Mike Couzens has been named manager of broadcasting and media relations, the Fort Wayne TinCaps announced today.
FORT WAYNE – Jose De Paula was out of the game. Except he wasn’t.
The TinCaps planned to pull the left-handed pitcher after the fourth inning of Friday’s game with South Bend as they monitored his innings.
But reliever Stiven Osuna, added to the roster from the disabled list earlier in the day, was not listed in the substitution portion of the lineup card handed to the umpires before the game.
De Paula remained in the game for the fifth and pitched a perfect inning to earn the victory in a 7-4 Fort Wayne win in front of a sellout crowd of 7,748 fans at Parkview Field.
De Paula gave up two runs on three hits in the five innings. He struck out five and walked one to improve to 6-3.
“He had an outstanding outing,” TinCaps manager Jose Flores said. “He made one mistake and that was in the first inning when he hung a curveball (for a two-run double). After that, he settled down, threw strikes, worked ahead and had some quick innings.”
The TinCaps (19-14, 55-48 overall) took two of three from the Silver Hawks (12-20, 42-58) to cap a successful homestand. Fort Wayne won seven of the nine games.
“You come home and you want to be comfortable,” said Danny Payne, who was 3 for 4 with two doubles and three RBI. He scored three runs. “We came back here, we have a great fan base. We tend to play well at home. Anytime you can come back and get comfortable for a week and a half and take some series, that’s a good thing.
“The pitchers threw well all nine games we were here. We had some timely hits, and we played some great defense.”
Payne’s two-run double in the second inning gave the TinCaps a 3-2 lead. Fort Wayne led the rest of the way.
Payne knocked in right fielder Daniel Meeley twice. Meeley went 4 for 4 to improve his batting average to .306.
“Anytime you can get guys down toward the bottom of the lineup to turn it over to give guys a chance, guys like (Jason) Hagerty, (Nate) Freiman and (Jeudy) Valdez, who are all pushing toward 60 RBI; anytime you can get on base for those guys behind you, you’re going to be able to put up some runs,” Payne said.
Hagerty, Freiman and Valdez each had one RBI.
Fort Wayne’s pitchers took over from there.
Flores took responsibility for the confusion surrounding Osuna, saying he thought he made the transfer on the lineup card.
Nick Greenwood pitched the final four innings. He gave up one earned run on four hits and struck out one to pick up his first save.
“He attacked the zone and just threw strikes,” Flores said.
The TinCaps open a three-game series at Great Lakes at 7:05 p.m. today.
Note: Relief pitcher Nick Schumacher was promoted to San Diego’s advanced A team in Lake Elsinore, Calif.
