News release from the TinCaps:
TinCaps Drop Road Trip Finale
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (July 21, 2014) – A day after shutting out the Kernels, it was the TinCaps’ bats which went silent on Monday afternoon in an 8-1 loss to Cedar Rapids. Fort Wayne ended its six-game road trip to Iowa with a 4-2 record.
Kernels catcher Mitch Garver hit three home runs in the game, while the TinCaps as a team had three hits. The first of Garver’s homers came in the bottom of the first inning against Max Fried (0-1) with a runner on first base to give the home side a 2-0 lead.
Fried, on the mound for Fort Wayne (11-1, 41-57) for the second time this season, threw 34 pitches in the first. On a hot and humid day with the temperature in the upper 80s and humidity feeling like the 90s, the 20-year-old left-hander retired the side in order in the second on 15 pitches, but came out after that.
With Ronald Herrera working out of the bullpen for the first time this year, Garver hit his second two-run homer of the day in the third to increase the Cedar Rapids (15-15, 46-54) lead to 4-0. The Kernels added a fifth run in the fourth when J.D. Williams scored on a balk by Herrera. The Minnesota Twins affiliate turned the game into a route with a three-run eighth, which included Garver’s third homer of the day — a solo shot. All three were pulled to left field.
The TinCaps scored their lone run in the top of the sixth without a hit. Trea Turner walked to extend his on-base streak in a Fort Wayne uniform to eight. He scored a Fernando Perez hard-grounder into right field that Cedar Rapids second baseman Logan Wade to get under his glove for an error. With blazing speed, Turner scored from first as the ball rolled into right-center field.
Chih-Wei Hu (1-0) earned the win with six innings of work and no earned runs allowed. He allowed only two hits and a walk, while striking out six. The TinCaps struck out 12 times in the game.
Fort Wayne returns home to Parkview Field to host the Beloit Snappers on Wednesday night at 7:05 following a day off Tuesday. Yimmi Brasoban is slated to start for the TinCaps against Junior Moreno. The game can be seen on XFINITY Channel 81 and heard on ESPN Radio 1380, TinCaps.com, and the TuneIn Radio app.