A few random thoughts in advance of tonight’s series opener against the Beloit Snappers at Community Field

The current seven-game losing streak is the longest of the season for the Bees. Ryan Pineda’s four hits at Dayton on July 23 set a new single-game career high. He also hit two home runs on the road trip. Jose Macias allowed 10 hits in Dayton on July 24, the most hits allowed by a Burlington pitcher this season. DH A.J. Kirby-Jones’ sixth-inning home run Monday was the ninth home run of the season and his first home run on the road in 2011.

After a rain delay of just over three hours, the Burlington Bees played game of their two-game series last night in Dayton. It was a long night at the ballpark with the Bees getting on the bus shortly after 1:00 Sunday at the team hotel in advance of a 4:00 local start. Around 4:00 yesterday with both pitchers warming up in the bullpen, home plate umpire Alex Ransom called for the grounds crew to put the tarp on the field. After waiting patiently for three hours, the Bees and Dragons started their game at 7:01 Eastern Daylight Time last night. Two hours and 45 minutes later the Bees lost 7-1 to the Dragons.

The rain delay was longer than the actual game! After tonight the Bees have an overnight bus trip back to Burlington. When you’re waking up, the Bees will be rolling back into town. Here’s hoping for a win to make the time fly by.

 

There is no doubt the Burlington Bees are struggling right now. The club is on a five game losing streak and has lost 7 of the last 10 games. There is no panic on this club. The mood is light on the bus rides to the ball park. The players intensely go through their pregame routines and get methodically get ready for the games. I can honestly say that nothing has changed with their pre-game routine from the first half to the second half. As Steve Perry once sang “Don’t stop believing, hold on to that feeelinng.”

Don’t stop believing in the Bees because the Bees haven’t stopped believing in themselves.

 

The Burlington Bees take a four-game losing streak into Dayton against the red-hot Dayton Dragons tonight and the Bees may be surprised about what is waiting for them tonight here in Ohio. The Dayton Dragons hosted a crowd of better than 8000 in last night’s win over Peoria, their 819^th consecutive sellout, the longest active streak in all of professional sports. The Dragons have sold out every game since 2000 and tonight the team will be celebrating the streak. The game will be delayed until 6:25 p.m. (7:25 locally) to give the Dragons time for the special ceremonies. Sky Divers are going to deliver the game baseball. There will be a dove release prior to the start of the game. A local group that appeared on NBC’s “The Sing Off” will perform the national anthem. Ervin “Magic” Johnson and former Ohio State Running Back Archie Griffin, prominent members of the ownership group Mandalay Sports Entertainment, will speak to the crowd after the fourth inning.

With so many other things going on beside the game, it could be easy to forget the Bees have a losing streak to try and snap. The Dragons, meanwhile, have won five straight.

On Thursday night the Burlington Bees found themselves engaged in a battle of the “long ball” and the home runs came from two unlikely sources. John Nester hit a towering home run in the fifth inning on a ball that sailed over the left field and left the ballpark entirely. It was Nester’s third home run of the year and first since July 16 against Lake County at Community Field. Nester has now homered in two of the last four games.

In the eighth inning 2B Ryan Pineda hit his second home run of the season and first in precisely two months since back on May 21 in Wisconsin. Pineda’s two-run home run got the Bees within one run at 6-5. The Bees offense came up just short and Burlington fell to 20-19 in one run games.

 

The Burlington Bees have made a change in their starting rotation heading into tonight’s game in Bowling Green. RHP Sean Murphy has been removed from the starting rotation and placed in the bullpen and RHP Jonathan Joseph will be taking his place. Joseph, who struggled through the first five starts of the season, was placed in the bullpen in mid-June and will get the start tonight. Let’s take a look at the numbers inside the move.

Jonathan Joseph as a starter: 1-2 with a 7.01 ERA (20 ER, 30 H, 14 BB, 24K, 25.2 IP)

Jonathan Joseph as a reliever: 1-0 with a 4.02 ERA (7 ER, 12 H, 2 BB, 12K, 15.2 IP)

Sean Murphy as a starter: 0-3 with a 7.76 ERA (23 ER, 38H, 5BB, 17K, 26.2 IP)

Sean Murphy as a reliever: 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA (1 ER, 2H, 0BB, 4K, 2 IP)

As the Bees continue to try and find the right combination of starting pitchers for the second half, hopefully this move will solidify the Bees for the stretch run in August leading into the playoffs in September.

