Fort Wayne TinCaps (2-2) vs. South Bend Cubs (1-3)
RHP Hansel Rodriguez vs. RHP Erling Moreno
Monday, April 10, 2017— Parkview Field — First Pitch 7:05 p.m. — Game 5
YESTERDAY AFTERNOON: The TinCaps earned their first home win of the season, 3-2, over the Bowling Green Hot Rods. Fort Wayne took a 1-0 lead in the first with a home run from Fernando Tatis Jr. The TinCaps extended their lead to 2-0 with a Hudson Potts RBI single in the third. After Bowling Green tied the game, 2-2, in the top of the seventh, Fort Wayne retook the lead for good in the home seventh on a 2-out RBI single by Rey Ilarraza. On the mound for the TinCaps, Jerry Keel struck out 8 (with 0 walks) in 6 1/3 innings, allowing only 1 earned run. Ben Sheckler followed in relief, striking out 7 and not allowing a hit.
RECORD-SETTING PACE: With a sellout crowd (7,561) on Saturday and 5,437 in attendance Sunday, the TinCaps have drawn a franchise record number of fans through 2 games: 12,998. (The previous high was 12,315 in 2009.) The TinCaps set a franchise record for season attendance in 2016, drawing 413,701 fans, or 6,084 per game.
INTO “THE SUMMIT”: On Sunday, Fernando Tatis Jr. became the first player to ever hit a home run in a game into “The Summit” presented by Tuthill in center field at Parkview Field. The ball traveled an estimated 437 feet. (Henry Charles homered to the roof of the Tutill 400 Club in 2014; “The Summit” opened in 2016, while the 400 Club debuted in 2013.)
K ALL DAY: TinCaps pitchers have recorded 52 strikeouts through the first 4 games of the season — 2nd in the Midwest League to only Bowling Green (53). Individually, Ben Sheckler is leading the circuit with 12 Ks across just 5 innings of relief. Opening Day starter Jesse Scholtens is 2nd in the MWL with 11 punch-outs.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: At 17, INF Eguy (Eggy) Rosario is not only the youngest TinCap and not only the youngest in the Midwest League, but the youngest player in all of Minor League Baseball right now (according to Baseball America). INF Reinaldo Ilarraza is the 4th youngest in the MWL, while INF Fernando Tatis Jr. checks in at 5th, INF Hudson Potts 7th, and OF Jack Suwinski 10th. They’re all 18. (In 2016, there were only 4 18-year-olds in the entire Midwest League on Opening Day.)
EXPERIENCED PITCHING: For as young as the TinCaps are on the position-player side, especially in the infield, Fort Wayne’s 13-man pitching staff includes 9 guys who spent at least part of last season with the team. Lefty Logan Allen, 19, is the lone teenager on the staff.
THE OTHER GUYS: South Bend boasts the following Cubs Top 30 Prospects… RHP Dylan Cease (No. 3), SS Isaac Paredes (No. 18), and OF D.J. Wilson (No. 9).
