TinCaps Win Tenth Straight at Home

 

FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The TinCaps swept the Quad Cities River Bandits for a second consecutive season with a 3-0 victory on Thursday night. Fort Wayne's win streak at Parkview Field has now hit 10 in a row, dating back to July 17th. 

Manager Francisco Morales' team has taken five straight series and are now the hottest team in the Midwest League - winning 13 of its last 15 games. 

Another sellout crowd - the 17th of the season - was on display at Parkview Field with 8,322 in attendance.

Fort Wayne (29-17, 61-53) pitchers shut out an opponent for the ninth time this season, but for the first time on back-to-back nights in 2015. The home team blanked Quad Cities (29-17, 74-40) 2-0 on Wednesday. Fort Wayne pitchers have now tossed 22 straight scoreless innings.

Starter Dinelson Lamet (W, 4-6) danced out of trouble in every inning on Thursday. The righty struck out seven over five frames, but more impressively, stranded at least one runner in scoring position in every inning. Lamet has yielded three earned runs or fewer in each of his last 14 starts. 

The scoring started in the third inning. Michael Gettys stepped to the plate to face River Bandits starter Agapito Barrios (L, 1-1), and Gettys quickly hammered a pitch to the center-field wall. Center fielder Jason Martin sprinted, leaped toward the green fence, but the ball caromed over his glove and off the wall. Gettys was already around second and heading for third while the ball ricocheted back toward the infield. The Padres prospect then turned for home while the ball was relayed to the plate, but the throw was tardy. Gettys' inside-the-park home run was Fort Wayne's first since Diego Goris accomplished the feat in South Bend on August 8, 2013. 

Fort Wayne stretched the lead to 2-0 in the fifth when Jose Ruiz began the inning with a triple. He touched home when Edwin Moreno tattooed a pitch off the right-field wall. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Fort Wayne added an insurance run. Luis Tejada led off the inning with a single. He advanced to third base when Trae Santos stroked a base hit into right field and came home to score after a throwing error from River Bandits right fielder Ramon Laureano.

The bullpen continued its torrid stretch. Four more scoreless innings lowered the bullpen's ERA to an astonishing 0.76 over the last 15 games (the TinCaps are 13-2 during that span). Nick Monroe and Kyle McGrath (S, 2) combined to strike out five over those four frames. 

Fort Wayne starts a three-game series with the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Friday at 7:05 p.m. The TinCaps send right-hander Ernesto Montas (9-6, 3.48) to the bump to face Kernels lefty Randy Rosario (1-3, 3.21).

You can watch the action on Comcast Network 81 starting at 7:00 p.m. or listen in on ESPN Radio 1380, TinCaps.com, and the TuneIn Radio app starting at 6:45 p.m.