Hot Rods Lose Series Opener In Walkoff Fashion, 4-3, in 11 Innings
BG Ties Season-High With Four Errors, Goes 0-for-6 With RISP
Fort Wayne, Ind. - Bowling Green rallied in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game and led going into the bottom of the 11th, but the TinCaps plated two runs and won the series opener in 11 innings, 4-3, in front of 6,216 fans at Parkview Field on Saturday night.
Bowling Green (31-35, 68-68) fell to 1-6 at Parkview Field this season and dropped its 16th road game in the last 20 contested. Fort Wayne (44-24, 76-60) improved to 18-2 in its last 20 home games and clinched the best overall record in the Eastern Division for the 2015 season.
Tied at 2-2 in the top of the 11th inning, Thomas Milone and Grant Kay led off with consecutive singles, and Coty Blanchard's sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position. With one out, Nick Ciuffo - playing in his first game since August 28 at Dayton - broke the tie on a sacrifice fly to right field to score Milone and give the Hot Rods a 3-2 lead.
However, in the bottom of the frame against Hot Rods' reliever Edwin Fierro (3-3), Luis Tejada singled to lead off the inning and moved to third base on a Michael Miller single into left field. Rey Bruguera's bloop RBI single into centerfield barely out of the reach of shortstop Cristian Toribio plated Tejada, tying the game at 3-3. Josh VanMeter then laid down a bunt in front of the plate, and Ciuffo opted to go for the play at third base to get Miller out, but the throw sailed down the left-field line, bringing home Miller and giving Fort Wayne the 4-3 walkoff victory.
Both teams were kept off the scoreboard until the top of the fourth inning, when the Hot Rods drew first blood on Cade Gotta's fielder's choice that scored Blanchard - who singled into right field to lead off the stanza - giving the Hot Rods a 1-0 lead. Gotta then stole second and third base, both with Carter Burgess at the plate, but while sliding into third, injured his left leg, forcing him to leave the game. Gotta stole three bases overall, a season-high for a Hot Rod and the most since Joey Rickard swiped three bags in September 2013.
That was the only blemish on the line of TinCaps' starter Chris Huffman, who logged a career-high tying 7.0 innings while scattering four hits with one walk and setting a new career-high with seven strikeouts.
Fort Wayne answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the frame against Bowling Green starter Hyrum Formo, when Franmil Reyes - who appeared to homer off the suites in centerfield - was awarded a double as the ball was ruled to have hit off the centerfield wall, leading to the eventual ejection of TinCaps' manager Francisco Morales. With one out, Michael Gettys hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Reyes, tying the game at 1-1.
Formo finished his final start of the year after 6.0 innings, allowing five hits and that one run, walking one and striking out a season-high tying six.
Damion Carroll tossed the first 2.0 relief innings for Bowling Green, and in the bottom of the eighth, the TinCaps took their first lead of the game, when a Trae Santos leadoff triple set the table for Gettys' second sacrifice fly, staking the TinCaps to a 2-1 advantage. Carroll finished his night allowing one run and one hit, walking two and striking out four.
Against TinCaps' reliever Yimmy Brasoban in the top of the ninth, Blanchard doubled into left field with one out, advancing to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a second wild pitch, knotting the game at 2-2.
Brian Miller worked 2.0 scoreless innings in the ninth and 10th, striking out a pair of TinCaps.
Bowling Green tied a season-high for errors with four, struck out a season-high tying 13 times and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Blanchard, though, led the way offensively for the Hot Rods, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Yonny Chirinos (3-5, 2.15) looks to help the Hot Rods even the three-game set on Sunday at a special 6:05 p.m. CDT start from Parkview Field, as Fort Wayne sends southpaw Jose Castillo (1-1, 4.09) - a former Tampa Bay prospect - to the firing line.
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