EAST LAKE, OH – The Lakewood BlueClaws got a very strong six innings from Jesus Sanchez and equally strong run support in a well-played 5-2 victory against the Lake County Captains on Friday night.
The BlueClaws got on the board in the very first inning as the hot-hitting Anthony Gose took a ball into the right field corner and legged out a triple before a sacrifice fly off the bat of Travis d’Arnaud brought him home.
In the sixth, the BlueClaws (35-24) added to their lead as they loaded the bases with just one out. With D’Arby Myers at the plate, new pitcher Dave Roberts threw a wild pitch, scoring d’Arnaud, giving the BlueClaws a 2-0 lead.
The BlueClaws padded their lead with two more runs in the seventh as newcomer Alan Schoenberger walked to lead off the inning before Harold Garcia hit an RBI-triple and later scored on a single by d’Arnaud. The BlueClaws took a 4-0 lead in to the bottom of the seventh inning.
In the bottom of the seventh the Captains (26-32) got runners on as Karexon Sanchez singled and Adam Abraham doubled, putting runners in scoring position with no one out. Sanchez was then lifted in favor of Santo Hernandez and he only allowed one of those two runners to score on a groundout, preserving a three-run BlueClaws advantage.
Travis Mattair pinch hit to lead off the ninth and tripled off the glove of before scoring an insurance run on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.
Sanchez (2-4) pitched his best game of the season as he worked into the seventh inning for the first time all year. All told, he went six full, allowing just one run and four hits. The win is the second of his professional career. Hernandez did well keep the BlueClaws in it in the seventh and worked himself out of trouble in the eighth before giving way to Rob Roth. Roth, one appearance removed from the disabled list, walked both batters he saw which summoned BJ Rosenberg from the bullpen. In a save situation, Rosenberg allowed a single and a run charged to Roth before striking out the side for his ninth save of the season.
TJ House (1-7), who’s record does not match his performances this season, lost again as he went 5.1 innings, allowing just one earned run and striking out five. He was relieved by David Roberts who went
The win is the second in a row for the BlueClaws and it keeps them at least 1.5 games ahead of the Delmarva Shorebirds in the South Atlantic League Northern Division with just 11 games to play in the first half.
The BlueClaws will play the second game of the series on Saturday night at 7:00pm. Looking for their third straight win, the BlueClaws will send the league leader in wins Jon Velasquez (8-2) to the mound, and he will be opposed by righty Danny Salazar (1-2).