Fort Wayne was powerful at the plate and precise on the mound as it easily got by South Bend 9-2 at Parkview Field on Monday.
The TinCaps crushed four home runs and rode the arm of starting pitcher Cody Hebner, who threw six shutout innings.
Hebner retired the final 17 batters he faced, not allowing a baserunner after surrendering a one-out single in the first inning.
Fort Wayne (30-34) pounced on South Bend (32-32) starter John Pedrotty (3-4) in the first inning. Yeison Asencio drilled a ball to left field for his fourth home run of the year, making it 2-0 in favor of the TinCaps. Lee Orr, leading off the third, deposited his eighth homer of the season over the wall in left to give Fort Wayne a 3-0 lead. Three more runs scored in the frame on doubles by Duanel Jones and Jace Peterson. The first seven TinCaps hits all went for extra bases.
Hebner (6-2) walked one and surrendered a hit in the first, but after that was in rare form. In his stretch of retiring 17 consecutive batters, he struck out five, and only three of the 17 outs were recorded by outfielders.
The TinCaps offense continued to thrive in the seventh when Asencio went deep for the second time, making it 7-1 in favor of the TinCaps. The final blow came in the eighth inning with a two-run home run from Tyler Stubblefield to make the score 9-2. Fort Wayne last hit four home runs on July 17, 2011 in a 16-7 victory over the Peoria Chiefs in Peoria, Illinois.
Chris Haney and Daniel Cropper worked in relief of Hebner, pitching the final three innings of the game for the TinCaps.
Fort Wayne will host Lansing today at 7:05 p.m.
The scheduled starters are Frank Garces for Fort Wayne and Jesse Hernandez for Lansing.
