TinCaps manager Jose Valentin mourned his team’s batting in a loss Wednesday.Fort Wayne was even worse in a pair of games Thursday.The TinCaps have lost their ace, but they still have a card or two up their sleeve.
On the same day Adys Portilla was called up to Double-A San Antonio, Colin Rea gave Fort Wayne six innings of three-hit pitching, and James Jones and Matt Stites finished up a 6-3 win over Cedar Rapids on Friday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The win gave the TinCaps (16-11, 47-50) a sweep of the three-game series with Cedar Rapids (8-19, 40-56), and it was a big start and big finish that got it done.
Fort Wayne scored two runs in the first on a leadoff walk to Travis Jankowski and back-to-back singles by Jace Peterson and Travis Whitmore and a sacrifice fly by Duanel Jones. The TinCaps added a run in the second when Lee Orr led off with a double, Tyler Stubblefield moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt and Matt Colantonio drove him home.
The TinCaps then finished off the Kernels with a three-run ninth.
Stubblefield singled with one out to get it going, and, after Colantonio walked, Kyle Gaedele drove them both home with a double. Jankowski followed with a single to center to score Gaedele.
Earlier in the day, meanwhile, Portillo got the call after going 6-6 with a Midwest League-leading 1.87 ERA in 18 starts with the TinCaps. In 91 2/3 innings, he allowed 19 earned runs, struck out 81 and walked 45.
