FORT WAYNE, Ind. (August 13, 2015) - Three Fort Wayne TinCaps pitchers combined for the team's second straight shutout of the Quad Cities River Bandits, who lost their season-high fourth straight game while being swept for the first time this season with a 3-0 defeat at Parkview Field Thursday night.
Following a 12-game winning streak that matched their season high, the River Bandits (29-17 second half, 74-40 overall) have lost four straight games for the first time since Aug. 12-15, 2014. Until Fort Wayne (29-17, 61-53) won its 10th straight home game Thursday - and sixth straight over Quad Cities dating back to 2014 - the River Bandits had not been swept in a series since Kane County swept three straight over the visiting River Bandits Aug. 12-14, 2014. The TinCaps pitched their final 23 innings of the series without allowing a run, dealing Quad Cities consecutive shutout losses for the first time since going scoreless in a doubleheader in Peoria April 20, 2011.
TinCaps right-hander Dinelson Lamet (4-6) allowed two walks and a single in the first inning, but catcher Jose Ruiz threw out center fielder Jason Martin on a steal attempt, and Lamet got second baseman Jose Fernandez to pop out with runners at first and third bases to end the inning. Martin and left fielder Bobby Boyd hit consecutive singles to begin the third inning, but Lamet struck out the next two batters, and Ruiz threw out Martin trying to steal third base to end the inning.
In a scoreless game with two outs in the bottom of the third inning, TinCaps center fielder Michael Gettys hit a drive over Martin in center field. The ball lodged at the bottom of the wall gave Gettys enough time to circle the bases ahead of the relay throw from Fernandez. The inside-the-park home run was the first run right-hander Agapito Barrios (1-1) allowed in the Midwest League and the first home run he allowed since Aug. 16, 2013, in the Gulf Coast League.
Quad Cities put a runner in scoring position in each of the first eight innings and six of the first seven. In the fourth inning, Fernandez and right fielder Ramon Laureano hit consecutive singles, but Lamet cut off a throw from Gettys and threw out Laureano at second base before retiring the next two batters. With two outs in the fifth inning, Boyd walked and went to third base on designated hitter Drew Ferguson's single, before Lamet struck out first baseman Bryan Muniz. Lamet scattered six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in five innings.
Barrios went six innings for a second straight start and allowed two earned runs on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts. He allowed the second TinCaps run in the fifth inning. With one out, Ruiz tripled off the right-field wall, and scored on a single high off the right-field wall by left fielder Edwin Moreno. Laureano, who crashed into the wall attempting to catch Ruiz's triple, played Moreno's hit off the right-field wall and threw to shortstop Kristian Trompiz at second base to retire Moreno.
TinCaps right-hander Nick Monroe began the sixth inning and worked around a sixth-inning walk before allowing a seventh-inning, two-out single to Boyd and walk to Ferguson. With the tying run at first base, left-hander Kyle McGrath struck out Muniz to end the seventh inning and went on to face the minimum over the final 2 1/3 innings for his second save. The TinCaps' final run came in the seventh inning off right-hander Riley Ferrell, as third baseman Luis Tejada hit a leadoff single to center field and scored when first baseman Trae Santos singled to right field, and Laureano's throw to third base skipped into the third-base dugout.
The River Bandits begin their final regular season interdivision series at 6 p.m. Central on Friday in Lake County. River Bandits right-hander Elieser Hernandez (2-1) is scheduled to face Captains left-hander Anderson Polanco (7-6) in the opener of a three-game series.
