TinCaps at Captains
When: April 6, 6:05 p.m..
Where: Classic Park
Records: TinCaps 0-1; Captains 1-0
Pitchers: TinCaps — Aaron Leasher
Radio: WINT-AM 1330, FM 101.5
Streaming: allsportscleveland.net; captainsbaseball.com
The Captains saved their best for last and pulled out a 3-2 victory over the Fort Wayne (Ind.) TinCaps on April 5 in a thoroughly chilled home opener.
Trailing, 2-0, going to the bottom of the ninth, the Captains cobbled together a rally that was equal parts unconventional and dramatic.
“It was nice to make something happen at the end,” Captains manager Luke Carlin said, pointing out his feet still felt like blocks of ice 10 minutes after pinch runner Todd Isaacs raced home from third base with the winning run on an infield single by Jorma Rodriguez.
Through eight innings, the Captains had managed but one hit against Fort Wayne starter (and former St. Ignatius standout) Nick Margevicius and reliever Ben Scheckler.
The Captains were being goose-egged by Margevicius until Austen Wade lined a single to center field with two outs in the sixth. They had struck out 13 times and made four errors.
On top of all that, they had put starter Eli Morgan in a position to potentially be the loser despite the right-hander going six strong innings. Mixing fastballs with sliders and a world-class change-up, Morgan had surrendered one unearned run on four hits.
Reliever Tommy DeJuneas followed Morgan to the mound and blanked the Tin Caps over two innings. But when Fort Wayne scratched out a run off the second Captains reliever, James Karinchak, in the ninth, the Tin Caps were looking good.
Then came the fateful bottom of the ninth.
The frame started with Nolan Jones coaxing a walk off reliever Joe Galindo, who bounced back by retiring Oscar Gonzales on a fly out to left field.
After that, the tin roof caved in on the TinCaps.
Will Benson walked to move Jones to second base. Michael Rivera walked to load the bases. Ulysses Cantu walked to drive home Jones and cut the deficit to 2-1.
“The chemistry is good on this team,” Cantu said, citing the fact many of these Captains played together last year at short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley.. “We compete all the time, all the way to the final out.”
Carlin, who managed Mahoning Valley last season, summoned Isaacs to pinch-run for Rivera at second base.
Galindo was pulled in favor of Jordan Guerrero by Fort Wayne manager Anthony Contreras. Guererro promptly uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Benson to race home from third base with the tying run.
“That was a prime example of this team now and the way we played last season. We fight to the finish.,” Benson said.
After sending Jose Medina to first base on an intentional walk to reload the bases, Guerrero gave up the infield single by Rodriguez to second base.
Isaacs scored, triggering a celebration around Rodriguez on the infield.
“We were laughing in the dugout and saying hitting is overrated,” Carlin said. “What an interesting game.”
A surprisingly large crowd of 5,641 turned out to watch the 16th home opener at Classic Park. Maybe one-third of those fans were still in the seats when the improbable rally ended with that celebration.