[dropcap]D[/dropcap]espite being held to two hits through the first eight innings, the West Michigan Whitecaps rallied for a dramatic win Tuesday night at Fifth Third Ballpark with a 2-1 victory over South Bend coming down to the wire.
The story of the game was Silver Hawks’ pitcher Sean Furney. The 23-year old carried a two-hit shutout through the first eight innings into the final frame with just 81 pitches and one baserunner allowed to reach scoring position. Furney, taking the mound in the bottom of the ninth as he did to open the game for South Bend, faced a Whitecaps team that was down 1-0.
Francisco Contreras worked a lengthy at-bat to open the frame for the ‘Caps. After narrowly missing a game-tying home run – the ball hooked foul down the left line – Contreras worked a 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a bouncer deep into the hole at shortstop. Contreras slid head-first into first and was ruled safe on a close but disputed play.
Furney was finally substituted after 91 pitches and 8.1 innings of work for closer Silvino Bracho. Bracho entered the game with a league-leading 22 saves in 24 opportunities. His first pitch was bunted by Wynton Bernard, advancing Contreras to second with one out.
Javier Betancourt stepped up to the plate and worked a 2-2 count before a wild pitch moved the potential game-tying run to third. Betancourt would then drop the ball in front of center fielder Fidel Pena to plate the tying run.
Later, with two outs, Dominic Ficociello flared a ball into shallow left-center. Pena came racing in and slid as he got to the baseball, but it rebounded off his glove and rolled behind him. Betancourt scored all the way from first on what was ruled a walk-off double, finishing the rally that lifted the ‘Caps over South Bend.
With the win, West Michigan (32-18, 73-47) moved five games ahead of South Bend (27-23, 67-52) in the MWL-East standing and improved to 26 games over .500 – tying the season-high.
Artie Lewicki (3-2) earned the victory with two scoreless innings of relief. Montreal Robertson threw a pair of shutout innings himself after Jonathon Crawford allowed one run in the first five innings. Between the three, 10 hits were given up – all singles – but gave up just one run thanks to 10 strikeouts and 10 Silver Hawks stranded on base.
Bracho (3-2) suffered just his second loss and third blown save of the season, allowing one run on two hits in two-thirds of an inning. Furney was charged with one run on three hits over the eight frames he pitched.
West Michigan continue their short three-game homestand tonight at 7 p.m. against South Bend with the chance to reach a season-high of 27 games over .500. Matt Davenport (5-3, 2.60 ERA) will start for the ‘Caps against RHP Ryan Doran (0-0, 1.13 ERA) of South Bend.
