Two Fort Wayne pitchers combined to allow just five hits and the TinCaps scored in five of their eight offensive innings as they defeated the Dayton Dragons 12-2 on Wednesday afternoon. Fort Wayne has won the first three games of the series that concludes on Thursday night.
Fort Wayne led 3-0 in the first inning against Dayton starting pitcher Jacob Heatherly (0-1). Heatherly faced eight batters in the inning and issued a pair of bases loaded walks before being replaced by Eduardo Salazar with two outs and bases loaded. Salazar got the final out before allowing an unearned run in the second as Fort Wayne extended their lead to 4-0. They added two more in the fifth to make it 6-0.
The Dragons scored both of their runs in the top of the sixth. Claudio Finol reached on an infield single with one out and scored from first on a triple to left by Shard Munroe. Jay Schuyler’s two-out single scored Munroe to make it 6-2.
But Fort Wayne responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth and three more in the seventh to close out the scoring. The Dragons did not have a base runner over the final three innings.
Heatherly allowed three runs (one earned) in two-thirds of an inning as the Dayton starter. He gave up two hits and three walks while striking out one.
Salazar worked two innings, giving up one unearned run on one hit with three strikeouts. Eddy Demurias followed Salazar and tossed two and two-thirds innings, allowing three runs on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
Andy Cox was the fourth Dayton pitcher. He battled control issues, allowing five walks and five runs in two-thirds of an inning. Connor Bennett worked the final two innings for Dayton, retiring all six batters he faced with three strikeouts.
Finol was 2 for 3 with a run scored to lead the Dayton offense. Munroe’s RBI triple in the sixth was the only Dayton extra base hit. Dayton’s Juan Martinez went 1 for 3 and has at least one hit in all six games he has played in this season.