May 1, 2019 at 10:43 p.m.
Reigning in the rain
TinCaps have bats come alive in the rain for a 10-4 win
Reigning in the rain
Copyright 2019, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
FORT WAYNE — Like rain to a spring bloom, the TinCap bats just needed a little bit of moisture.
Once the sky opened up and began to rain, the TinCaps struck for nine runs on seven hits, including a pair of knocks by Xavier Edwards on his career day, during the fifth inning that carried Fort Wayne to a 10-4 win against the Kane County Cougars on Wednesday afternoon at Parkview Field.
“We needed a game like this to get back on track, but we’ll see what happens (Thursday),” said TinCap manager Anthony Contreras, whose team had lost four in a row and five of its last six games. “We got the taste back in our mouth. It was a good offensive performance. Played good defense for the elements that were out there with the wet conditions.
“We needed a good performance from the whole team, not just the pitching staff or the offense. We needed a whole team effort to bounce back and hopefully we can get this going for tomorrow.”
On the surface, though, it was the offense that Fort Wayne (12-13) needed most against Kane County (15-11). Two of the top three spots in the order provided the spark the home team was desperately searching for coming off four consecutive losses.
As Kane County (Arizona Diamondbacks) came to bat in the fifth inning with a 4-1 lead, rain began to lightly fall. Two batters into the bottom of the frame — a Juan Fernandez single and a Juwuan Harris walk — it started to pour.
Edwards, the leadoff man who finished 5-for-5 with a double, four singles and an RBI, put down a bunt to load the bases. Cougar starter Jackson Goddard walked Tucupita Marcano to score Fernandez and make it 4-2.
Kane County manager Vince Harrison turned to reliever Erin Baldwin, and Agustin Ruiz ripped the new hurler’s third pitch to deep left center field for a go-ahead, bases-clearing double.
“Agustin has been hot all year,” Contreras said. Ruiz, who finished with four RBIs, raised his average to .354, second only to Edwards (.390). “For him to come up, it’s nothing unusual for us, him driving the ball the opposite way. For him to clear the bases you could see that momentum shift and it was huge for us going forward.”
The TinCaps were far from done scoring, though.
Luiz Almanzar, Nick Gatewood, Fernandez, Harris and Edwards — he doubled for his second hit of the inning — also scored runs as the TinCaps had all four of their doubles come in that frame.
“It’s huge,” Edwards said. “We know we’re not out of any game. For us to put up a big number, a crooked number when we’re down 4-1, it’s huge for us as a team to carry out the rest of the month.”
As for Edwards, who took the team lead with his 10th multi-hit game of the season and first five-hitter of his career, his success at the plate is a result of him keeping things basic.
“I’m just seeing the ball pretty well right now,” he said. “Just trying to keep it simple in the box. Hitting is hard enough as it is so I’m just trying to keep things simple. That’s what I’ve been trying to do and it panned out today.
Efraín Contreras picked up his first win of the season. He allowed four earned runs on five hits, struck out three and didn’t issue a walk.
Kane County built its lead with a run in the dry first inning on a Zach Shannon sacrifice fly, and Shannon knocked in a pair of runs in the third to put the Cougars on top 3-0. After Ruiz drove home Fernandez in the bottom of the third for the TinCaps’ first run, the Cougars made the margin three again on a Tra Holmes solo homer in the fifth.
But once the rain started, so too did the TinCap offense.
“(Antony Contreras) had a pretty powerful message to us yesterday after the loss, just that we needed to bounce back and get back to winning baseball and how we did at the beginning of the season,” Edwards said. “I think we definitely carried that into today.”
All Rights Reserved
FORT WAYNE — Like rain to a spring bloom, the TinCap bats just needed a little bit of moisture.
Once the sky opened up and began to rain, the TinCaps struck for nine runs on seven hits, including a pair of knocks by Xavier Edwards on his career day, during the fifth inning that carried Fort Wayne to a 10-4 win against the Kane County Cougars on Wednesday afternoon at Parkview Field.
“We needed a game like this to get back on track, but we’ll see what happens (Thursday),” said TinCap manager Anthony Contreras, whose team had lost four in a row and five of its last six games. “We got the taste back in our mouth. It was a good offensive performance. Played good defense for the elements that were out there with the wet conditions.
“We needed a good performance from the whole team, not just the pitching staff or the offense. We needed a whole team effort to bounce back and hopefully we can get this going for tomorrow.”
On the surface, though, it was the offense that Fort Wayne (12-13) needed most against Kane County (15-11). Two of the top three spots in the order provided the spark the home team was desperately searching for coming off four consecutive losses.
As Kane County (Arizona Diamondbacks) came to bat in the fifth inning with a 4-1 lead, rain began to lightly fall. Two batters into the bottom of the frame — a Juan Fernandez single and a Juwuan Harris walk — it started to pour.
Edwards, the leadoff man who finished 5-for-5 with a double, four singles and an RBI, put down a bunt to load the bases. Cougar starter Jackson Goddard walked Tucupita Marcano to score Fernandez and make it 4-2.
Kane County manager Vince Harrison turned to reliever Erin Baldwin, and Agustin Ruiz ripped the new hurler’s third pitch to deep left center field for a go-ahead, bases-clearing double.
“Agustin has been hot all year,” Contreras said. Ruiz, who finished with four RBIs, raised his average to .354, second only to Edwards (.390). “For him to come up, it’s nothing unusual for us, him driving the ball the opposite way. For him to clear the bases you could see that momentum shift and it was huge for us going forward.”
The TinCaps were far from done scoring, though.
Luiz Almanzar, Nick Gatewood, Fernandez, Harris and Edwards — he doubled for his second hit of the inning — also scored runs as the TinCaps had all four of their doubles come in that frame.
“It’s huge,” Edwards said. “We know we’re not out of any game. For us to put up a big number, a crooked number when we’re down 4-1, it’s huge for us as a team to carry out the rest of the month.”
As for Edwards, who took the team lead with his 10th multi-hit game of the season and first five-hitter of his career, his success at the plate is a result of him keeping things basic.
“I’m just seeing the ball pretty well right now,” he said. “Just trying to keep it simple in the box. Hitting is hard enough as it is so I’m just trying to keep things simple. That’s what I’ve been trying to do and it panned out today.
Efraín Contreras picked up his first win of the season. He allowed four earned runs on five hits, struck out three and didn’t issue a walk.
Kane County built its lead with a run in the dry first inning on a Zach Shannon sacrifice fly, and Shannon knocked in a pair of runs in the third to put the Cougars on top 3-0. After Ruiz drove home Fernandez in the bottom of the third for the TinCaps’ first run, the Cougars made the margin three again on a Tra Holmes solo homer in the fifth.
But once the rain started, so too did the TinCap offense.
“(Antony Contreras) had a pretty powerful message to us yesterday after the loss, just that we needed to bounce back and get back to winning baseball and how we did at the beginning of the season,” Edwards said. “I think we definitely carried that into today.”
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