Mike Couzens has been named manager of broadcasting and media relations, the Fort Wayne TinCaps announced today.FORT WAYNE – The TinCaps celebrated setting a franchise regular-season attendance mark Friday.
A party tied to clinching a playoff berth had to wait at least one more day.
Great Lakes scored twice in the eighth inning and tacked on two more in the ninth to defeat Fort Wayne 6-3 at Parkview Field.
The TinCaps did see their magic number for earning a spot in the postseason fall to one as West Michigan topped Lansing 2-1. Fort Wayne had a chance to wrap up a trip to the playoffs for the second consecutive year but couldn’t hold a late lead.
“It was a tough loss,” TinCaps manager Jose Flores said. “When you go into a situation when you’re ahead going into the eighth inning, it’s a time we need to bear down and get the outs we need. We battled and clawed, we just came up short in the bullpen.”
The TinCaps (37-23 second half, 73-57 overall) dropped two of three in the series to the Loons, the likely foe in the first-round of the playoffs. Fort Wayne committed 11 errors in the series, including four Friday.
“We struggled defensively,” TinCaps first baseman Nate Freiman said.
“We need to make the plays to beat this team. We can hit with them, we can pitch with them, but we need to make sure we can make the plays.”
Friday’s crowd of 7,936 pushed the season attendance to 384,866.
That topped the old franchise mark of 378,529 set in the first season at Parkview Field last year.
“They’ve been great,” Flores said of the fans. “I wasn’t here last year, but to come out and break the record this year is outstanding. That shows a lot of support for us.”
The TinCaps gave the crowd a lot to cheer about early. Edinson Rincon launched a two-run home run over the 400-foot sign in center field in the second inning.
Starting pitcher Jerry Sullivan made one mistake, giving up a two-run home run to Angelo Songco in the fifth inning. The Loons’ first hit tied the game at 2. Sullivan went six innings, giving up the two runs on two hits. He struck out four.
The TinCaps regained the lead on a sacrifice fly by Everett Williams in the seventh.
The Loons (41-19, 84-45) came back with two in the eighth. Nick Buss tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center. Blake Smith followed with a two-out single, scoring Rafael Ynoa.
Fort Wayne made two errors on one play in the ninth. Instead of forcing J.T. Wise at second, Jeudy Valdez threw the ball wildly into the outfield. Wise scored and Jaime Ortiz raced to third when Williams misplayed the ball in left. Ortiz scored on a single.
“We learned we can’t give them extra outs,” Flores said. “That will kill anybody. If we want to stay in ballgames, we have to control the defensive side of the game.”
