Rockets rout Chiefs, 13-3

Eleven pitches got Kasey Henderson through the first inning.

The same amount kept the Chiefs at bay in the second.

He cruised from there.

Henderson threw five shutout innings, the offense gave him plenty of cushion and the Portland Rockets rolled to a 13-3 victory over the Muncie Chiefs on Wednesday at Portland Memorial Park’s Runkle-Miller Field.

“Mostly my fastball,” Henderson, a Muncie native, said of what was working for him on the bump. “Fastball is usually my strongest pitch. Curve really showed up today. Slider made a couple appearances.

“The only thing that wasn’t really happening was my changeup. Mostly, my fastball is my out pitch. I just rely on that the most.”

The win moved the Rockets to 3-2 on the season ahead of a second weekend of home doubleheaders.

“The guys are starting to get to know one another,” manager Randy Miller said. “We can see what strengths we can accentuate. We are starting to shore up some deficiencies. We’ve got some more speed.

“We’ve got guys that are more in sync with their roles. It’s a building thing and it’s exciting to see.”

Henderson, a left-handed senior at Anderson University, mowed through the Chiefs (1-6) in the first inning, including a pair of strikeouts. In the second, he issued a leadoff walk to Gehrig Smalstig, but Smalstig didn’t get any further than second base.

Following a perfect third inning, Henderson struck out the first two in the fourth before issuing his only walk to Cam Pratt. A flyout ended any chance for Muncie to score. Then after a leadoff single in the fifth, Henderson fanned the next three Chiefs to complete his outing.

Final line: five scoreless innings, two hits, one walk and eight strikeouts while not allowing a baserunner past second.

“(Catcher) Ethan (Pittsford) was calling a great game,” Henderson said. “Like I said, I was just pounding the zone with my fastball. Growing up (I was) told to throw strikes and that’s what I’m still doing.”

Miller was elated talking about the Cowan product after the game.

“That guy is a strike thrower,” he said. “He’s on the attack. … He is a keeper. He just throws goose eggs out there, one right after the other.”

After scoring a run in the first inning, Portland broke the game open in the fourth against Muncie’s starting pitcher, Butler-bound Gabe Phipps of Yorktown.

Chase Ruiz singled to left to begin the frame ahead of a Patrick Mills walk and an error off the bat of Geoff Bowers. Justin Green hit a sacrifice fly to score Ruiz, and Corbin Maddox drilled a two-run double to deep center field for a 4-0 Portland lead. Two batters later, Carsten White hit an RBI single.

Mills hit an RBI single to score the first of three runs in the fourth inning. Phipps struggled to find the strike zone as he issued three consecutive walks, twice with bases loaded.

Bowers and Green drove in runs on consecutive at bats in the fifth, and a three-run sixth inning capped 13 consecutive runs for the home team.

“We are starting to get our legs underneath us and getting some timing, firming up, centering the ball,” Miller said.

Mills, a Kokomo resident, was 3-for-4 and recorded his team-leading 10th RBI of the young season. Ruiz ended 3-for-5 with two RBIs, and Bowers finished 2-for-3 with a walk. Ian Schilling also collected two hits, including an RBI double in the sixth, as the Rockets out-hit the Chiefs 14-6.

“I think we’re starting to see up and down the lineup … we actually seem to have a formidable lineup,” Miller said.

Muncie stopped the shutout in the seventh inning when Smalstig hit a two-run home run to right field off Cameron Gwin. A leadoff triple from Austin Selvey and a Jerad May sacrifice fly plated the Chiefs’ final run in the eighth.

Portland’s doubleheader against the Fort Wayne Blues on Saturday was scheduled for Carrington Field in Fort Wayne, but it has been moved to Runkle-Miller Field. The Rockets host the Summit City Sluggers on Sunday for a pair of games as well.

Both doubleheaders are slated for a first pitch of 1 p.m.