Captains Double Up TinCaps, 6-3
Eastlake, OH - In the finale of a three-game series, the Lake County Captains defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps, 6-3, Monday night at Classic Park. Joe Ross surrendered a career-worst thirteen hits and a season-worst-tying six earned runs, and was denied a win for his 11th straight outing.
Fort Wayne (3-8, 46-34) cracked the scoring column first, with three runs in the second inning. After going down quickly in the first inning against pitcher Travis Wood of the Cleveland Indians, working on a rehab assignment, the TinCaps batted around in the second against Lake County (7-5, 30-49) pitcher Luis DeJesus (3-8). Corey Adamson, Brian Adams and Tyler Stubblefield each knocked home runs, giving Ross (3-3) comfortable, early cushion.
The righthander, though, tested the limits of that advantage, giving up two runs in the bottom of the third. He surrendered four straight hits, the latter two of the run-scoring variety, with Joe Sever and Erik Gonzalez each driving in single runs. With two outs, catcher Richard Stock hit a single to right field, on which Sever tried to score, but he was thrown out at home plate by TinCaps right fielder Corey Adamson. That play kept it a 3-2 TinCaps lead heading to the fourth inning.
The lead quickly evaporated, as the Captains piled on four runs in fourth inning, sending eight men to the plate. Through the third and fourth innings, Lake County, entered the game with the lowest team batting average in the league, scattered 10 hits against the All-Star pitcher. His four innings ties for his shortest outing of the year. The 16 hits allowed by the entire pitching staff ties for the most hits surrendered by Fort Wayne this season.
The TinCaps bullpen trio of Joe Church (2IP), Jorge Guzman (1IP) and Trevor Gott (1IP), allowed three hits in three innings and fanned three batters, and did not issue a walk. After Fort Wayne's second-inning onslaught, the team gathered only four hits the rest of the night.
Fort Wayne's eight-game road trip continues Tuesday night as they take on the South Bend Silver Hawks at 7:35 PM. The scheduled starters are Walker Weickel for Fort Wayne and Daniel Watts for South Bend. The game can be heard on The Fan 1380 and TheFanFortWayne.com.