Walks spell Rockets’ doom in loss

The Rockets batters found their groove at the plate. The pitchers did not find theirs.

Some trouble on the mound led to the Portland Rockets dropping their second game in as many days on Thursday night as they fell to the Fort Wayne Renegades 19-7 at Runkle-Miller Field.

All four of the Rockets’ pitchers struggled to find the strike zone consistently.

“We couldn’t control the strike zone that’s been a bugaboo,” manager Randy Miller said. “Our reliever had trouble making the holes in the mound from last night fit his stride for tonight. Nick Bailey hit the first guy and we just compounded our mistakes with more forced pitches under duress. Just no groove at all. No flow …”

“Two nights in a row our pitching got thin and they looked it. They were not skilled.”

The Renegades were able to pull in three runs off of Crosby Heniser through the first three innings thanks to a pair of errors, a pair of walks, a pair of stolen bases, a passed ball and a double by Michael Berwick.

Fort Wayne really started to get to Heniser in the fourth inning. Jake McGrath led off with a triple that one-hopped the fence followed by a walk and two singles by Sam King and Ty Layson. King’s single drove McGrath in for the first run of the inning before Miller put in Nick Bailey to face Tristan Rothenberger with the bases loaded.

Bailey couldn’t find the zone as he hit Rothenberger to score a run, then threw a four-pitch walk to allow a second. He finally recorded the first out of the inning when Bryce Tucker hit a sacrifice fly to score the fourth run of the inning.

Bailey’s struggles would continue as walks, passed balls and a pair of throwing errors by catcher Magnuss Lee allowed three more runs to cross the plate.

“It was patience,” Renegades manager Larry Hoffman said. “They struggled – they didn’t have their top dawg and we were patient enough that we capitalized on that.”

It was a complete team effort from Fort Wayne offensively, with every single player scoring at least one run, six of which scored multiple, seven players drove in 10 runs and three players had multiple hits.

After Bailey’s struggles in the fourth, he didn’t allow a run in the fifth while allowing two walks.

George Dizard followed Bailey, throwing two scoreless innings while giving up four walks. He started to unravel in the seventh innings, he began to fade. A hit batter, a single and a fifth walk loaded the bases for Dizard before Miller decided to give Vasin Ridgeway his first opportunity on the mound this season.

He made it out of the seventh inning without much damage. He struck out the first batter he faced before Blake Caldwell committed an error charging the ball to try and get the out at home allowing two runs to score. He finished out the inning with a ground out and a pop up to Lee.

“He seized the opportunity,” Miller said. “It was his first opportunity on the hill, so good for him. It’s something we can build upon.” 

The ninth didn’t go as smoothly for Ridgeway, who gave up seven runs on six walks.

Despite the poor defensive performance, the Rockets returned to form at the plate. Both Joel Kennedy and Heniser tallied three hits in the game while Noah Collins and Ayden Lichtenstiger added two hits.

The offensive moment of the game for the Rockets came in the bottom of the sixth. With two runners on base and no outs, Lee came to the plate. Having been 0-for-2 on the day at that point, one of his friends on the Renegades started chirping at him about his previous at bats. He then belted the first pitch over the center fielder’s head for an RBI-double.

“The pitcher threw me six sliders in my first two at bats, so I was sitting slider, I got one first pitch and took it pretty far,” Lee said. “It felt great. All of them are my friends that I grew up with so it just felt amazing.”

Box score

Portland Rockets

vs. Fort Wayne Renegades

Fort Wayne Renegades (4-11)

    ab    r    h    bi

Layson p    5    3    1    0

Massing ss    5    4    0    1

Berwick 3b    5    1    2    3

Rothenberger lf    3    1    1    2

Tucker 1b    4    2    0    1

Ianveilli rf    3    1    0    1

McGrath cf    6    3    3    1

Francher c    4    2    0    0

King 2b    3    2    2    1    

Totals    38    19    9    10

Rockets (15-12)

    ab    r    h    bi

Durick lf    2    1    0    0

Holley cf    5    0    0    0

Kennedy 1b    5    2    3    1

Caldwell 3b    5    0    0    0

Lichtenstiger lf    5    1    2    1

Heniser p    3    0    3    1    

   Ridgeway cr    1    0    0    0

Lee c    5    1    1    1

Collins ss    4    2    1    0

Dunlavy rf    4    0    0    0    

Totals    39    7    10    4

Renegades     201 700     027 — 19

Rockets       211 002     010 — 7

LOB — Rockets 10, Renegades 12. 2B — Rockets 2 (Lichtenstiger, Lee), Renegades 1 (Berwick). 3B — Renegades 1 (McGrath). SB — Rockets 3 (Collins 2, Lichtenstiger), Renegades 7 (Berwick 2, Ianveilli 2, Massing, Rothenberger, McGrath).

    IP    H    R    ER    BB    SO

Renegades

Layson W    7    8    6    3    2    7

Massing    2    2    1    0    2    5

Rockets

Heniser L    3    5    7    5    3    5

Bailey    2    0    3    3    5    1

Dizard    2    2    2    0    5    3

Ridgeway    2    2    7    5    6    4