MWL1 Fort Wayne TinCaps

Renfroe's Pinch-Hit Blast Sparks Win

Published on August 30, 2013 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Fort Wayne TinCaps News Release


Comstock Park, Mich. - He wasn't scheduled to play Friday night at West Michigan, but when he did, Hunter Renfroe made a difference in a big way. Renfroe hit a two-run pinch-hit home run in the seventh inning, turning a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 TinCaps lead that ballooned further for a 5-1 series-closing victory against the Whitecaps at Fifth Third Ballpark.

Fort Wayne (27-40, 70-66) ended a three-game losing streak with their efforts in their regular-season road finale. Center fielder Mallex Smith led off the game with his fourth home run of the season, taking West Michigan (35-31, 68-68) starter Edgar De La Rosa deep over the right-center field wall.

Matthew Shepherd, making a spot start in place of scheduled starter Zach Eflin, who will start game two of Fort Wayne's first-round playoff series, fired four shutout innings, helping maintain the 1-0 advantage laid out by Smith.

TinCaps reliever Joe Church (3-3) surrendered the tying run in the fifth inning, allowing Jason King to score on a two-out wild pitch. After a scoreless sixth, the TinCaps answered with the longball again as Renfroe came off the bench for his home run off of Whitecaps reliever Josh Turley (8-4). It was the second home run for the outfielder with Fort Wayne, and the sixth of his professional career.

Luis Tejada drove in a run on a groundout in the eighth, and Alberth Martinez played the fifth and final run with an RBI single in the ninth inning, helping Fort Wayne avoid their first four-game road sweep by an opponent since May of 2009.

The TinCaps return to Parkview Field for a regular-season-ending three-game series against the playoff-bound Great Lakes Loons. The scheduled starters in game one of the set are Max Fried for Fort Wayne and Jonathan Martinez for Great Lakes. The game, scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m., can be seen on XFINITY 81 and heard on The Fan 1380 and TheFanFortWayne.com.

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Midwest League Stories from August 30, 2013


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