Guardians Baseball Insider

Image; Courtesy Lake County Captains

As the season shifts to the final 40 games of the 2021 season, the Lake County Captains have run into a case of the dog days of summer. For the second time in the second half of the season (and third for the season), Lake County has lost at least four games in a row. After having their three-game winning streak snapped in Dayton, the Captains have struggled at home, going 2-5 since returning to Classic Park. Lake County came away with wins in games two and three of the Lansing series but have dropped four straight contests.

One thing that has hurt the Captains over the last week is the late innings of the game. Over the last six games, Lake County has allowed 14 runs in the final two innings (of 38 runs total). Lansing capped Sunday’s game with seven runs in the final three innings and Tuesday’s game saw West Michigan rally with eight in the last two frames. Sunday and Tuesday was only the second time

With 35 games left to go, Lake County still remains in a playoff race as they trail the final spot in the league by 1.5 games.

Day-By-Day

• 8/4: W, 8-4 vs. Lansing (W: Kevin Coulter, Sv: Jerson Ramirez)
• 8/5: W, 5-1 vs. Lansing (W: Jared Janczak)
• 8/6: L, 5-3 vs. Lansing (L: Daniel Espino)
• 8/7: L. 5-2 vs. Lansing (L: Hunter Gaddis)
• 8/8: L, 12-4 vs. Lansing (L: Mason Hickman)
• 8/10: L, 11-5 vs. West Michigan (L: Kevin Kelly)

Player of the Week

Jose Tena, INF – .346 AVG (9-26), 5 1B, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 6 K, 3 R

Tena led the Captains with nine hits over the last week, including three multi-hit games. He leads the Captains with 25 multi-hit games this season. After starting the week with an 0-fer, he ended the week with five straight games with a hit. Tuesday’s game saw Tena have three hits, including his 11th homer of the season. In August, he is batting .353 with 12 hits, two doubles, four home runs and eight runs batted in.

Who’s Hot

Tim Herrin, LHP – 2 G, 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K

The southpaw has delivered at times in the bullpen for Captains manager Greg DiCenzo as he turned in two scoreless outings of at least three innings this week. Herrin kept the game at 5-2 on Friday night with three scoreless innings and he tossed 3.1 innings of scoreless relief in a 3-3 game.

Joe Naranjo, 1B – .350 AVG (7-20), 6 1B, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 SB, 1 R, 1 HBP

Naranjo had a solid week on contact at first base as he totaled seven hits, the second most of the team. Three of his games had a pair of singles this week.

George Valera, OF – .222 AVG (4-18), 4 HR, 6 RBI, 6 R, 7 BB, 8 K

Valera remains in the hot category this week despite only hitting .222 for the week. There is a reason for him being hot again as he made the most of his at-bats this week. Valera went deep four times, driving in six runs and he walked seven times for the second straight week. Since the page turned to August, Valera has scored seven runs, hit four home runs and walked ten times in eight games.

Who’s Not

Julian Escobedo, OF – .148 AVG (4-27), 2 1B, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB, 9 K, 4 R

Escobedo has struggled since making the jump to High-A to replace Will Brennan in the lineup. The outfielder hit .148 last week with four hits. He reached base five times but fanned nine times in his first five games with the Captains.

Mason Hickman, RHP – 1 GS, 5 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 7 K, L

In terms of the starting rotation, Hickman allowed five runs on five hits and three walks on Sunday, all in five innings. This was Hickman’s third start of allowing at least five runs this season.

Kevin Kelly, RHP – 2 G, 3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Kelly is on the list this week because of a rough outing on Tuesday night. He turned in scoreless innings on Thursday and Saturday before getting roughed up by the Whitecaps. West Michigan tagged Kelly for five runs on three hits, with one walk and three strikeouts. The big blow was a grand slam allowed in the 8th inning of a 11-5 loss Tuesday.

Transactions

• 8/5: RHP Tanner Burns activated from IL
• 8/6: INF Aaron Bracho placed on IL, INF Wilfri Peralta assigned from Lynchburg
• 8/10: C Gianpaul Gonzalez assigned from Columbus

On Deck

• 8/11-8/15 vs. West Michigan
• 8/17-8/22 at Dayton