 

by Matthew Wheaton
Media Relations Intern

The Bees had yesterday off, as did the rest of the Midwest League. Burlington (9-15) begins a three-game series in Bowling Green, Kentucky against the Bowling Green Hot Rods (10-14), who are the Midwest League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, tonight at 7:05 p.m. Pre-game coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on Newsradio 1490 KBUR and online at www.gobees.com. When the Bees finish their series with the Hot Rods, they travel to Dayton, Ohio to play a three-game series with the Dayton Dragons before returning to Community Field to play a three-game series against the Beloit Snappers on Wednesday, July 27.

RHP George Jensen (8-4, 5.64) toes the rubber for the Hot Rods this evening. He was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 46th round of the 2010 amateur draft out of Des Moines (Iowa) Area Community College, where he threw a no-hitter as a sophomore. Jensen last pitched against the Cedar Rapids Kernels on July 14. He allowed eight earned runs on eleven hits over 3.2 innings and received the loss. He has an overall record of 5-1 to go along with a 4.22 ERA in games played at home – Bowling Green Ballpark. His worst inning ERA wise is the seventh where he has a 27.00 ERA in 1/3 of an inning of work. Opposing batters are hitting .327 against Jensen when runners are in scoring position and .262 against him when runners are in scoring position and there are two outs. When the bases are loaded, opposing batters are hitting .125 against Jensen.

RHP Blake Hassebrock (5-5, 2.03), who was named “Midwest League Pitcher of the Week” for the week of July 11-17 on Monday, gets the start for the Bees tonight. He last pitched on July 14 against the Fort Wayne TinCaps. He pitched seven scoreless innings, struck out seven and earned the win against Fort Wayne in his longest outing of the season. Hassebrock has an overall record of 2-1 to go along with a 2.15 ERA in games played on the road. His worst inning this season ERA wise has been the sixth where he has a 3.48 ERA in 10.1 innings. Opposing batters are hitting .262 against Hassebrock when runners are in scoring position and .301 against him when runners are in scoring position and there are two outs. When the bases are loaded, opposing batters are hitting .333 against Hassebrock.

MONDAY NIGHT…
The Bees found themselves down 9-0 after three innings of action and fought their way back to tie the game at 9-9 after eight innings, but lost to the Lake County Captains (9-15) by a score of 10-9 in 12 innings at Community Field Monday night. Lake County started the scoring in the top of the first inning after CF Carlos Moncrief (2-7) hit a lead-off single to left field. A single to center field from LF Brian Heere (5-7) moved Moncrief to third base. Captains 3B Giovanny Urshela (0-2) was hit by a pitch from Burlington RHP Jose Macias. Moncrief scored on an RBI single to left field from 1B Jesus Aguilar (1-4), which moved Heere to third base and Urshela to second base. SS Ronny Rodriguez (3-5) knocked in Heere with a RBI single to left field. DH Aaron Fields (2-6) reached first base on a fielder’s choice, plating Urshela. Aguilar and Fields scored on two-run double to left field by 2B Kevin Fontanez (1-6). Fields scored on a RBI ground out from RF Nick Bartolone (1-6), and the Captains held a 5-0 lead. In the top of the second inning, Rodriguez hit a two-run triple off the right field wall. A RBI single to left field by Fields gave Lake County an 8-0 advantage. In the top of the third inning, a RBI single to center field from Heere scored Bartolone and the Captains held a 9-0 lead. Burlington DH Josh Whitaker (2-6) smacked a two-run home run over the left field wall in the bottom of the fourth inning, plating 3B Tony Thompson (1-3) to make the score 9-2. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Lake County RHP Mike Goodnight issued back-to-back one-out walks, putting C Beau Taylor (0-2) and LF Royce Consigli (2-5) on base. A RBI double to left field from IF Ryan Pineda (3-6) plated Taylor and Consigli advanced to third base. He scored on a ground out from Thompson. A RBI single off the glove of Urshela from Whitaker plated Pineda to get Burlington within four runs at 9-5. Consigli led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single to center field. Pineda hit a triple to right field, scoring Consigli. A RBI single from Thompson knocked in Pineda to make the score 9-7. Pineda finished a home run short of the cycle. After Bees SS Wade Kirkland (0-5) drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the eighth inning, CF Jose Crisotomo (1-5) hit a ground-rule double to right field. With pinch-hitter John Nester (0-1) at the plate, Lake County LHP Kyle Petter balked. Kirkland scored and Crisotomo advanced to third base on the balk. With Nester at the dish, Crisotomo scored on a wild pitch from Petter to tie the game at 9-9. In the top of the 12th inning, Moncrief hit a two-out double and then scored on a single to right field by Heere to put the Captains up 10-9.

