Whitecaps Win in Extras, 6-5
FORT WAYNE, IN — The West Michigan Whitecaps enjoyed their first inside-the-park home run in more than two years, flirted with a no-hitter, and, after multiple attempts to protect late leads, defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps in 11 innings in front of 5,605 fans at Parkview Field by a score
FORT WAYNE, IN — The West Michigan Whitecaps enjoyed their first inside-the-park home run in more than two years, flirted with a no-hitter, and, after multiple attempts to protect late leads, defeated the Fort Wayne TinCaps in 11 innings in front of 5,605 fans at Parkview Field by a score of 6-5 on Wednesday night.
Outfielder Seth Stephenson launched a ball off the left-field wall, and the Midwest League stolen base leader used his speed to circle the bases, giving West Michigan its first inside-the-parker since Detroit Tigers utility player Wenceel Perez accomplished the feat on April 24, 2022, at Dayton. On the mound, Whitecaps pitchers combined to set a new season-high with 17 strikeouts in the teams’ fourth straight victory.
After Stephenson’s homer in the third, Max Anderson tripled and scored on a Kevin McGonigle sacrifice fly, extending the lead to 2-0. On the mound, ‘Caps hurler Joe Adametz tossed his best game since being promoted to High-A, tossing five scoreless frames without allowing a hit and striking out four before giving way to a bullpen that carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. After Anthony Vilar’s bloop single broke up the no-hit bid to open the frame, Devin Ortiz’s opposite-field single gave Fort Wayne its first run. An inning later, Nerwillian Cedeno tied the game with a run-scoring single to even the game at two. The score remained tied until the tenth when Josh Crouch and Max Anderson plated runs with base hits to give West Michigan a 4-2 lead, but the TinCaps knotted the contest in the bottom of the frame. In the eleventh, a throwing error by Ortiz allowed two runs to score, giving the ‘Caps the difference-making runs in the contest and helping them close July with four consecutive victories.
The Whitecaps improve to 17-14 in the second half and 48-49 on the year, while the TinCaps fall to 11-21 in the second half and 39-59 overall. Yosber Sanchez (2-2) allowed two runs in two innings in notching his second win of the year, while TinCaps reliever and former San Diego Padres pitcher Daniel Camarena (0-1) gave up two unearned runs in the eleventh in taking his first loss. Anderson and Stephenson each had two hits to lead the offense, while Max Clark picked up a single in the tenth to extend his hitting streak to seven games, covering the duration of his time with West Michigan.
UP NEXT
The Whitecaps play the third game of this six-game series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Thursday at 7:05 pm. Pitchers Colin Fields and Top-10 San Diego Padres Prospect Braden Nett get the starts for West Michigan and Fort Wayne. Tune into the broadcast coverage with Dan Hasty on the Whitecaps Baseball Network at 6:50 pm on 106.1 FM ‘The Ticket’ and 1340 WJRW-AM in Grand Rapids to catch all the action. Don’t miss out on the excitement; get your tickets for all 2024 home contests, or listen to the games live at whitecapsbaseball.com.