Happy to be home

A 10-inning tie and a one-run loss on back-to-back nights had the Rockets ready to end their long season-opening road trip.
After seven games on the road, Portland came home to Portland Memorial Park’s Runkle-Miller Field and put its starting pitching on display. It also got a couple of game-two home runs as it swept a doubleheader 8-4 and 12-1 in five innings over  Brandt Harley.
“The fans that come out, we appreciate it. It feels good to win at home,” said 2002 Jay County High School graduate Mitch Waters, who hit one of the homers and earned the win in the second game. “We’re starting to put it together. Even though we have a lot of returners, we’re still trying to get familiar with everybody. … We’re starting to click a little bit better.”
Portland (4-4-1) slipped back to .500 Sunday, falling 6-0 to the Summit City Sluggers in Huntington.
Tyler Reynolds and Waters shut down Harley Brandt, combining to allow just two hits and one unearned run.
Reynolds, the game-one starter, tossed four no-hit innings in the opener before turning the game over to the bullpen with a 3-0 lead. He finished with six strikeouts against the first-year team from Wabash.
Brandt Harley (1-4) scored four times against the Portland bullpen, but couldn’t overcome its early struggles.
“Reynolds was effective because he didn’t throw a bad pitch over the middle of the plate,” said Brandt Harley manager Keith Shepherd, who pitched in the Major Leagues with Philadelphia, Colorado, Boston and Baltimore from 1992 through 1996. “Whenever you can do that, especially being left-handed, you can offset the hitters.
“We were expecting to … have guys throwing hard today, and when he came in being a strategy pitcher that just put everybody in the hole. … From there on out, it was us struggling.”
Waters, who struck out eight batters, held Brandt Harley hitless through three innings in the second game. He gave up an unearned run on an error and two hits in the fourth.
Junior Santos struck out two batters in an inning of relief of Waters.
“We stem off our starters, and we’re pretty strong there,” said Rockets’ manager Randy Miller. “Reynolds looked very sharp. ... He’s been looking forward to it all week. He came to play and he did his job.
“He and Mitch were dominant.”
The two home runs helped the Rockets’ offense off after being limited to a combined five runs Wednesday and Thursday against the Grand Lake Mariners and Fort Wayne Jackers.
The 29-year-old Waters hit a line drive over the fence in left field in the third inning, sparking a four-run rally with two outs. Zach Tanner added a two-run blast, his third of the season, to left-center in a four-run fourth.
Portland got on the board in the first inning of both games, with Dalton Tinsley leading off the first with a double to right-center field. He scored on a ground out by Ben Smith, and the rest of the Rocket runs were unearned as they scored twice in the second inning and five times in the fifth.
The first four Portland runs in the second game — two in the first inning and two in the second — were unearned thanks to four Harley Brandt errors. The Waters and Tanner home runs, along with RBI singles from Justin Miller and Tinsley, led to eight runs in the next two frames.
“We’re a first-year team and we’re trying to find the positions where everybody plays,” said Shepherd. “It’s affecting us a little bit. Errors are hurting us.”
Tinsley did his job in the leadoff spot, reaching base in seven of his eight plate appearances. He finished the day with five hits, six RBIs and two runs.
Smith added three hits, including a double, three RBIs and two runs as Portland totaled 17 hits in 10 innings at the plate.
“Hitting is timing and we’re starting to find it,” said Randy Miller, who scored from third as a pinch runner in the second game. “I think we’re starting to come together … and put the barrel of the bat on the ball.
“I think if our team hits, we’ll play with everyone.”
Sunday’s loss came as the Rockets allowed five first-inning runs after starter Eathan Daggett walked the first four batters of the game. Kyle Zerfas, Matt Chronister, Quinton Smith and Travis Gray all pitched in relief.
Waters had two of Portland’s four hits, and Heath Reynolds and Logan Hug each contributed one.[[In-content Ad]]