Double-Digit Hits for Third Straight Night Leads Loons to Victory

Loons win five-of-six games for third consecutive week

By Noah Wolf

June 26, 2022

From Friday, June 3 to Tuesday, June 7, the Great Lakes Loons went 1-3. Since then, they’ve won 15 of their last 17 games. Nobody in affiliated baseball is as hot as the Great Lakes Loons, and that continued Sunday afternoon at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne, Ind., as Great

From Friday, June 3 to Tuesday, June 7, the Great Lakes Loons went 1-3.

Since then, they’ve won 15 of their last 17 games.

Nobody in affiliated baseball is as hot as the Great Lakes Loons, and that continued Sunday afternoon at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne, Ind., as Great Lakes defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps, 11-3. The Loons take five of six games in the series in Fort Wayne, winning five games in a week for the third week in a row.

Great Lakes (43-26, 3-0 second half) opened the scoring in the third inning. Jonny Deluca tripled to lead off the frame, then scored on a groundout from Kekai Rios to put the Loons in front, 1-0.

The Loons, High-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, scored three more in the next frame. After Eddys Leonard singled, three straight RBI doubles followed, from Jose Ramos, Imanol Vargas and DeLuca. Great Lakes had a 4-0 lead at that point. All that damage was done against Dwayne Matos (L, 0-2), the right-handed starter. He went five innings and allowed seven hits, with all four runs earned. He struck out two while walking none.

Meanwhile, the Loons had excellent pitching from their first two arms. It started with three excellent innings from Carlos Duran, who allowed just one baserunner on a single. No runs scored against Duran, and he struck out two.

He was followed by right-hander Emmet Sheehan (W, 3-2), who earned his second win of the week. Sheehan tossed four innings and allowed three hits and a walk while punching out seven. The lone runner that scored against him reached on an error in the seventh inning, so it was unearned.

Fort Wayne (27-42, 0-3) made it a 4-1 contest with that unearned run in the seventh, but the Loons responded in the eighth. After a Diego Cartaya single and a double from Alex De Jesus, Leonard doubled to score Cartaya. De Jesus was thrown out at the plate on the play, but the Loons weren’t done. With Leonard on second, Ramos blasted his third home run of the week, his ninth as a Loon and his 15th of the 2022 campaign to put the Loons in front, 7-1.

The TinCaps, High-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, scored a run in each of the eighth and ninth innings. A bases-loaded fielder’s choice scored a run on one hit in the eighth, and an RBI groundout scored one on no hits in the ninth.

Great Lakes padded their advantage with four runs in the ninth inning, highlighted by a two-run Jorbit Vivas single, his third hit of the day. That frame gave the Loons an 11-2 lead, and they would win, 11-3.

For the third consecutive game, the Great Lakes offense registered double-digit hits, with eight of the nine starters recording at least a base knock. De Jesus, Leonard, Ramos, Vargas and DeLuca all had two-hit games, and Vivas went 3-for-5.

Since June 9, the Loons have won 15 games, the most in Minor League Baseball. The next-closest team, the Palm Beach Cardinals, has 12 wins in that span. In the Midwest League, no other squad has won more than 10 games in that time.

The Loons take five of six games from the TinCaps, and hold an 8-4 lead in the season series, which will resume in late August when Fort Wayne returns to Dow Diamond. Great Lakes returns home for a six-game series against the Dayton Dragons, which begins Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at Dow Diamond in Midland, Mich. Catch the action all week long on ESPN 100.9-FM, beginning Tuesday at 6:50 p.m. with the Loons On-Deck Circle, driven by Garber Chevrolet Midland. Tuesday’s game is another Hometown Heroes night – veterans, active duty military, first responders and healthcare workers receive a free hot dog meal at the game. For tickets and the full schedule of promotions for the week, including two Fireworks Loontaculars, visit Loons.com.

The Great Lakes Loons have been a Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team’s inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team’s home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.