Fort Wayne — Outside of a few key contributors, 2026 has been an exceptionally struggle-filled start to the year for the TinCaps offense. It’s been even rougher for the club’s pitching staff as they’ve gotten off to a league-worst 7-14 start.
It’s a trend that continued Sunday afternoon, as they were shut out 9-0 by the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The loss marks the second time this season Fort Wayne has been shut out, and tenth time they have scored two runs or less. They’ve scored 26 fewer runs than the second-lowest total in the Midwest League.
The club handed the ball to 20-year-old Abraham Parra for the start. The right-hander breezed through the first two innings, but yielded three runs in the third when Wisconsin collected three loud extra-base hits. He bounced back and was able go 4.2 innings total, yielding just one more unearned run. The 2023 signee punched out a season-high seven.
Parra’s fastball sat in the low 90s, while his sweeper flashed some solid horizontal movement, seeing upwards of 17 inches of horizontal break. On the way to his strikeout total, Parra’s arsenal generated 11 total whiffs and a 30.5% whiff rate.
Abraham Parra has shown flashes early in his TinCaps career. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
“That’s a tough lineup, so for him to get us that far into the game with how taxed our bullpen is helped us a ton,” said TinCaps Manager Jonathan Mathews. “He threw his breaking ball for strikes when he wanted to, and got swings and misses with it. That’s a pitch that keeps trending in the right direction.”
Following Parra’s departure, Wisconsin once again went to work against the Fort Wayne bullpen.
Over the final 4.1 innings of Sunday’s ball game, the Timber Rattlers pushed across four more runs. That included back-to-back homers by Braylon Payne and Marco Dinges off Bernard Jose. Payne’s shot left the yard at 102 mph and Dinges at 111.8 mph.
On the year, the bullpen now has an 8.64 ERA and has allowed a .304 cumulative batting average.
As an offense, Fort Wayne was held to just five hits in the loss.The lone extra-base hits of the day belonged to Jake Cunningham and Jack Costello. With Alex McCoy getting a day off, Cunningham is one of only two players in the starting lineup Sunday whose OPS is above .700
Catcher Lamar King Jr. tallied one of the club’s other three hits as he continued a mixed start to the 2026 season. The backstop has been more focused on contact than power, yielding an 85 wRC+ despite a strong 80.9% contact rate.
“I think he’s using the field a little bit more this season, and he had a hard hit ball to right today,” said Mathews. “We’ve talked about trying to think about hitting the fastball to right center and if it’s soft going to the pull side. I think he has taken that to heart.”
Kavares Tears is swinging and missing much less frequently in 2026. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
While he failed to log a hit, Kavares Tears continued his early season trends of hitting the ball hard and walking. He drew a team-high 14th free pass of the year in the bottom of the second, pushing his back up above 20%. In the bottom of the eighth, he rocketed a ball at 106 mph, only for it to be snagged by Wisconsin first basemen, Eric Bitonti.
“His moves are a lot smaller this year,” said Mathews, “We made some adjustments in instructional league this past fall. He is a lot smoother with his movements without the big leg kick. I think one of the bigger things for him, still, is to be able to get to some of those fastballs with good carry.”
