Guardians Prospect Dayan Frias Hits 8th Inning Grand Slam for Captains, but TinCaps Rally in 9th for Victory

Photo by Al Kornspan

Eastlake – Yesterday’s timing worked perfect for Guardians baseball fans.

The 4pm start for the Lake County Captains game gave us time to watch future Guardians prospects and a highly entertaining comeback by the Captains full of drama and emotion. 

Then with the Guardians game starting at 7pm, Northeast Ohio sports fans were able to then travel to sold out Progressive Field or watch and listen to the Guardians take on the Atlanta Braves on a TV or other technological device.

The 4pm Captains game started as a lower scoring affair as the Captains and Fort Wayne TinCaps, a San Diego Padres minor league affiliate, were tied 2-2 going into the top of the 7th.

But then things got very interesting.

The TinCaps scored two runs in the top of the seventh, and two more runs in the top of the eighth to take a 6-2 lead.

Things did not look good for the Captains.  

But then, they scored a run in the bottom of the eighth when Jorge Burgos singled to drive in a run.  

Now, the bases were loaded with Burgos on first, Nate Furman on second and Milan Tolentino on third. With Frias coming to the plate, one swing of the bat could give the Captains the lead.

And that is exactly what happened.  

Frias took a 1-2 pitch over the right field wall to drive in 4 runs on the grand slam and the Captains took a 7-6 lead going into the ninth.

The TinCaps, though, scored four runs in the ninth to get the victory, 10-7.

On the homestand, the Captains were 2-4 against Fort Wayne.

The Captains lost 9-2 on Thursday. On Friday they split a double header, winning the first game 4-2 and losing the second game by the same score of 4-2.

In Friday night’s victory, the TinCaps got on the board first as the Padres number one prospect, Jackson Merrill, hit a home run.

The Captains, though, came right back with two runs when Burgos drove in Jake Fox. Then Joe Lampe doubled to drive in Burgos.

In the third inning on Friday night, the Padres top prospect, Jackson Merrill, hit his second home run of the night to tie the game at two.

The lead would not last long though. Burgos homered in the third to give the lead to the Captains for the rest of the game.

On Saturday, the Captains won 5-3 with Dayan Frias going 2-3 with a double and home run, and 4 RBI. Also on Saturday, Nate Furman was 2-4, and Milan Tolentino was 3-4.

The Captains return to Classic Park for a 3-game weekend homestand July 14-16 when they take on the Dayton Dragons.