TinCaps Bullpen Falters Late in 11-8 Loss

Midland, MI - Through six-and-a-half innings Tuesday night, all was well in the visitors' dugout at Dow Diamond, as the TinCaps held an 8-3 lead. However, the Fort Wayne bullpen surrendered seven runs in the seventh and one in the eighth, and the Great Lakes Loons defeated the TinCaps, 11-8, in the second game of a four-game series.

Fort Wayne (7-10) starter Adrian De Horta, making his first start after a week-long stint on the disabled list, allowed the game's first run in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Brandon Trinkwon. The TinCaps offense awakened one-half inning later as leadoff hitter Ronnie Richardson walked, moved to second on a Josh VanMeter base hit, took third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch.

Great Lakes (12-6) came right back with two third-inning runs to take a short-lived 3-1 lead into the fourth. The TinCaps attacked Loons starter Zachary Bird and sent eight men to the plate in the fourth, scoring on one of Bird's four wild pitches, a Franchy Cordero triple and a Henry Charles single. That three-run inning gave Fort Wayne a 4-3 advantage, which the team bolstered in the sixth and seventh with two more runs in each inning.

An 8-3 lead evaporated quickly in the hands of the TinCaps bullpen as the bottom of the seventh rolled around. After three scoreless innings from Kyle Lloyd, Genison Reyes came in and retired only one batter and allowed one run to score before being replaced by Erik Cabrera (0-1). The 23-year-old Cabrera allowed all three of his inherited runners to score, and three additional runs scored on his tab, courtesy of a bases-clearing triple hit by Jesmuel Valentin, the son of former TinCaps Manager Jose Valentin

By the time the eleven-batter inning had come to a close, the Loons had picked up seven runs on six hits and led, 10-8. Great Lakes scored an unearned run against Nick Mutz in the eighth.

In the loss, TinCaps third baseman Dustin Peterson hit his first home run of the season-a powerful blast that cleared the wall in center field. Additionally, Fernando Perez's 11-game hitting streak came to an end, as he went 0-for-5. Great Lakes went a perfect 8-for-8 in stolen bases, setting a new single-game franchise record for stolen bases.

Game three of the four-game set is scheduled for Wednesday evening at 6:05 p.m. The scheduled starters are Yimmi Brasoban for the TinCaps and James Campbell for the Loons. Radio coverage of the game begins at 5:45 on The Fan 1380 and TheFanFortWayne.com.