The Fort Wayne offense continued to click on all cylinders, as the TinCaps dominated Bowling Green for the second consecutive Midwest League game on Thursday at Parkview Field.
One night after beating the Hot Rods 8-1, Fort Wayne opened Thursday’s game with a four-run first inning and eventually cruised to an 8-3 victory.
TinCap starter Adys Portillo earned his sixth victory of the season, and Fort Wayne secured its fifth consecutive series win. The TinCaps are the first team in the league to reach ten victories in the second half.
Fort Wayne (10-4 second half, 41-43) got to Bowling Green (7-7, 45-39) starter Trevor Shull (2-4) early and often. The right-hander walked the bases loaded to begin the first inning, and allowed the game’s first run on an RBI groundout by Yeison Asencio. Zach Kometani made his first start with the TinCaps since April 28 and plated two runs with a single, while Matt Colantonio knocked in a run also.
Portillo (6-5) threw five innings, lowering his Midwest League-leading earned run average from 1.76 to 1.65. Entering this season, he had picked up six victories in 46 starts. This year he has matched that win total in just 16 starts. The 20-year-old walked five, struck out five, and allowed one hit and one unearned run.
That run scored in the fifth as Tyler Goeddel walked to begin the frame, advanced on a passed ball and scored on a groundout. A 4-1 margin was as close as the Hot Rods would come to evening the score.
The TinCaps scored in the fifth on a two-run single by Travis Jankowski, and added two more in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Stubblefield and another RBI single from catcher Colantonio, who had a strong outing. He finished the evening 3 for 4 with two runs batted in. Thursday was Colantonio’s first three-hit game of the season and his second multi-RBI game of the year.
Bowling Green added two runs in the eighth inning against TinCaps reliever James Needy.
Walks plagued both staffs, with the Hot Rods giving up a season-high 10 free passes. The previous season high for Bowling Green was eight. Fort Wayne walked a season-high-tying eight batters.
