Loons back on track with 3-0 shutout victory over Fort Wayne thanks to great pitching perfromance from Stephen Kolek

 

After dropping 5 of the previous 6-games in one of the worst stretches of the 2019 Midwest League season, the Great Lakes Loons (51-34) managed to get back on track with an impressive 3-0 shutout victory over the Fort Wayne Tincaps (San Diego Padres) thanks to a stellar outing from Great Lakes starter Stephen Kolek (6-5, 4.43 ERA) who earned his sixth win of the season after tossing a 2-hit shutout with 5-strikeouts through 6-scoreless innings at Dow Diamond tonight. 

 

As they've done in every game of this series thus far, the Loons jumped out to an early lead in the opening frame when Great Lakes CF Chris Roller roped a lead-off double then scored for a 1-0 lead after Fort Wayne starter Joey Cantillo walked RF Romer Cuadrado, second baseman Jacob Amaya, and first baseman Dillon Paulson in consecutive at bats; before Loons third baseman Luke Heyer's groundout allowed Cuadrado to score for a 2-0 Great Lakes lead in the bottom of the first inning. 

 

The Loons would add another run when LF Matt Cogen led off the bottom half of the fifth inning with a single then scored on an RBI-double by Amaya for a 3-0 lead after five innings.

 

Great Lakes reliever Zach Willeman (SV2, 5.80 ERA) replaced Kolek to start the seventh and would go on to pick up his second save of the year after allowing just 3-hits and 2-walks to close out the final 3-innings.

 

Cantillo (6-3, 2.07 ERA) was charged with his third loss of the season after giving up 3-runs on 5-hits and 3-walks, while striking out 7-batters through 5-innings, as Tincaps reliever Cody Tyler finished out the game, allowing 3-hits with 3-strikeouts throughout the final 3-innings.

 

Heyer paced the Great Lakes offense going 2 for 3 with 1-RBI, followed by Paulson who was 2 for 4, while Amaya and Loons catcher Jair Camargo each finished 1 for 3 with 1-RBI apiece respectively. 

 

The Loons will now get a league-wide day off tomorrow, before heading out for a western division road trip, kicking off of 3-game road series (Wed-Wed) against the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Minnesota Twins) at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, IA at 7:35 pm (CST) on Wednesday night.