LANSING, Mich. – The TinCaps opened up a seven-game road trip with a 7-1 win over the Lansing Lugnuts on a warm Monday night at Cooley Law School Stadium.

Two 19-year-olds for Fort Wayne, J.C. Cosme (W, 2-0) and Austin Smith (S, 1), combined for nine innings on the mound without allowing an earned run. Meanwhile, the best statistical offense in Minor League Baseball so far this season continued to chug along.

The TinCaps pounced to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, thanks in part to a Lugnuts error and a wild pitch against Ryan Cook (L, 0-1). Lansing (5-4) scored its only run in unearned fashion in the second. But Fort Wayne responded with two more in the third inning and then a three-run fifth.

Catcher Austin Allen, who earlier in the day was recognized as the Midwest League Player of the Week, provided two of the team’s seven hits, and a pair of RBIs, including a run-scoring double off the center-field fence in the third that made it 3-1. Right fielder Luis Tejada went 1-for-4 with two RBIs, too.

All nine TinCaps batters reached base. The TinCaps lead MiLB with 88 runs scored (7.3/game).

As for Cosme, in his first start of the season, he struck out seven and only walked one in five innings. Smith went the next four, striking out three and walking just one.

Fort Wayne (8-4) is off to its best start through 12 games since 2009, when the TinCaps began the season 11-1. The ‘Caps and ‘Nuts will go back to work Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m.