BEES BY THE NUMBERS
Tonight’s game will be the 45th game the Bees have played away from Community Field this season. The Bees have a record of 23-21 in road games. Burlington lost to Lake County by one-run Monday night, and the Bees have a record of 20-18 in one-run games. Monday night’s game lasted 12 innings. Burlington has a record of 7-5 in extra-inning games this season. The Bees have a record of 6-11 this month. The Bees and Captains combined for 29 hits Monday night. In case you wondered, the most hits in a Midwest League game combined is 45, which occurred on May 8, 1999 when Kane County (23) faced Cedar Rapids (22) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Burlington RHP Jose Macias (2-2, 5.93) started Monday night’s game and allowed eight runs and eight hits in 1.2 innings of work, which was his shortest outing this season. The eight runs he allowed is the most runs a Bees pitcher has allowed in a game this season.

Bees IF Ryan Pineda was a home run short of a cycle Monday night.

REICHENBACH
Lake County LHP J.D. Reichenbach (5-1, 3.63) who was supposed to start Sunday’s game, but was a late scratch, served as a relief pitcher Monday night and earned the win. He pitched the final two innings, which were scoreless, and struck out two.

HEERE
Captains LF Brian Heere went 5-for-7 at the dish Monday night, which are the most hits by an individual in a game the Bees pitching staff has allowed this season.

by Matthew Wheaton
Media Relations Intern

The Burlington Bees (9-14) and Lake County Captains (8-15) wrap up their three game series tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Community Field. It’s “Dollar Monday” here at Community Field. Adult general admission tickets are just $2.00 and senior/student general admission tickets, hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, and cans of Pepsi products are just $1.00. Fans can also enjoy 16 oz. cans of Miller Lite and Coors Light for just $3.25 sponsored by Miller Lite and “Everything That Rocks” KQ92.

RHP Mike Goodnight (5-8, 3.46) toes the rubber for the Captains this evening. Goodnight last pitched against the Peoria Chiefs on July 13. He allowed three earned runs on nine hits over five innings and received the loss. Opposing batters are hitting .252 against Goodnight when runners are in scoring position and .269 against him when runners are in scoring position and there are two outs. When the bases are loaded, opposing batters are hitting .167 against Goodnight.

The Indians selected Goodnight in the 13th round of the 2010 MLB Draft out of the University of Houston, which was the second time Cleveland drafted him. In 2008, the Indians made him a 27th round pick out of Westside High School, located in Houston, Texas. Tony Lastoria rated Goodnight as the No. 43 prospect in the Cleveland Indians organization in his book, 2011 Cleveland Indians: Top 100 Prospects & More. Goodnight “throws a plus fastball that usually sits around 90-92 MPH and has touched 94 MPH. He complements the fastball with a good, developing slider that sits in the low 80s and is considered his secondary pitch. He also throws a curveball and changeup, with the curveball getting consideration from some scouts as a true weapon and the changeup a solid fourth offering though is a work in progress,” Lastoria wrote.

RHP Jose Macias (2-2, 3.77) toes the rubber for the Burlington Bees this evening. Macias last pitched against the Fort Wayne TinCaps on July 13. He allowed two earned runs on four hits over 5.2 innings pitched and was credited with the loss. Macias has an overall record of 1-2 to go along with a 3.48 ERA in games played at Community Field. Opposing batters are hitting .250 against Macias when runners are in scoring position and .214 against him when runners are in scoring position and there are two outs. Tonight’s start is Macias’ second since returning to the team on July 11 from the Vermont Lake Monsters, Oakland’s New York-Penn League affiliate.

YESTERDAY…
C John Nester (1-2) hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to score SS Yordy Cabrera (1-4) from third base to give the Bees a 5-4 win over the Captains before 619 fans at Community Field on Sunday afternoon. Bees LF Royce Consigli (3-4) and 2B Ryan Pineda (1-2) led off the game with back-to-back singles. 3B Tony Thompson (0-3) walked and 1B Josh Whitaker (1-4) hit a grand slam home run over the left field wall for a 4-0 Burlington lead. Lake County scored two runs in the top of the third inning to cut the lead in half. RF Carlos Moncrief (1-5) hit a solo home run over the right field wall to lead off the inning. CF LaVon Washington (2-4) singled and moved to third base on a double by 3B Giovanny Urshela (3-4). 1B Jesus Aguilar (0-4) grounded out to score Washington to make it 4-2. The Captains scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game at 4-4. In the top of the fifth inning, Urshela laced an RBI single. In the top of the sixth inning, SS Ronny Rodriguez (2-4) hit a solo home run that tied the score. Cabrera doubled to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning and went to third base on a sacrifice bunt by LF Douglas Landaeta (1-2). Nester hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Cabrera for a 5-4. LHP Max Peterson (2-0) pitched two and two-thirds innings to get the win. RHP Daniel Tenholder logged a scoreless ninth inning to get his tenth save.

