Julian Sampson continued to improve, producing his best outing of the season to help the BlueClaws to a 5-3 victory over Lake County on Tuesday afternoon at Classic Park.
Taylor drives in two as Lakewood clips Lake County
EASTLAKE, OH - Julian Sampson continued to improve, producing his best outing of the season to help the BlueClaws to a 5-3 victory over Lake County on Tuesday afternoon at Classic Park.
Sampson went seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking just one. He also picked off three runners at first, helping him limit the damage even when the Captains could get runners aboard.
The productive outing was a sign of further progress from the 19-year old right-hander, who was making just his third-ever professional start. Sampson did not make it through the fourth inning in his first start of the season and lasted five innings last Thursday.
Sampson (1-0) became the first BlueClaws starting pitcher to notch a victory this season. Starters had only earned three decisions coming into Tuesday's game and all three were losses.
The BlueClaws offense showed signs of life against Captains starter Kelvin De La Cruz, a pitcher that shut Lakewood down the first time the clubs squared off. De La Cruz (1-1) entered the game with a 0.90 ERA, but could not make it out of the fifth inning on Tuesday. The southpaw starter gave up five earned runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He also walked five.
The big breakthrough against De La Cruz came in the top of the fifth inning when the BlueClaws (5-7) put four straight on base with two outs. After two quick outs, De La Cruz walked Travis Mattair. Karl Bolt, Michael Taylor and Mike Durant followed with three straight doubles to turn a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 BlueClaws advantage.
The Captains (7-5) spotted Lakewood an early 2-0 lead. Michael Taylor notched the first of his two RBIs with a run-scoring double in the top of the first. The BlueClaws added one more in the fourth when Dennis Winn's double scored Mike Durant from second.
But the Captains pulled even with a pair of runs against Sampson in the bottom half of the fourth. Lake County managed three straight hits with one out to score two, but Sampson picked off Matt Brown at first and got Chris Nash to fly out to end the rally.
The Captains did bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning against Yen-Feng Lin. Matt Brown drove in Karexon Sanchez to cut the 'Claws lead to two, but Lin got Nash on a strikeout and Roman Pena on a weak ground ball to seal the victory.
The same two teams will face off again on Wednesday, but this time on the Jersey Shore. Jacob Diekman (0-1, 4.82) will make the start for the BlueClaws at FirstEnergy Park, while Ryan Morris (1- 0, 2.45) will go for the Captains.