News release from the TinCaps:
TinCaps come back, win in 14 innings
EASTLAKE, Ohio (May 21, 2015) – The TinCaps came from behind and then outlasted the Lake County Captains in a 14-inning, 9-5 win at Classic Park on Thursday afternoon. The victory gives Fort Wayne a split of its four-game road series.
Center fielder Edwin Moreno drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 14th with a two-out single against left-hander David Speer (L, 1-1). Moreno scored right fielder Franmil Reyes, who reached on an error to start the inning. Shortstop Ruddy Giron then followed with a three-run home run over the left-field fence to give the TinCaps insurance.
The glory for Moreno and Giron wouldn’t have been possible without the clutchness of Duanel Jones. Fort Wayne trailed 5-3 in the top of the ninth inning when Jones hit a one-out, game-tying pinch-hit home run to left. The long ball also scored catcher Miguel Del Castillo who bunted for one of his three hits on the day.
With seven home runs on the season, Jones, a 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic, is tied for the lead in the Midwest League. His 31 RBIs top all hitters in the circuit.
TinCaps pitchers didn’t allow a run over the final five frames Thursday. Left-hander Brandon Fry (W, 1-0), making his debut in a Fort Wayne uniform, wound up with the win after pitching a scoreless 12th and 13th. Before Fry, righty Colby Blueberg kept Lake County (22-19) off the board from the ninth through the 11th. Yimmi Brasoban finished it off in the 14th.
Fort Wayne (13-25) wasn’t just playing from behind in the ninth. The Captains took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. When the TinCaps tied it on a solo homer by Chase Jensen, Lake County pushed ahead again in the home fifth with a pair of runs to go up, 3-1.
In both the sixth and eight innings, respectively, Fort Wayne scored to pull within a run only for the home team to respond with a run of its own.
Giron scored the TinCaps’ sixth-inning run following a double. In the four-game series — the 18-year-old’s first four games in the league — he went 11-for-20 with two homers, a double, a triple, six runs, four RBIs, a walk, and a stolen base.
Thursday marked the first time in 2015 that Fort Wayne won a game in which it trailed at the end of eight innings. The 4 hour, 9 minute-game was the longest of the season for the TinCaps by both time and innings. Jones’ pinch-hit homer was the club’s first since Aug. 30, 2013 when Hunter Renfroe did it at West Michigan.
Fort Wayne is 3-4 so far on its 11-game road trip that continues Friday at 7:05 p.m. at Lansing. The TinCaps are set to start right-hander Ernesto Montas (2-3, 4.38) against righty Jesus Tinoco (0-2, 4.61). The game can be heard on ESPN Radio 1380, Box Score, and the TuneIn Radio app.
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