MWL1 Great Lakes Loons

De Leon Delivers Dominant Performance

Published on August 20, 2014 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Great Lakes Loons News Release


FORT WAYNE, IN - Tuesday night, Jose De Leon blew past a two-time Cy Young Award winner to set a Great Lakes Loons franchise record. In the process, he nearly broke a Midwest League record first established in 1966.

De Leon struck out 14 Fort Wayne batters - including nine in a row - and the Loons topped the TinCaps, 5-1.

Clayton Kershaw set the franchise mark with 12 in April 2007. It previously had twice been tied - by Victor Garate in July 2008 and Greg Wilborn in August 2010.

De Leon tied the mark striking out Josh Van Meter swinging for the final out of the fifth. He set the mark with his 13th K, getting Ronnie Richardson looking to begin the sixth. Jake Bauers went down swinging to end the sixth for De Leon's 14th on his 91st and final pitch of the game.

Beginning with a strikeout of Dustin Peterson to end the first, De Leon struck out nine straight TinCaps batters. He had a 1-2 count against Peterson his second time up, but a ground ball to third prevented a chance for De Leon to tie a Midwest League record.

The league mark for consecutive strikeouts in a game is 10, first accomplished in 1966 by Art Groza of Burlington and only accomplished one other time.

Twelve of De Leon's 14 strikeouts were swinging. Five required a throw to first from catcher Spencer Navin.

The Loons bullpen struck out three more for a total of 17 in the game.

With Dayton's 5-4 loss in South Bend, the Loons move into a tie with the Dragons for the final playoff spot, 2 1/2 games behind Lake County, one game in front of Bowling Green and two ahead of Fort Wayne and Lansing.

Joey Curletta homered, doubled and drove in three. He has homered on consecutive nights in Fort Wayne.

Brandon Trinkwon recorded three hits, including a triple. Paul Hoenecke notched two hits, including his league-best 36th double of the year and his seventh double in five games. Devan Ahart doubled twice. Leo Rodriguez and Alex Santana had two hits each.

The Loons final two runs were unearned following a pair of TinCaps errors.

The Loons play the third game of a nine-game road trip Wednesday at 7:05pm, the finale of a three-game series. Right-hander Brandon Martinez (1-7, 4.53 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Loons against righty Kyle Lloyd (5-4, 3.78). The game will be broadcast live on ESPN 100.9-FM .

The Great Lakes Loons are an eighth-year Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. For tickets and more information about the Loons, visit Loons.com, or call 989-837-BALL.

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Midwest League Stories from August 20, 2014


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