Fort Wayne’s late season surge resumed on Thursday night during a 6-2 win over the Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds affiliate) in front of 7,885 fans at Parkview Field, the 13th sellout crowd of the season. The ‘Caps have now won five of the first six games on their seven-game homestand, and they’ve also won seven of their last eight games.

Two of the TinCaps’ (20-26, 53-61) power bats stoked the home team to an early 2-0 lead. First, Michael Curry drove in Tucupita Marcano with an RBI single in the first, then Lee Solomon smacked an opposite-field home run in the second inning to double the advantage. Curry is 5-for-7 the past two nights with two RBIs and three runs scored, while Solomon entered the evening leading the TinCaps with 21 doubles this season.

Efraín Contreras tossed a gem of a start for Fort Wayne, allowing two hits and two runs (one earned) in 5.0 innings pitched with eight strikeouts. The 19-year-old from Mexico has racked up eight or more strikeouts in four different starts this season.

The game was tied, 2-2, entering the sixth inning, and then the TinCaps put the game away with four runs in the frame. Two hits, three walks, a hit by pitch, a fielder’s choice and two errors equaled the four runs in the inning. The big blow of the sixth was a two-run single by Solomon. The Ohio native finished the game with three RBIs, his seventh multi-RBI game of the season.

From there, the Fort Wayne bullpen shut the door. Jose Quezada and Cody Tyler each threw two scoreless innings of relief, striking out a combined six batters while surrendering just one hit. So far in this series, the TinCaps bullpen has gone a combined 7.2 scoreless innings of relief with 13 strikeouts.

The TinCaps return to action tonight Friday, August 8th against Dayton wtih a 7:05 p.m. first pitch at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne.