TinCaps Drop Third Straight in South Bend

South Bend, IN - The Perry surname counts many successful people among its ranks such as Matthew, Rick, and Tyler, and South Bend Silver Hawks pitcher Blake Perry added his name to the list Saturday night. The righthander from Danville, Kentucky, worked 5 1/3 innings and allowed two runs in the Silver Hawks' 4-2 win over the TinCaps at Four Winds Field.  

Although a bit out of tune, unlike The Band Perry, as he gave up a first-inning home run to Fernando Perez, Perry (2-2) settled in over the next four innings striking out four and surrendering only three more hits. The second run he was charged with did not come when he was on the mound, as reliever Steve Hathaway allowed inherited runner Fernando Perez to come in to score.

In the losing effort, Perez came within a triple of the cycle, picking up the home run, his team-leading fifth longball, a single, and a double in his first three at-bats. Perez now leads the team with a .344 average and 29 runs batted in. Catcher Ryan Miller also contributed an RBI single.

Fort Wayne (17-24) starter Erik Cabrera (0-3) was unable to harness the energy of Katy Perry and "Last Friday Night", when the TinCaps played an errorless game at Dayton. The Dominican-born righthander threw two wild pitches and committed three errors in five innings, leading to two of the four runs he allowed being unearned. Cabrera walked two and struck out five in his second start of the season.

South Bend (24-17) scored its first run in the bottom of the first when Andrew Velazquez, who singled and went to third on an error by third baseman Dustin Peterson, scored on a Cabrera wild pitch. Ryan Gebhart scored in the second on another Cabrera wild pitch, and Steve McQuail hit a home run over the batter's eye in center field in the third. The fourth and final Silver Hawks' run was tallied when Velazquez singled and later scored on a throwing error by Cabrera.

The TinCaps will try to channel Stephen Perry, the inventor of the rubber band, and bounce back Sunday to avoid being swept on the road in a four-game series for the first time since 2010. The finale of the four-game series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. The scheduled starters are Payton Baskette for the TinCaps and Sean Furney for the Silver Hawks. The game can be heard "Any Way You Want It", as sung by Journey frontman Steve Perry, on The Fan 1380, TheFanFortWayne.com, and the TuneIn Radio App.