Fort Wayne TinCaps (6-9) at Great Lakes Loons (5-10)
RHP Austin Smith vs. RHP Jordan Sheffield
Saturday, April 22, 2017— Dow Diamond (Midland, Mich.) — First Pitch 2:05 p.m. — Game 16
LAST NIGHT: The TinCaps had their 3-game winning streak come to an end with a 6-4 loss to the Loons. After falling behind 2-0 in the first, Fort Wayne got a home run from Jorge Oña in the fourth and tied it in the fifth on a double-steal from first and third. A Hudson Potts RBI double in the sixth gave the TinCaps a 3-2 lead, but Great Lakes tied it in the home half. Fort Wayne went ahead again, 4-3, in the seventh on a Jack Suwinski homer, only to see the Loons score twice in the bottom half and add an insurance run in the eighth. Jerry Keel struck out a career-high 9 in 5 innings.
EARTH DAY: Since Opening in 2009, Parkview Field has recycled approximately 600,000 gallons of plastics, glass, and steel have been recycled. That’s nearly enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool (which take 660,430 gallons of water).
ALUMNI REPORT: 2015 TinCap Luis Urias (now with Double-A San Antonio) was Baseball America’s Player of the Day yesterday after his second straight 4-hit game. The 19-year-old middle infielder, who was the California League MVP a year ago, is now hitting .357 through 14 games… On Thursday, 2015 TinCap Dinelson Lamet struck out 13 batters in 5.1 innings for Triple-A El Paso. The 24-year-old righty has a 0.69 ERA through his first 13 innings of the season.
WHAT’S IN A NAME: Urias and the Missions are in the midst of series with the Midland RockHounds (A’s) in Midland, Texas — not to be confused with where we are in Midland, Mich. For that matter, Minor League Baseball has 2 Burlingtons: the Bees (Midwest) in Iowa, and the Royals (Appalachian) in North Carolina. There’s also the Charlotte Knights (International) in North Carolina and the Charlotte Stone Crabs (Florida State) in Florida. And then you have the Tri-City Dust Devils (Northwest) in Washington and the Tri-City ValleyCats (New York-Penn) in New York.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Speaking of MiLB cities, Kenosha, Wisc., was home to the Kenosha Twins from 1984-1992. After that, the Minnesota Twins Midwest League affiliate moved to Fort Wayne. This is now the 25th season for the Wizards/TinCaps franchise. Coincidentally, the Loons’ leadoff batter and shortstop, Dodgers No. 8 prospect Gavin Lux, is from Kenosha. He was born in 1997.
TROUBLING TREND: In innings 1-5 this season, the TinCaps have outscored opponents 34-25, but from the sixth inning on, Fort Wayne has been outscored, 38-19.
ON THE OTHER SIDE: The Loons have the following Top 30 Dodgers prospects (MLB.com)… RHP Jordan Sheffield (No. 7), SS Gavin Lux (No. 8), SS/3B Brendon Davis (No. 17), C Keibert Ruiz (No. 23), OF Mitchell Hansen (No. 27), and RHP Dustin May (No. 29).
