April 24, 2019 at 10:16 p.m.
Hot bats help Hot Rods beat TinCaps
Three homers help Bowling Green past Fort Wayne, 9-2
Hot bats help Hot Rods beat TinCaps
Copyright 2019, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
FORT WAYNE — The ball was flying around Parkview Field on Wednesday afternoon.
It just happened to be off the bat of the Hot Rods most of the time.
Kaleo Johnson had the first multi-home run game of his career, and the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay Rays) totaled three round-trippers in handing the Fort Wayne TinCaps a 9-2 defeat.
“Not the way we wanted it to go,” said TinCap manager Anthony Contreras, whose team went 2-4 in its six-game homestand. “Sometimes you’re going to have games like this where things are out of your control. They will have their way with us sometimes and we’re going to have our way with some other teams as well. You just want to keep having quality (at bats), you want to see them still make the plays and have our guys get out there and get some work on the mound.
“We’ll chalk it up to that and move on to South Bend.”
Johnson’s first blast came in the top of the fourth inning on a 3-1 pitch from Fort Wayne starter Efraín Contreras. His solo shot to left field put Bowling Green (11-9) on top 2-0 following an RBI single by Ford Proctor an inning earlier.
Blake Hunt followed with a solo home run, his second of the season, to left center as the TinCaps (10-9) cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame.
However, after TinCap reliever Dan Dallas issued consecutive one-out walks in the fifth inning, Johnson ripped his third home run of the season, a three-run blast 412 feet to left field to push the score to 6-1.
Hunt had a front-row seat behind the plate as Johnson, who finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a walk, trotted around the bases twice.
“Some pitches aren’t going to be in the right spot,” Hunt said. “It’s going to happen. Guys are human.
“The first one was a hanging changeup, I believe, that just didn’t break right. It’s going to happen. He did smash that. The second one, that was just a fastball that didn’t get on his hands. Got to give credit where credit is due sometimes.”
Bowling Green tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Wander Franco — the Rays’ No. 1 prospect later hit his first home run of the season in the eighth inning — and a Chris Betts RBI single.
Xavier Edwards hit a ground-rule double in the top of the eighth inning for the TinCaps and finished with two hits, while Agustin Ruiz and Hunt each had a pair of hits as well. Dwanya Williams-Sutton, who had reached base safely in his previous 14 games, failed to extend his streak.
Following Wednesday’s setback, Fort Wayne hits the road for a four-game set against the South Bend Cubs (Chicago Cubs) having lost seven of its last 12 games, including a 3-5 mark against the Hot Rods. The TinCaps started the season 6-2 and have not won a series since the four-game sweep of the Dayton Dragons April 7 through 11.
Despite the losses recently, Contreras and Hunt both agree the early part of the season can be a tough barometer for the rest of the year, and they believe the team’s best baseball is still in front of it.
“Sometimes we’re just going to get beat,” Hunt said. “We’re going to put our best guy out there and we’re going to play ball. Sometimes mistakes are going to happen. Once we hit our stride in about a month or so we’re going to be rolling.”
All Rights Reserved
FORT WAYNE — The ball was flying around Parkview Field on Wednesday afternoon.
It just happened to be off the bat of the Hot Rods most of the time.
Kaleo Johnson had the first multi-home run game of his career, and the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay Rays) totaled three round-trippers in handing the Fort Wayne TinCaps a 9-2 defeat.
“Not the way we wanted it to go,” said TinCap manager Anthony Contreras, whose team went 2-4 in its six-game homestand. “Sometimes you’re going to have games like this where things are out of your control. They will have their way with us sometimes and we’re going to have our way with some other teams as well. You just want to keep having quality (at bats), you want to see them still make the plays and have our guys get out there and get some work on the mound.
“We’ll chalk it up to that and move on to South Bend.”
Johnson’s first blast came in the top of the fourth inning on a 3-1 pitch from Fort Wayne starter Efraín Contreras. His solo shot to left field put Bowling Green (11-9) on top 2-0 following an RBI single by Ford Proctor an inning earlier.
Blake Hunt followed with a solo home run, his second of the season, to left center as the TinCaps (10-9) cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame.
However, after TinCap reliever Dan Dallas issued consecutive one-out walks in the fifth inning, Johnson ripped his third home run of the season, a three-run blast 412 feet to left field to push the score to 6-1.
Hunt had a front-row seat behind the plate as Johnson, who finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a walk, trotted around the bases twice.
“Some pitches aren’t going to be in the right spot,” Hunt said. “It’s going to happen. Guys are human.
“The first one was a hanging changeup, I believe, that just didn’t break right. It’s going to happen. He did smash that. The second one, that was just a fastball that didn’t get on his hands. Got to give credit where credit is due sometimes.”
Bowling Green tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Wander Franco — the Rays’ No. 1 prospect later hit his first home run of the season in the eighth inning — and a Chris Betts RBI single.
Xavier Edwards hit a ground-rule double in the top of the eighth inning for the TinCaps and finished with two hits, while Agustin Ruiz and Hunt each had a pair of hits as well. Dwanya Williams-Sutton, who had reached base safely in his previous 14 games, failed to extend his streak.
Following Wednesday’s setback, Fort Wayne hits the road for a four-game set against the South Bend Cubs (Chicago Cubs) having lost seven of its last 12 games, including a 3-5 mark against the Hot Rods. The TinCaps started the season 6-2 and have not won a series since the four-game sweep of the Dayton Dragons April 7 through 11.
Despite the losses recently, Contreras and Hunt both agree the early part of the season can be a tough barometer for the rest of the year, and they believe the team’s best baseball is still in front of it.
“Sometimes we’re just going to get beat,” Hunt said. “We’re going to put our best guy out there and we’re going to play ball. Sometimes mistakes are going to happen. Once we hit our stride in about a month or so we’re going to be rolling.”
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