On a night with a real-feel temperature that soared well into the triple digits (it felt like 106 degrees at first pitch), the Fort Wayne TinCaps fell short to the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Minnesota Twins) 6-4 at Parkview Field in front of 6,211 fans.

Both teams scored runs in the first inning, with Cedar Rapids (17-11, 56-42) plating two runs in the top half of the frame followed by a lone TinCaps (9-19, 42-54) run in the bottom half. Tucupita Marcano tripled leading off the bottom of the first and later came home on an Ethan Skender RBI single. Skender has a hit in each of his six games with Fort Wayne this season, batting .320 (8-25) with six runs scored.

Cedar Rapids tacked on another run in the second inning to make it a 3-1 game, but Fort Wayne thundered back with three runs in the fourth inning to take their first lead at 4-3. Michael Curry gave the ‘Caps the advantage with a two-run single into left field – the former Georgia Bulldog has hits in eight of his last ten games (since July 7), batting .343 with 10 RBIs.

The Kernels regained the lead with three runs in the fifth, an inning that featured an RBI double from Spencer Steer and a two-run home run by Yeltsin Encarnacion.

The ‘Caps’ bullpen refused to yield a run all night, as Edwuin Bencomo and Jose Quezada combined to toss four scoreless relief innings with six strikeouts.

Fort Wayne nearly completed its second comeback win in three nights, loading up the bases with nobody out in the ninth inning. Yet, Rickey Ramirez buckled down for Cedar Rapids, striking out the next three batters to leave the bases loaded and clinch a Kernels’ win. The TinCaps left the bases loaded two separate times in the game.