Rocket train keeps rolling

The Rockets got off to a hot start in both games Sunday.

Late surges preserved the streak each time.

The Portland Rockets scored three insurance runs in the sixth inning of game one and added two runs to pad the lead in the second game as they swept the Whitko Royals at Portland Memorial Park’s Runkle-Miller Field.

“We’re playing winning baseball,” said Rockets manager Randy Miller, whose team almost gave up the lead in the first game but won 8-4, and took game two 7-2.

Coupled with a sweep of the Summit City Sluggers — 13-0 and 4-2 — on Saturday at Indiana Wesleyan, the Rockets (20-7) are winners of their last 13 games and host the Fort Wayne Wizards at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Portland starter Garrett Scott pitched well through the first five innings of game one, allowing just three hits with five strikeouts and a walk. His defense turned two double plays, including one on which first baseman Mitch Waters was pulled off the bag by a throw from Collin Affolder but was still able to tag out the runner.

But in the sixth he started to lose a bit of steam.

With the Rockets leading 5-1, Scott plunked the first batter he faced in the inning and Waters at first base wasn’t able to corral a dribbler Chaz Bellman hit off the end of the bat. As Waters tried to field the ball, it spun out of his glove.

Jayson Best, who was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1989 and reached Double-A, made the Rockets pay with an RBI single to the right side. Kevin Renn and Erik Hisner each drove in a pair of runs as the Royals trimmed the deficit to one.

“They were in position to take the lead,” Miller said. “But we came back.”

Clinging to a 5-4 lead in the first game, Portland got a bit of a cushion when Zach Tanner blasted a solo home run with one out in the home half of the sixth inning.

And the offense wasn’t quite done yet. Waters doubled on a liner off the fence in left-center, and Affolder followed with an RBI single as Waters chugged his way around from second. TJ Lindstrand, who was hitless on the day until the sixth, drilled a single to score Affolder to make it 8-4.

“We put a couple of at bats together,” Miller said.

Scott got the win, tossing six innings and giving up four runs — two earned — on six hits while striking out a half dozen and walking two. Cody Krumlauf allowed three base runners in his one inning of relief.

Keeping his bit of a hot streak alive, Lindstrand put Portland on the board in game two with an RBI sacrifice fly in the second inning, while Brandon Reamon and Waters each had RBIs one inning later to give the Rockets a quick 3-0 lead.

Logan Scrogham blasted his first career home run as a Rocket in the fourth inning so Portland once again took a 5-0 lead over Whitko.

Max Habegger, who pitched Thursday in a win over Northeast Kekionga, struggled during the first inning as he walked two of the first four batters he faced. He didn’t give up a run, though, and settled down from there.

The towering lefty shut out the Royals for five innings, striking out three and not walking any more.

“They can’t barrel up on him,” Miller said. “If they get anything it’s going to be a nickel and dime affair. He is just strong. He didn’t want to come out of the game but he just pitched three days ago.

“Keep him fresh and we’ll have good things in line four tournament play.”

Whitko broke through against reliever Chandler Jacks, a 2016 Jay County High School graduate. He gave up back-to-back doubles to begin his outing in the sixth before Best followed with an RBI to left.

And just like they did in game one, the Rockets scored a pair of runs in the sixth, thanks to a double from Waters and a two-run double from Affolder.

Waters led Portland with four hits on the day, including a pair of doubles. Affolder, who ended his junior season at Bethel with a school record 12-game hitting streak, drove in a team-high four runs.