TinCaps’ bullpen preserves 3-2 victory
Credit: EVT Sports
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Hitting, an outstanding effort from the bullpen and a little help from the Bowling Green Hot Rods combined for a 3-2 TinCaps’ victory Saturday night.
The TinCaps trailed 2-1 going into the sixth inning when back-to-back triples by newcomer Ripken Reyes and catcher Blake Hunt evened the score.
After the second out of the inning, Chris Givin, also playing his first game for the Caps, walked and stole second. The Hot Rods pitchers walked the next two batters and gave the TinCaps a 3-2 lead.
From the sixth inning on, relief pitchers Dylan Coleman, Franklin Van Gurp, and Mason Fox combined to strikeout eleven of the final twelve Hot Rods’ batters. Fox was especially dominating, entering the game at the top of the eighth and fanning each of the six batters he faced. In his one inning of relief, Van Gurp struck out three of four batters, and Coleman, who worked two innings, gave up one walk and one hit but got strikeouts on the last two batters he faced to begin the streak of Ks that ended the game.
In his second start for the TinCaps, Adrian Martinez went four innings, giving up two runs on four hits, walking one and striking out four, including all three batters in the second inning. His fastball was strong, registering in the mid-nineties through the fourth inning.
With sixteen games left in the Midwest League season, the TinCaps are in seventh place in the Eastern Division. They are seven games behind the South Bend Cubs, who currently hold the wild card position.
The TinCaps continue the series with the division-leading Hot Rods on Sunday afternoon.
GAME NOTES
–Announced attendance was 7,784.
–The TinCaps’ first run came in the second inning, courtesy of Ethan Skender, who hit a 394 foot HR blast to left field.
–TinCaps’ pitching combined for fifteen strikeouts, and every batter in the Hot Rods’ lineup fanned at least once.
–In addition to his sixth-inning triple, Reyes singled in his first at-bat and went 2-for-4 in his debut.
–Reyes and Hunt were the only batters to have multiple-hit games; both went 2-for-4 with a single and a triple.
Ken A. Bugajski lives and works in Fort Wayne, Indiana. An English professor by trade, he spends many summer nights with his wife and daughter at Parkview Field, home of the TinCaps.