MWL Great Lakes Loons

Loons End Fort Wayne Series with a Bang

Published on July 4, 2021 under Midwest League (MWL)
Great Lakes Loons News Release


FORT WAYNE, IN - On Independence Day 2021, the Great Lakes Loons (30-24) won their fifth-straight game against the Fort Wayne TinCaps (23-30), 7-5, in front of an announced Sunday Parkview Field attendance of 7,686. After homering in Saturday's game, James Outman homered again for the first runs in Sunday's game. Outman finished Sunday with three runs batted in, scoring five runs total in the last two nights. Bobby Miller (1-1) earned his first pro ball win, lasting a season-high 4 2/3 innings and striking out five batters. Fort Wayne's Felix Minjarez (L, 3-3) allowed two earned runs on two hits and two walks. Minjarez relieved TinCaps starter Gabe Mosser's 4 2/3 innings start where he held the Loons to two runs on three hits, striking out seven.

After entering the Fort Wayne series three and a half games out of first, five-straight wins helped the Loons become the first team to reach 30 wins in the East Division this season. A Dayton Dragons Sunday win in Lansing in extra-innings prevented the Loons from ending the weekend atop the East. Great Lakes trails Dayton (30-23) by a half-game for first.

In Logan Boyer's 13th start in Great Lakes, he surrendered three runs on two hits, walking three batters in the bottom of the first inning. Fort Wayne jumped to an early 3-0 lead, thanks to a pair of run-scoring hits from Tirso Ornelas and Justin Lopez. Zack Plunkett relieved Boyer for the final out of the first inning, setting up Miller's 4 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Miller, the Dodgers' first-round selection in 2020, was unable to record the final out of the sixth inning after he plunked Jonny Homza with a pitch, loading the bases for reliever Cole Percival. Needing one out, Percival stranded the bases loaded with a three-pitch pop out. Miller and Percival combined for 10 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits. Melvin Jimenez picked up his second save of the season with the final two outs.

Entering the top of the fifth trailing 4-0, the Loons got their first runs of the night on a two-run homer from James Outman. In the prior night, Outman broke a 6-6 tie game with a go-ahead, two-run homer in the top of the ninth in a game the Loons would go on to win. Outman's Sunday homerun cut the TinCaps deficit in half with his fifth homerun of the season.

Not only would Great Lakes tie the game in the following top of the sixth, they'd take their first lead of the night in an inning that sent all nine Loons batters to the plate. Fort Wayne's Sam Keating allowed a leadoff single to Deacon Liput, followed up by a ball off the bat of Joe Vranesh that visually appeared to clear the top of the left-center wall, but was ruled in play and resulted in a run-scoring double. With two outs, and facing the new pitcher Minjarez, Outman scored Vranesh from third on a single, his third run plated of the night to tie the game 4-4. Andy Pages and Ryan Ward both walked to load the bases for Justin Yurchak to give the Loons their first lead of the night with a two-run double down the right-field line.

As a team, the Loons ended Sunday's Independence Day series finale 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 runners stranded and committing one error. Fort Wayne finished 2-for-10 with runners at second and third and left nine men in scoring position. As a staff, the Loons struck out 11 TinCaps batters, holding FW scoreless from the bottom of the third until the bottom of the ninth.

The Lansing Lugnuts invade Midland for the first time this season on Tuesday, July 6, to begin a six-game series at Dow Diamond. A full look at the upcoming promotional schedule and ticket information can be found at Loons.com.

The Great Lakes Loons have been the Single-A partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers since the team's inception in 2007. Dow Diamond serves as the team's home and also houses the Michigan Baseball Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, and ESPN 100.9-FM. For tickets or information about the Loons, call 989-837-BALL or visit Loons.com.

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