers went 3-for-4 with two doubles on Saturday night. The Samaná, Dominican Republic native leads High-A in both doubles (32) and extra-base hits (47, tied) this season.

- With another victory on Saturday night, the Captains are currently on a six-game winning streak. This ties the longest winning streak by Lake County this season, as the Captains also won six straight games from June 6 to June 12.

Check out the Lake County Captains Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from August 16, 2025


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