TinCaps walk-off against Captains

(Fort Wayne, IN) – The Lake County Captains (17-16) tied the game in the top of the tenth inning but fell 5-4 in extra innings to the Fort Wayne TinCaps (14-18) on Thursday from Parkview Field.

The Captains took advantage of TinCaps miscues to open the scoring in the top of the third. With two outs Brayan Rocchio bounced a ball softly to second base. Justin Lopez charged on the ball and bobbled it allowing Rocchio to reach on what was ruled an infield single. Rocchio got stuck in a run down between first and second after getting picked off of first base, but the ball was tossed into left field by first baseman Yorman Rodriguez allowing Rocchio to get to second. José Tena followed with a sharp single to drive Rocchio home and give the Captains a 1-0 lead.

The sloppy third inning continued in the home half. Kelvin Melean hit a ground ball down the third base line to lead off the inning. Rocchio fielded on his backhand but air mailed the throw to first as it sailed over the head of Aaron Bracho. After two strikeouts, Reinaldo Ilarraza singled to put runners on first and second, then Ethan Skender delivered a single to center field to drive home Melean for an unearned run to tie the game 1-1.

Will Brennan helped the Captains take the lead again in the sixth. The Captains’ leadoff man began the frame with a triple to right-centerfield. Rocchio brought him home with a sacrifice fly to left field to give Lake County a 2-1 advantage.

In the seventh inning the Captains welcomed reliever Sam Williams to the game with back to back doubles from Bryan Lavastida and Aaron Bracho. Lavastida scored from second on Bracho’s two-bagger to extend the Captains lead to 3-1.

Fort Wayne got a lead off double from Melean to start the seventh. Captains starter Logan Allen walked Grant Little and hit Adam Kerner to load the bases. Allen got a strike out of Ilarraza to end his night after 6.1 innings, leaving with the bases loaded. Alec Wisely came out of the bullpen for the Captains and induced a sacrifice fly from Skender to bring Melean home. A wild pitch allowed Little to come home who avoided a tag from Wisely by dragging his foot across home plate without leaving his feet to tie the game 3-3. Kerner moved to second base on the wild pitch. He came around to score on the next pitch on a double from Dwanye Williams-Sutton to give the TinCaps a 4-3 lead.

Allen worked a career high 6.1 innings on the mound. He allowed four runs, three were earned. Allen struck out eight with four walks and five hits allowed.

In the top of the ninth inning Austen Wade led off with a walk for the Captains. After two-outs Ray Delgado lifted a towering pop up to left field. Both the left fielder Little and the center fielder Ilarraza converged and nearly collided. The ball fell out of the glove of Little on what would have been the game’s final out. Wade scored all the way from first on the error to tie the game 4-4 and send it to the bottom of the ninth.

In extra innings the Captains failed to score in the top of the tenth. Skender started on second base as the free runner. Lake County elected to intentionally walk Williams-Sutton to put runners on first and second. Captains reliever

Kevin Coulter got a fly-out to left field for the first out. Luis Almanzar popped out to first base for the second out. That brought Justin Lopez to the plate who lifted a soft fly down the left field line. The ball landed fair just beyond the reach of Rocchio and Daniel Schneemann and bounced out of play allowing Skender to score from second and win the game for the TinCaps.

Carter Loewen (1-1) earned the win in relief for Fort Wayne. He worked two innings, allowing one unearned run with one walk and two strikeouts.

Coulter (2-2) received the loss in relief for Lake County. He allowed one unearned run in 2.2 innings, surrendering two hits and one walk with four strikeouts.

Tanner Burns makes the start for the Captains in the fourth game of the six-game series at Fort Wayne. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. from Parkview Field.

About the Captains

The Lake County Captains are the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. For more information, visit the Captains’ website at www.CaptainsBaseball.com, Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/CaptainsBaseball, Twitter @LCCaptains and Instagram @LCCaptains. Fans can also get the latest Captains news and offers by signing up for the Captains’ newsletter, The Anchor.