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MWL1 Lake County Captains

Mitchell, Three-Run Eighth Drive Captains

May 26, 2019 - Midwest League (MWL1)
Lake County Captains News Release


(Lansing, MI) - Evan Mitchell dominated in the longest outing of his seven-year professional career and the Lake County Captains (30-19) scored three timely runs in the eighth inning to beat the Lansing Lugnuts (20-28) on Sunday afternoon at Cooley Law School Stadium. The Captains defeated the Lugnuts, 4-1, giving them six wins in the first eight games of their road trip.

Coming into Sunday, Mitchell had never pitched more than three innings in a single appearance. In six years as a Cincinnati Reds farmhand, the right-hander he had been nearly exclusively used in relief, making 199 of his 201 career appearances out of the bullpen. Since signing with the Indians this past offseason, Mitchell has started all three times he has suited up for a Cleveland affiliate, and Sunday was his finest performance yet.

Mitchell doubled his longest career outing, spinning six stellar innings and holding the Lugnuts to one unearned run on three hits. Mitchell struck out five and walked one.

The Captains did not give Mitchell much early support, but they did give him a lead in the second inning. With one out and the bases empty, Mitch Reeves clobbered a pitch from Lugnuts starter Troy Miller down the left field line and well over the wall for a solo homer to give Lake County a 1-0 lead.

Mitchell retired the first eight batters he faced, but the first Lugnuts hit and a bad break led to a tie game in the third. Lansing's ninth-place hitter, Mc Gregory Contreras, roped a line drive to centerfield with two outs. The liner climbed over Quentin Holmes' head and rolled to the wall. Contreras raced around second and headed for third, as the Captains executed the relay. Holmes threw to Tyler Freeman and the Captains' shortstop fired to third, but his throw hit the diving Contreras in the helmet and the ball bounced into the mesh screen above the third base dugout, out of play. Contreras was awarded home on the throwing error by Freeman to tie the score at 1-1.

After Mitchell's day was done, the Captains had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the seventh, but made three outs between third and home. Mike Pascoe relieved Miller for Lansing and walked Miguel Jerez on four pitches to begin the inning. Hosea Nelson then bounced a ball over the third base bag and into the left field Captains bullpen. As Contreras struggled to corral the ball, Jerez sped around third and tried to score. Contreras, however, picked the ball up just in time and threw a rainbow strike to catcher Ryan Gold for the out. Nelson was awarded with a double and reached third on the throw.

Holmes followed Nelson and hit a broken-bat grounder to third. Nelson made a false step toward home and, as he tried to recover and go back to third, Lugnuts third baseman Luis De Los Santos lunged toward the runner and chased him toward home. De Los Santos tagged out Nelson for out number two and nearly threw out Holmes on his way to second, but the runner reached second ahead of the throw.

Pascoe then walked Jose Fermin to put men on first and second with two outs. Freeman came up next and hit a slow grounder in the grass at shortstop. Otto Lopez charged the ball and fielded it, but realized he had no play on Freeman at first. As Lopez was about to holster the ball, he noticed Holmes taking a wide turn around third. Lopez quickly tossed to De Los Santos, who threw to Gold, who tagged out Holmes at the plate to end the inning and keep the game tied.

The Captains broke through in the top of the eighth inning. Pascoe led off with another four-pitch walk, this time to Bo Naylor. Ruben Cardenas popped out to the catcher and Reeves struck out, but Naylor swiped second on the strike-three pitch. With Naylor in scoring position and two outs, Jesse Berardi lifted a fly ball to left that dropped in front of a diving Contreras for a single. Naylor scored to put the Captains ahead, 2-1. Jerez then slammed a line drive, two-run homer over the left field wall to give the Captains a 4-1 advantage.

Zach Draper and Manuel Alvarez nailed the game down for Lake County. Draper (4-0) earned the win after holding Lansing scoreless over two innings of relief. He gave up three hits, struck out two and did not issue a walk. Alvarez nailed down his fifth save with three fly outs, one to each outfielder, in a one-two-three ninth.

Pascoe (1-2) took the loss for Lansing. He pitched two innings and gave up three runs on four hits with three walks and one strikeout.

The Captains are off to a 6-2 start to their 12-game, 11-day road trip and wrap up their series in Lansing on Memorial Day. First pitch at Cooley Law School Stadium is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

Individual game tickets for all Captains games are on sale at the Classic Park box office, online at captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Mini ticket plans for the 2019 season are still available for great prices complete with several exclusive benefits. Information can be found at the Captains website www.captainsbaseball.com.

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