The TinCaps suffered their first four-game home series sweep since 2006, and the team now has its longest losing streak of the year after a 7-3 loss to South Bend on Friday at Parkview Field.
FORT WAYNE – Everyone was on their best behavior in Saturday’s game between Fort Wayne and Great Lakes.
No bean-ball battle. Just another tight baseball game.
Mike Gallic scored the go-ahead run on a three-base throwing error by catcher Pratt Maynard in the eighth inning as the TinCaps beat the Loons 5-4 in front of 7,801 fans at Parkview Field.
“He tried to pick over there, I saw it get down the right-field line and figured, get to second, maybe third,” Gallic said. “When I got to second, I saw (manager) Jose (Valentin) waving me home pretty hard.
“I was like all right, here we go. By the time I got home, I was pretty gassed.”
It’s the sixth time in 11 meetings between the teams this season that the game was decided by one run.
This one came down to an unusual error. Gallic led off the eighth by reaching first on an error. With one out, Maynard caught a pitch by Yimi Garcia and then made a snap throw to first to try to pick Gallic off. The throw went wide of Great Lakes first baseman Jesse Bosnik and rolled all the way to the right-field wall.
Gallic raced around the bases and scored to give the TinCaps (20-14, 51-53 overall) a 5-4 lead.
“I’ve really can’t say I’ve ever really heard of something happening like that,” Gallic said. “It was good to get a win.”
It was the first meeting between the teams since a testy 4-3 TinCaps’ victory on June 30 in Midland, Mich., in which there were three ejections. Fort Wayne reliever Luis De La Cruz was thrown out after hitting Angelo Songco with a pitch in the seventh inning.
Great Lakes (16-18, 50-54) relief pitcher Jose Dominguez was ejected after hitting Matt Colantonio with a pitch in the the eighth. Great Lakes manager John Shoemaker was also tossed as a result of the sequence.
De La Cruz was later suspended three games by the Midwest League for his role. He served the suspension July 14-16.
There was one hit batsman Saturday. Fort Wayne’s James Neely plunked O’Koyea Dickson in the fifth inning. But it did not affect the outcome.
