Guardians Baseball Insider

Photo credit: TCP Photography/Courtesy Lake County Captains

Beloit Sky Carp 11, Lake County Captains 1

The Captains dropped their third game in a row Friday night after being blown out 11-1 by the Beloit Sky Carp. They now trail this week’s series 3-1, and will need to win both weekend contests just to earn a split.

It didn’t take long for Beloit to get on the board, as the second pitch of the game from Lake County starter Rodney Boone was crushed to right field for a leadoff home run. Things briefly got better for the Captains, however, as Boone settled in and retired the next six batters and Alexfri Planez tied the game with a solo home run to lead off the second. Unfortunately, it was not to last as Boone was tagged for a pair of runs in both the third and fourth. The Sky Carp blew the game wide open in the fifth with four runs off of Alaska Abney, and that was it. They tacked on two more as the game went on, but the Captains offered no resistance, recording just two hits and stranding six of their seven baserunners.

Pitching Woes

Lake County’s pitching staff has been one of the best in the Midwest League this season and it entered Friday with the lowest batting average and OPS allowed, as well as the fewest hits and runs allowed. No one would have been able to tell that from watching Friday’s game, however, as the Captains allowed 11 runs on 12 hits on the way to their second-most lopsided loss of the season.

Boone, after a strong performance in his first start for Lake County last week, struggled Friday, throwing 82 pitches despite failing to get through four innings. He struggled to find the zone, especially in the third and fourth innings, and even when he did Beloit was able to consistently make good contact. In total, Boone allowed five earned runs on four hits, with four strikeouts and four walks across 3.2 innings.

After Boone exited in the fourth, the bullpen was not much better. Abney got out of that inning, but proceeded to give up four in the next inning, which really blew the game open. In 5.1 innings of work, Lake County’s bullpen allowed six runs on eight hits.

Planez Stays Hot

Bright spots were hard to find for Lake County, especially on offense, on a night in which they registered just 2 hits. If there was one, however, it was Alexfri Planez, who continued his impressive June performance with a solo home run in his first at-bat of the night. It was his fourth home run in 12 appearances this month, and it saw his June slash line improve to .298/.298/.660.

It does say something about how inept the Captains’ offense was Friday that the only silver lining came from Planez, who struck out twice and went just 1-4.

Notes

Lake County was torched by Beloit leadoff hitter Cody Morissette, who went 4-6 with three home runs and six RBI … The Captains will be back in action Saturday at 7:00 against the Sky Carp once again, and Doug Nikhazy, the Guardians 2nd round pick in 2021, will be on the mound, facing off against 2019 5th round pick Evan Fitterer.