Ralphy Rallies Captains Past Nuts
July 23, 2025 - Midwest League (MWL)
Lansing Lugnuts News Release
EASTLAKE, OH - Ralphy Velazquez tied the game with a two-run homer and untied it by inadvertently knocking a potential double-play ball out of Sahid Valenzuela 's glove, rallying the Lake County Captains (14-12, 49-43) to a 4-2 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts (11-15, 47-45) on Wednesday night at Classic Auto Group.
Joshua Kuroda-Grauer went 3-for-4 in defeat for the Lugnuts, who lost their fifth straight game.
Lansing's only other hit was a Jared Dickey two-run homer in the fourth inning that both broke a scoreless deadlock and landed on Captains pitcher Josh Harlow's sleeping dog, Tucker, on the right field berm. The Captains' front office reported afterward that Tucker was unhurt and delighted to receive a baseball to play with.
Lake County was blanked through five innings by the Nuts' 19-year-old tandem of Steven Echavarria (three scoreless innings, four hits, no walks, three strikeouts) and Wei-En Lin (2 1/3 innings, four strikeouts).
But Alfonsin Rosario opened the sixth inning with a double and Velazquez followed with his 13th home run of the year, disturbing zero dogs in the process, to tie the score at 2-2.
An inning later, singles from Nick Mitchell, Christian Knapczyk and Rosario loaded the bases with no outs against Blaze Pontes. The next batter was Velazquez, whose grounder was fielded by second baseman Valenzuela and thrown home to forcue out Mitchell. Jaison Chourio similarly grounded to Valenzuela, who attempted to apply a tag on Velazquez running past. But as Valenzuela tagged the Captains baserunner, the ball was jarred free and popped into right field. Both Knapczyk and Rosario raced home, giving the Caps a 4-2 lead.
Jack Jasiak blanked Lansing over the final two innings, sewing up the win with his tenth save.
Right-hander Jake Garland will attempt to halt the Lugnuts' losing streak on Thursday at 7 p.m., taking on Lake County lefty Josh Hartle.
The Nuts play the Captains through Sunday, returning home from July 29-August 3 to host Cedar Rapids. T ickets are available for purchase at the stadium box office, (517) 485-4500 or online at milb.com/lansing.
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