TinCaps Drop Two

FORT WAYNE — The TinCaps picked up Friday’s suspended game in the second inning and took a 4-2 loss. In the nightcap, Keegan Collett had a rough outing as Fort Wayne went down 5-1 for their fourth loss in five games.

“I sort of pride myself on being the same guy every day,” said TinCaps’ manager Jonathan Matthews when asked if he changes anything in his team’s preparation when faced with a few losses.

“Does it churn in my guts, and do I lose sleep? Absolutely, but I don’t let them see that. That way, if I have to have a stern message once in a while – and there have been a few so far – then it’s heard because you can’t do that every day.”

Game One: Adam Mazur replaced Jairo Iriarte on the mound when the game restarted and looked very impressive.

He threw four and third innings, with 38 of his 58 pitches for strikes, flashing an impressive slider and hitting 97 a few times with his four-seam fastball.

“I had been working on a lot of mechanical stuff, so it was just putting it all together and getting back out on the mound,” said Mazur.

“For me, it’s a lot of lower body stuff of just getting my hips rotated correctly and my body aligned correctly.

“I feel good. I was out for a week or two, so I am a little further behind on my innings than the other guys, so I just have to keep on grinding.”

At the plate, Cole Cummings was able to score on the front end of a well-executed double steal with Jakob Marsee before Nathan Martorella drove in Marsee with a double to center.

Martorella is second in the league with 23 RBI, and Marsee is second in runs scored with 25.

“Marsee has been getting on base even when he wasn’t hitting earlier in the year,” said Matthews. “Now he’s starting to hit a little more and even better.

“Nathan has hit all year, and he’s probably going to hit all year. He puts professional at-bats together.”

The wheels came off for the TinCaps in the seventh inning when Jason Blanchard, who relieved Mazur, gave up a run-scoring single followed by a two-run blast over the centerfield wall to put the Sky Carp on top.

Beloit added a run in the ninth for a final of 4-2.

Game Two: In the seven-inning second game, right-hander Keegan Collet couldn’t make it out of a 30-pitch first inning. He gave up a single to the leadoff hitter, then got two ground outs and should have been out of the inning if not for shortstop Kerwin Pichardo’s fielding error.

Collet then walked the next two batters and a line drive plated two. He then walked the next batter on four pitches and was removed for reliever Chris Lincoln, who struck out the ninth batter of the inning.

Fort Wayne’s bullpen only gave two runs after the first, and Jose Galindo did keep the TinCaps in the game with three and third innings of one-run relief.

Cummings had the sole RBI for the TinCaps on a ground out to first base in the 5-1 loss.

Notes: Before the rain came on Friday, Jairo Iriarte was very impressive in his two innings of work. According to his catcher Brandon Valenzuela, his command is much better than last year, and his slider is particularly effective. “Everything he throws is just hard,” said Valenzuela. “Even his changeup.”… In Game One, second baseman Lucas Dunn made one of the better defensive plays all year. With runners on the corners, he sprinted into foul territory to catch a pop fly close to the railing, then spun and fired a strike home to get the runner attempting to score from third base, for an inning-ending double-play.