The Fort Wayne TinCaps defeated the Dayton Dragons, 4-0, on a chilly Thursday night at Parkview Field.
Game recap from the Fort Wayne TinCaps:
TinCaps ReCap: Fort Wayne 4, Dayton 0
By Ben ShulmanFort Wayne, Indiana (April 28, 2022) – The Fort Wayne TinCaps defeated the Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds affiliate), 4-0, on a chilly Thursday night at Parkview Field. ‘Caps pitching, led by San Diego Padres starter Blake Snell, who was rehabbing an injury, combined to shut out the Dragons on only four hits.
Snell, the winner of the 2018 American League Cy Young Award with the Rays, made history as the first Padres pitcher to rehab with Fort Wayne in the 23-year affiliation between the franchises. Snell, working his way back from a left adductor strain, impressed, pitching four scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
The former first round pick kept batters off balance with a mix of his mid-90s fastball that topped out at 97 miles per hour, along with a high-80s changeup, and breaking pitches. The southpaw set up Dayton’s Alex McGarry with multiple sinkers before blowing a fastball by him to end the first inning with a strikeout. Snell left the field to raucous applause at the end of the top of the fourth inning when his outing was complete. He held the Dragons to just a pair of singles and one hit batter, while overcoming a couple of infield errors committed behind him on a night with the temperature hovering around 50 degrees.
TinCaps left-hander Jackson Wolf had the tough task of following up the former MLB All-Star Snell and did it well. Wolf pitched five innings, fanning seven batters. The West Virginia alum’s appearance was the longest of his professional career. Wolf struck out Garrett Wolforth on a breaking ball to finish the ninth inning, and the game.
Robert Hassell III opened the scoring in the third inning. Hassell knocked in the first run for Fort Wayne with a line-drive single to left field that pushed in Ripken Reyes. Reyes led off the inning with a walk before he scored. Corey Rosier also had a single in the third that advanced Reyes into scoring position prior to the RBI from Hassell.
The TinCaps offense clicked the following inning with a pair of runs. Jarryd Dale rolled a leadoff single through the left side of the infield. Angel Solarte slapped a double down the right field line moments later, and the TinCaps had runners on second and third with no outs. An Olivier Basabe grounder to second became an RBI fielder’s choice and increased the lead to 2-0 when Dale dove around the tag of Dragons catcher Garrett Wolforth. Reyes singled an at-bat later to score Solarte and make it a 3-0 game at the end of four.
The TinCaps found another insurance run in the seventh inning. With Joshua Mears on third, Dale golfed a high fly ball that was deep enough to bring in Mears on a sacrifice fly.
Fort Wayne earned its second shutout of the season. The last time the ‘Caps blanked the opposing offense was April 16 versus South Bend at Parkview Field in a 6-0 win.
Next Game: Friday, April 29 vs. Dayton (7:05 p.m.)
- Fort Wayne Probable Starter: LHP Noel Vela
- Dayton Probable Starter: RHP Connor Phillips (No. 14 Reds prospect)
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