Caps Drop Series Opener With Whitecaps

COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. - The Fort Wayne TinCaps couldn’t stop a red-hot West Michigan ballclub on Wednesday night, dropping the opener of a three game series, 6-1. The TinCaps scored on a Tyler Stubblefield RBI single in the first, but did not score again.

Stubblefield plated Peterson, who led off the game with a single and stole second. In Peterson’s first action since Friday, the shortstop went 2-4 and recorded his 20 ^th stolen base of the year. The Fort Wayne (27-32) offense had early success against West Michigan (29-30) starter Kyle Ryan (2-2), collecting four hits within the first six batters of the game.

Ryan settled down, though, and allowed seven total hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking none.

The Whitecaps struggled in the first two innings as Fort Wayne’s Frank Garces (1-4) retired the side in order in both frames. In the third, though, three consecutive run-scoring hits by Brandon Loy, Eugenio Suarez and Steven Moya made it a 3-1 West Michigan lead. Garces was chased from the game in the fifth inning after allowing an RBI single to Dean Green, pushing the score to 4-1. The TinCaps lefty went 4 2/3, allowing eight hits, four earned runs, two walks and striking out six.

West Michigan tacked on a single run in the fifth inning and two more in the seventh to cement the 6-1 margin of victory.

Fort Wayne has now lost three in a row, while the Whitecaps have won four straight, and eight of the last nine.

Game two of the three game series is scheduled for 7:10 PM on Thursday night. The scheduled starters are Adys Portillo for Fort Wayne and Brennan Smith for West Michigan.