Hurt No-Hits Fort Wayne in Rain-Shortened Series Finale

MIDLAND, Mich. – Don’t believe the Rolling Stones – sometimes, you can always get what you want.

The Great Lakes Loons proved that on Sunday afternoon at Dow Diamond.

The Loons offense exploded for eight runs in the first three innings while starter Kyle Hurt no-hit the Fort Wayne TinCaps in five innings, plus the game ends in a breezy one hour, 48 minutes, ended early due to rain. The Loons defeat Fort Wayne in the series finale, 8-0.

The Loons (28-23) began the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. Diego Cartaya doubled with one out, advanced to third on a groundout, then scored on a wild pitch, putting the Loons ahead, 1-0.

Fort Wayne (20-31) couldn’t keep the floodgates closed come the second inning. Alex De Jesus led off the frame with a triple, followed by an RBI double off the bat of Jonny Deluca. Imanol Vargas singled, moving DeLuca to third, before Kekai Rios reached on an error. Rios was credited with an RBI, driving in DeLuca, as the official scorer ruled that the run would’ve scored anyway. After a strikeout and a wild pitch, there were two men in scoring position with one out for Eddys Leonard. He smacked a double to score both runs and put the Loons ahead, 5-0. After he faced nine batters in the inning, Noel Vela (L, 2-3) was pulled from the game. He earned the win on Tuesday after five scoreless innings, but takes the loss Sunday after 1 2-3 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits and two walks while striking out three.

Great Lakes, the High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, kept scoring even after Vela came out. Vargas re-started the scoring in the third inning with a one-out solo blast, his sixth home run of the season. Rios reached on a hit by pitch, then Leonard and Cartaya walked to load the bases. With two outs, Jorbit Vivas singled to center field, driving in two runs to pad the Loons’ advantage to the score that would be the final, 8-0.

The TinCaps, partners of the San Diego Padres, had no response against Hurt (W, 4-1). The right-hander from USC spun five innings of no-hit baseball, allowing a pair of walks – one other batter reached on a fielding error. Hurt, in his best appearance of the year and one of the best starts by a Loon this season, struck out six TinCaps.

After the Loons stranded the bases loaded in the fifth, the sixth inning did not begin. From the game’s first pitch, rain had lightly been falling off and on, but the Great Lakes grounds crew, led by head groundskeeper Jeff Ross, was able to manicure the diamond to keep a playable surface. In the bottom of the fifth, the rain picked up pace, and the tarp had to be put on the field.

The game officially went into a rain delay, but that delay didn’t last long. After scanning the weather radar and determining that rain would continue late into the afternoon at least, the umpires decided to finalize the game just five minutes after the delay began.

The Loons and TinCaps split the six-game series at three games apiece, with twelve more games between the two squads this season. The next series between these two is just three weeks after this one, beginning June 21 in Fort Wayne, Ind. Great Lakes now hits the road to Day Air Ballpark in Dayton, Ohio, to take on the Midwest League Eastern division-leading Dayton Dragons (35-15). First pitch of the series is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 7:05 p.m. Tune in all week long to ESPN 100.9-FM, beginning with the Loons On-Deck Circle, driven by Garber Chevrolet Midland, at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday.

The Great Lakes Loons have been a Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.