FORT WAYNE – Playing in front of a season-high crowd of 8,180 on a beautiful Friday night, the TinCaps fell to the Bowling Green Hot Rods, 13-5, at Parkview Field.

Fans packed the ballpark on Star Wars Night, presented by Shindigz, with temperatures in the 80s. The Hot Rods (35-32), however, exploded for another powerful offensive performance to win the second game in the four-game series with the TinCaps (36-32). A night after a 14-7 Bowling Green win, the Hot Rods scored two in the first, five in the second, one in the fifth, two in the seventh and three in the eighth to coast to the victory.

TinCaps All-Star catcher Austin Allen smacked an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Fort Wayne threatened again in the fourth, as third baseman Carlos Belen clocked a two-run double and right fielder Jhonatan Peña reeled in another with an RBI groundout to make it a 7-4 game.

Pena scored designated hitter Brad Zunica with an RBI single in the eighth to make it 13-5.

The TinCaps wore special Star Wars jerseys, which were auctioned off to fans and raised $4,654 toward the Make A Wish Foundation.

TinCaps starter J.C. Cosme (L, 7-3) allowed seven runs (two earned) in 1.1 innings. Right-hander Blake Rogers tossed 3.2 frames of one-run ball, and infielder Nick Vilter chipped in with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Bowling Green reliever Reece Karalus (W, 2-3) struck out eight over three sterling innings.

Next game is Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. between the same two teams. The Fort Wayne franchise should pass the three-million fans mark, only trailing the number by just over 11,000 going into Friday night.