GENEVA, Ill. – The TinCaps lost the opener of their three-game road series against the Kane County Cougars, 6-2, on Thursday night at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.

Kane County (16-11) starter Cody Reed (W, 2-1) shut Fort Wayne out for his 6 2/3 innings on the mound. Meanwhile, a TinCaps error in the second inning spurred a pair of unearned runs to put the visitors behind the eight ball.

The Cougars added to their lead against Fort Wayne starter Logan Allen (L, 2-1) in the fourth. Allen struck out four over four frames of work without walking a batter.

Zach Nehrir extended the home team’s lead to 4-0 in the seventh with a solo home run off reliever Emmanuel Ramirez, who had pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings before that. Kane County added two more against Ramirez in the seventh to balloon the score to 6-0.

Fort Wayne (15-13) finally scored twice in the eighth inning, thanks in part to a pair of errors. Right fielder Jhonatan Pena, who had singled, scored from second base when shortstop Ruddy Giron hit a grounder to second that was mishandled by Didimo Bracho. Designated hitter Ty France also singled to drive in second baseman Peter Van Gansen. But on that hit, which was stopped in shallow center by Bracho, Giron was thrown out at the plate. Gabe Speier (S, 1) received credit for the save despite those unearned runs as he followed Reed.

First baseman Brad Zunica was the only TinCap with more than one hit. He produced a pair of singles. Fort Wayne didn’t have an extra-base hit in the game, while Kane County had four.

Next Game between the two teams will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday night.