BEES BY THE NUMBERS
Tonight’s game will be the 50th game the Bees have played at Community Field this season. The Bees have a record of 31-18 in home games. Burlington had eight hits yesterday afternoon, while Lake County had nine. The Bees have a record of 10-23 when outhit by their opponent. Burlington scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning on a grand slam from 1B Josh Whitaker yesterday and have a record of 31-13 when they score first. Yesterday afternoon, Carlos Moncrief and Ronny Rodriguez – both members of the Captains – hit homers. When both clubs hit a home run, the Bees are 11-10. Burlington went 1-for-1 with runners in scoring position in yesterday’s game, while the Captains went 3-for-7. Lake County sends a right-handed pitcher out to the mound to start today’s game and the Bees are 39-30 against right-handers.

Yesterday, Bees 1B Josh Whitaker blasted his third grand slam this season – 11th home run – over Community Field’s left field wall. His last homer was in the bottom of the sixth inning against Quad Cities RHP Trevor Rosenthal on July 8. He leads the Midwest League with a .557 slugging percentage and sits second in the MWL in batting average (.316).

Burlington RHP Josh Bowman (6-3, 3.51) leads the Midwest League in games started (19) and innings pitched (112.2). He started yesterday’s game, received a no decision and allowed three earned runs on eight hits and struck out three in five innings of work.

Bees RHP Daniel Tenholder (3-2, 2.78) notched his 10th save of the season yesterday afternoon. He sits in a tie with Dayton RHP Drew Hayes (1-2, 1.77) for games finished (26).

PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Bees RHP Blake Hassebrock (5-5, 2.03) has been named “Midwest League Pitcher of the Week” for the week of July 11-17. He pitched seven scoreless innings, struck out seven and earned the win against the Fort Wayne TinCaps on July 14 in his longest outing of the season.

“I feel very fortunate to have received this award,” said Hassebrock, who sits in third place in the MWL in ERA. “I also feel fortunate to get a win last week. A lot of credit goes to my team’s defense and my catcher. As the dog days approach, I feel like this team is getting stronger and stronger.”

Hassebrock becomes the second Burlington Bees starting pitcher to garner “Pitcher of the Week” honors after RHP Jose Macias earned the honors for the week of May 23-29.

400
Bees Manager Aaron Nieckula earned his 400th win of his career yesterday afternoon. “I didn’t know going in it was for my 400th win. I didn’t find out until post-game that it was,” said Nieckula, who began his career as the manager of the Kane County Cougars in 2006. “It felt like any other win. I would be lying if I said it was not a great accomplishment. In the minor leagues if we win great, but it’s about developing the players.”

LATE SCRATCH
Lake County LHP J.D. Reichenbach (4-1, 3.74) was supposed to start yesterday’s game, but was a late scratch. RHP Jordan Cooper (2-3, 5.14) toed the rubber for the Captains instead and allowed four earned runs on five hits, walked two and fanned three in four innings of work.

by Matthew Wheaton
Media Relations Intern

The Burlington Bees (8-14) and Lake County Captains (8-14) play game two of their three-game series today at 2:00 p.m. at Community Field. The Captains are the 2010 Midwest League Champions and are the Midwest League Affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Celebrate National Ice Cream Day today at Community Field with special ice cream from “Grandpa’s Homemade Ice Cream.” Fans can run the bases after the game and snag some autographs from some of the Bees players, who will wait around near the third base dugout after the game.

LHP J.D. Reichenbach (4-1, 3.74) toes the rubber for the Captains this afternoon. Reichenbach last pitched against the Lansing Lugnuts on July 11 and allowed four earned runs on six hits in 3.2 innings and struck out two. Opposing batters are hitting .246 against Reichenbach when runners are in scoring position and .244 against him when runners are in scoring position and there are two outs. When the bases are loaded, opposing batters are hitting .167 against Reichenbach.

