News release from the TinCaps:
Losing streak stretches to six for TinCaps
Eastlake, OH (May 20, 2014) – Orson Welles once said, “Nobody gets justice. People only get good luck or bad luck.” In the last three days, the TinCaps have been in the latter camp. Tuesday their bad luck continued, as they suffered their third straight walk-off loss, a 7-6 defeat against the Lake County Captains.
Lake County (15-30) second baseman Claudio Bautista, who drove in two of his team’s three runs Monday, connected on a game-winning single against Fort Wayne (17-27) reliever Wilson Santos (0-2) in the bottom of the ninth inning to drive in Anthony Santander and end the game. The loss extends Fort Wayne’s losing streak, in which every loss has been by either one or two runs, to six games.
For the second straight game against the Captains, the TinCaps took a first-inning lead. Mallex Smith walked to start the game, proceeded to steal second and third–his MLB and MiLB-leading 31st and 32nd steals of the year–and was doubled home by Dane Phillips. Fort Wayne doubled its lead in the second when Chase Jensen grounded out to score Henry Charles, who had hit his first triple of the year.
The lead wasn’t safe for long. Starter Coby Cowgill, who lasted just two innings in his prior start, also against Lake County, faced eight batters in a three-run bottom of the second inning for the Captains. Cowgill departed in the third, having retired two batters in the inning, and was charged with a total of five earned runs. He walked three and struck out two.
Cowgill was replaced by Eric Yardley, who was effective in his relief stint of 2 1/3 innings. The righthander allowed only an unearned run, which passed in the fourth inning due to two TinCaps errors. Josh VanMeter, who had come into the game in the bottom of the fourth to replace Dustin Peterson, had a ball go through his legs, and Fernando Perez, on a separate play, threw over first baseman Jake Bauers, which permitted Grank Fink to score, making it 6-2, Captains. Fort Wayne committed five errors on the day.
The TinCaps’ response was a three-run home run from Henry Charles, his first homer of the season, which came on an 0-2 pitch with two outs in the top of the sixth, trimming the score to 6-5. Adolfo Reina delivered a game-tying RBI single in the eighth.
Captains reliever Matt Whitehouse earned the victory, throwing three innings and giving up one run.
The finale of the three-game set is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m. The starters will be Walker Weickel for Fort Wayne and Robbie Aviles for Lake County. The game can be heard on The Fan 1380 and TheFanFortWayne.com.
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