(Eastlake, OH) - Osvaldo Hernandez led the way and a pair of bullpen arms followed suit, as the Fort Wayne TinCaps (21-24, 53-61) combined to two-hit the Lake County Captains (18-27, 47-68) on Thursday night at Classic Park. Hernandez hurled six one-hit innings and the Captains fell to Fort Wayne,
(Eastlake, OH) - Osvaldo Hernandez led the way and a pair of bullpen arms followed suit, as the Fort Wayne TinCaps (21-24, 53-61) combined to two-hit the Lake County Captains (18-27, 47-68) on Thursday night at Classic Park. Hernandez hurled six one-hit innings and the Captains fell to Fort Wayne, 4-0.
Hernandez was perfect through the first two innings before hitting Jesse Berardi with a breaking ball with one out in the third inning. The left-hander rebounded by inducing an inning-ending double play ball and still faced the minimum through three no-hit innings.
Hernandez carried his no-hitter into the fourth. With one out in the fourth, however, Oscar Gonzalez broke up the no-hit bid. The Captains' number-two hitter laced a line drive single to right field. Hernandez still managed to face the minimum though. He got Richard Palacios to fly out to right and then picked off Gonzalez. The runner was eventually tagged out in the rundown by first baseman Jalen Washington on a play that went 1-3-6-3.
The Captains went down quietly after Gonzalez's single. Hernandez (10-4) retired seven batters in a row to wrap up six scoreless, one-hit innings. He struck out five, hit one batter and did not issue a walk, en route to the victory.
Right-hander Reiss Knehr picked up where Hernandez left off. The reliever tossed a pair of scoreless frames and tallied four strikeouts. He only yielded one hit, a single by Will Benson to right field with two outs in the eighth. Jose Quezada then finished off the combined shutout effort by pitching a one-two-three ninth.
Owen Miller provided the bulk of the offense for the TinCaps and he opened the scoring in the second. In just his second game with Fort Wayne, Miller put the TinCaps in front with a leadoff home run to left-center off of Captains starter Francisco Perez . Miller had also homered the day before in his debut.
Fort Wayne tacked on two more in the fifth. Perez issued a one-out walk to Washington and Juan Fernandez hit a dribbler in the grass toward third base that went for an infield hit. Two batters later, Jeisson Rosario cracked a two-out, two-run triple to the gap in left-center. Washington and Fernandez scored to give the TinCaps a 3-0 lead.
The TinCaps added one final run in the sixth. Miller hit a one-out single against Perez and Dakody Clemmer came in from the Captains bullpen to face the next hitter, Gabriel Arias. After a wild pitch moved Miller to second, Arias singled off of Clemmer and Miller scored to push the TinCaps' advantage to 4-0.
Perez (8-9) took the loss. The lefty struck out a season-high seven batters, but was charged with four runs in 5.1 innings. He gave up five hits and walked one.
Lake County has lost two in a row to Fort Wayne and will try to avoid a sweep in the three-game series. First pitch for the series finale is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Friday at Classic Park.
Information about Classic Park or the Captains can be found online at www.captainsbaseball.com and by phone at 440-954-WINS (9467). Affordable ticket packages and group party and picnic options are available now.