RHP Josh Bowman (6-3, 3.74) starts for the Bees today. Bowman last pitched against the Kane County Cougars on July 11 and allowed six earned runs on 10 hits over 6.1 innings pitched. Bowman has an overall record of 3-1 to go along with a 4.24 ERA in games played at Community Field. Opposing batters are hitting .234 against Bowman when runners are in scoring position and .148 against him when runners are in scoring position and there are two outs. When the bases are loaded, opposing batters are hitting .200 against him.

YESTERDAY…
The Bees squeaked past the Captains 7-5 before 835 fans at Community Field Saturday night. Bees RHP Nate Long earned the win, pitching six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out a career-high eight. C John Nester (2-4) added a two-run home run and finished with four RBIs. Burlington started the scoring in the bottom of the second inning after 3B Wade Kirkland (2-3) hit a one-out double to left field. With SS Ryan Pineda (2-3) batting, Lake County C Moises Montero (0-4) allowed a passed ball, and Kirkland moved to third base. A RBI double to center field by Pineda plated Kirkland. Nester smacked a two-run home run over the left field wall to put Burlington up 3-0. Pineda hit a triple to left field to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning and scored on a RBI single by 2B Nino Leyja (1-3) to make the score 4-0 Bees. In the bottom of the sixth inning, SS Yordy Cabrera (1-4) drew a leadoff walk. Kirkland hit a single to left field. A sacrifice bunt from Pineda moved Cabrera to third base and Kirkland to second base. Nester hit a two-run single to center field. Leyja walked. Nester scored on a RBI double by CF Tyreace House (2-3) to give Burlington a 7-0 lead. Lake County RF Carlos Moncrief (0-3) walked to lead off the top of the eighth inning. DH Jordan Casas (1-4) hit a single to left field. With 1B Jesus Aguilar (0-3) batting, Casas stole second base. Aguilar walked. With 3B Giovanny Urshela (1-4) at the dish, Moncrief scored on a wild pitch from Burlington RHP Blake Treinen. Urshela hit a two-run single to center field, plating Casas and Aguilar. An infield single by SS Ronny Rodriguez (1-4) moved Urshela to second base. With LF Brian Heere (0-3) at the plate, Bees RHP Jonathan Joseph threw a wild pitch, advancing Urshela to third base and Rodriguez to second base. A RBI ground out from Heere plated Urshela and moved Rodriguez to third base. A RBI single by 2B Nick Bartolone (2-4) brought the Captains within two runs at 7-5.

BEES BY THE NUMBERS
Burlington had 11 hits last night and have had 10 or more hits in 13 games this season. The Bees scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning last night and have a record of 30-13 when they score first. Nine walks were issued by the Bees (4) and Captains (5) last night, and a total of four batters were hit-by-a-pitch — two by each squad. The Bees held a 7-0 lead after the seventh inning last night and have an overall record of 39-4 when they lead after the seventh inning. The Bees notched their 30th win (30-18) at Community Field in the 7-5 victory over Lake County last night and have a record of 2-2 in the current home stand. Burlington went 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position last night, while the Captains went 3-for-11. Lake County sends a left-handed pitcher out to the mound to start today’s game and the Bees are 15-9 against left-handers.

Last night, C John Nester started for the first time since coming off the disabled list on July 13. He went 2-for-4 at the dish, scored two runs and had a career-high four RBIs. Nester has six two-hit games this season. He smacked a two-run homer over the left field wall last night to put the Bees up 3-0. Nester has hit two home runs this season, both of which have been at Community Field. Nester’s last homer was back on June 7 versus the South Bend Silver Hawks.

SS Ryan Pineda hit his first triple of his career last night.

RHP Nate Long had a career-high eight strikeouts in last night’s victory over Lake County. His previous career-high was seven, which he set on June 24 in Clinton, Iowa when he faced the LumberKings.

1B A.J. Kirby-Jones left six runners on base in last night’s 7-5 win over the Captains. He’s batting .315 to go along with 35 hits, eight home runs, and 20 RBIs at Community Field.

ZONA
On Friday night, the AZL A’s beat the AZL Angels 5-2. Last night, the A’s defeated the AZL Cubs by a score of 5-2.

by Matthew Wheaton
Media Relations Intern

The Burlington Bees (7-14) and Lake County Captains (8-13) begin a three-game series tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Community Field. The Captains are the 2010 Midwest League Champions. The only other time the Bees and Captains have met was last season at Classic Park, located in Eastlake, Ohio, where the Bees took two of three. The Captains are the Midwest League Affiliate of the Cleveland Indians.

