AVON — Right-hander Jorge Charry made the most of his Crushers debut Tuesday night at All Pro Freight Stadium. Lake Erie’s hitters obviously did not do the same with their day off Monday.

Charry’s first appearance of the season was an impressive one — one unearned run on just a hit through five innings — but the effort was wasted in the Crushers’ listless 7-1 loss to the Gateway Grizzlies.

Lake Erie (24-18) looked flat in mustering just five hits after entering the night with seven victories in its last 10 games and trailing first-place Kalamazoo by 41/2 games in the Frontier League’s East Division.

“It seems like that, but really, their pitcher did a good job,” said Crushers shortstop Jodem Rivera, who scored Lake Erie’s lone run in the sixth after tripling for his team’s only extra-base hit. “When a pitcher’s doing his job, it’s tough to get runs.”

Doing his job and then some for Gateway was right-hander Paige Dumont, who was dominant in his second start of the season after getting roughed up in his first.

The former member of the Phillies organization pitched a complete game to get his first win, striking out six and walking two.

“He changed speeds and threw strikes. That’s the name of the game,” said Lake Erie manager John Massarelli, whose team is in the midst of a nine-game homestand that will take it to the All-Star break.

Dumont allowed two hits through five innings, retiring 11 straight before Gordon Gronkowski walked to lead off the fifth.

Charry, who spent the last three seasons at the Single-A level for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was just as good as Dumont through five innings, striking out three.

“I was pretty impressed,” Massarelli said. “I was happy with what I saw from him tonight.”

Charry didn’t allow a hit through the first three innings. Gateway left fielder Brandon Peters got the first to lead off the fourth and came around to score the game’s first run on an error and a balk, followed by a groundout.

“I felt really good,” Charry said through an interpreter. “But this is baseball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. For it being my first time, I felt comfortable.”

The game changed when Charry left and the Crushers bullpen was employed.

Shannon Sprouse allowed three runs over the sixth and seventh innings, with Jacinto Gonell surrendering three in the ninth after striking out the first two batters he faced.

“The bullpen hadn’t gotten a lot of work (lately),” Massarelli said. “It looked like Sprouse and Gonell hadn’t pitched in awhile. That’s just how the situation worked out.”

Tonight

Who: Lake Erie Crushers vs. Gateway Grizzlies
When: 7:05
Where: All Pro Freight Stadium, Avon
Webcast: Live on lakeeriecrushers.com.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

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