Fort Wayne – Jeudy Valdez began Fort Wayne's eighth inning by crushing a double to straight-away center field.

It was just the TinCaps' fourth hit of Sunday's game against West Michigan, and only the second hit since the first inning.

Valdez then stood at base as Jason Hagerty popped out to second, Nate Freiman struck out looking and Edinson Rincon bounced back to the pitcher. Fort Wayne wouldn't get another hit in the game.

It was another tough night for the middle of the TinCaps order as Fort Wayne lost to the Whitecaps 5-4 in front of 7,622 fans at Parkview Field.

The TinCaps No. 3-6 hitters – Hagerty, Freiman, Rincon and Jedd Gyorko – went a combined 1 for 15 Sunday. Fort Wayne (40-29, 76-63 overall) lost for the ninth time in its last 13 games as it continues to stagger into the postseason.

"We only got four hits, but it was misleading. We had a whole bunch of line outs where guys hit the ball hard," Freiman said. "Some nights, we'll have four, and some nights, the way we hit the ball, we'd have 10 hits.

"We lost by one run, but we had a couple of line outs with guys in scoring position. A couple of breaks here or there and maybe it's 6-5 instead of 5-4. (West Michigan starting pitcher Jared Wesson) did a good job."

The TinCaps went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

"The last couple of days it has been that way," Fort Wayne manager Jose Flores said. "We'll get runners in scoring position and we've been struggling with that. We just missed on opportunities."

West Michigan finished with 13 hits. The Whitecaps (36-33, 62-76) earned a berth as the fourth Eastern Division playoff team before the game when Lansing lost to Lake County.

Most of the Whitecaps' damage came against Fort Wayne's bullpen.

Starting pitcher Jerry Sullivan gave up two runs on six hits in five innings.

He left with the TinCaps leading 4-2. Fort Wayne grabbed a lead when right fielder Alexis Espinoza over ran a pop fly hit by Jeudy Valdez with two outs in the fifth. The ball landed for an error, and two runs scored.

West Michigan scored one run each in the next three innings.

The Whitecaps tied the game when reliever Josh Spence walked Hernan Perez with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh.

West Michigan took the lead one inning later when Tony Plagman knocked in Michael Rockett with a sacrifice fly to right field.

"They found some holes," Flores said. "We didn't make a pitch when we needed to in those situations."

The TinCaps close out the regular season today against West Michigan. The game begins at 3:05 p.m.

The TinCaps will go over the 400,000 mark for a regular-season attendance for the first time in franchise history. Fort Wayne's season attendance is at 399,811.

lpope@jg.net