LHP Mike Rayl (5-3, 2.40) toes the rubber for the Captains this evening. Rayl last pitched against the Lansing Lugnuts on July 10 and allowed five earned runs on eight hits in five innings of work. Rayl throws a fastball, curve, sinker and change. This season, Rayl’s worst innings have been the second (6 runs), third (five runs) and fourth (4 runs). Opposing batters are hitting .231 against Rayl when runners are in scoring position and .212 against him when runners are in scoring position and there are two outs. When the bases are loaded, opposing batters are hitting .500 against Rayl.

RHP Nate Long (5-3, 3.81) starts for the Bees tonight. He has started and come out of the bullpen this season. In fact, he has three saves. Long last pitched against the Kane County Cougars on July 10 and allowed seven earned runs on eight hits over four innings pitched. Long has an overall record of 2-1 to go along with a 2.66 ERA in games played at Community Field. Opposing batters are hitting .292 against Long when runners are in scoring position and .219 against him when runners are in scoring position and there are two outs. When the bases are loaded, opposing batters are hitting .143 against Long.

YESTERDAY…
Burlington scored five runs over the seventh and eighth innings but came up short and lost to the Fort Wayne TinCaps (9-12) by a score of 7-5 in front of 849 fans at Community Field Friday night. The TinCaps scored two runs in the ninth inning to earn the win. Fort Wayne started the scoring in the top of the first inning after RF Rymer Liriano (2-4) hit a two-out single to center field. A RBI double to left field by DH Luis Domoromo (1-4) plated Liriano. 3B Connor Powers (1-4) hit a RBI single to left field to make the score 2-0. TinCaps C Cole Tyrell (1-3) hit a double to left field to lead off the top of the second inning. A RBI double to right field by LF Oscar Garcia (1-3) plated Tyrell. A sacrifice bunt by SS Chris Bisson (0-2) moved Garcia to third base. CF Rico Noel (2-4) hit a RBI single to right field, which plated Garcia. With Liriano at the dish, Noel stole second base and third base. Liriano hit a RBI double to right field to put Fort Wayne up 5-0. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Burlington SS Yordy Cabrera (1-2) and 2B Wade Kirkland (0-3) drew back-to-back walks. CF Tyreace House (2-4) hit a single to right field. LF Royce Consigli (1-4) walked, which plated Cabrera. RF Jose Crisotomo (1-4) hit a sacrifice fly to right field, and Kirkland scored from third base. 1B A.J. Kirby-Jones (1-3) walked, plating House from third base to bring the Bees within two runs at 5-3. Cabrera walked to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning and House hit a double to center field. A two-run triple from Consigli tied the game at 5-5. In the top of the ninth inning, RHP Daniel Tenholder (3-2) came into the game for Burlington and walked three TinCaps batters. Noel hit a two-run double to left field to put Fort Wayne up 7-5. Bees RHP Sean Murphy allowed five runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out four in five innings of work. RHP Pedro Vidal allowed one hit and fanned two in three innings of action. Tenholder finished the game by throwing the final frame, allowing two runs on one hit and earned the loss.

BEES BY THE NUMBERS
The Bees wrapped up a three-game series with the Fort Wayne TinCaps last night and have a record of 1-2 in games played against Fort Wayne this season. The teams won’t face each other again this season. Burlington and Fort Wayne both had nine hits last night. The TinCaps and Bees were tied at 5-5 after the eighth inning last night. The Bees are 10-6 overall after eight innings when the game is tied. Burlington went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position last night, while the TinCaps went 5-for-8. Lake County sends a left-handed pitcher out to the mound to start tonight’s game and the Bees are 14-9 against left-handers.

LF Royce Consigli had three RBIs last night, which is just the second time this season he has had three RBIs in a game. He’s batting .375 to go along with six hits, a homer, and four RBIs in the last five games.

Last night, CF Tyreace House started for the first time since coming off the disabled list on July 13. He went 2-for-4 at the dish and scored two runs. House has six multi-hit games this season.

DH Douglas Landaeta left seven runners on base in last night’s 7-5 loss to the TinCaps.

THIEF
Fort Wayne CF Rico Noel swiped three bases last night against the Bees and has 24 steals this season.

HAMBURGLER
Bees intern Gavin Halpin, a senior at Monmouth College this fall, won the cheeseburger eating contest last night, which took place after the game. He mowed through his required five burgers and then assisted his competition. Halpin ate a total of eight and a half cheeseburgers.