Mighty Wombats fall to TinCaps, 3-1

LANSING, Mich. - On Pablo Sanchez's 21st birthday, Luis Patiño fired 5 2/3 scoreless innings to lead the Fort Wayne TinCaps (27-26, 59-63) past the Lansing Mighty Wombats (30-25, 73-52), 3-1, before a Saturday night crowd of 8,968 on Backyard Baseball Night powered by MI Student Aid at Cooley Law School Stadium.

It was Lansing's third largest crowd of the season, behind only the 4th of July (11,302) and the All-Star Game (9,396).

The TinCaps struck early, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a Matt Gunter (Loss, 4-6) wild pitch, and then making it 3-0 in the third on a Kelvin Melean two-run single.

The visitors were blanked from there, with Gunter finishing up four innings before yielding to Andrew Deramo for a scoreless fifth, sixth and seventh, striking out four; Brayden Bouchey for a scoreless eighth, escaping a bases-loaded threat; and Dalton Rodriguez for a perfect ninth.

But Patiño (Win, 6-3) made the early cushion stand up, striking out five and limiting the Mighty Wombats to three walks, a Norberto Obeso first-inning single and a Samad Taylor sixth-inning bunt single.

Andres Sotillo put the Wombats on the board in the eighth with an RBI single off Fred Schlichtholz (Save, 2), but the southpaw retired the final four Wom-batters to end the game.

Ryan Noda drew two walks in defeat, increasing his MiLB-leading total to 97.

The Lansing Lugnuts return to action on a Delta Dental Kids Day on Sunday at 1:05 p.m., featuring pregame Play Catch on the Field, postgame Kids Run the Bases and a postgame Joe Guerra and Band concert presented by Smile FM. Nuts left-hander Jordan Barrett (4.00 ERA) duels with TinCaps right-hander Mason Thompson (4.71). To purchase tickets and live the Lug Life at Cooley Law School Stadium, visit lansinglugnuts.com or call (517) 485-4500.
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