FL Normal CornBelters

Portland Throws a Gem for CornBelters First Series Win

Published on May 24, 2018 under Frontier League (FL)
Normal CornBelters News Release


Normal CornBelters pitcher Matt Portland
Normal CornBelters pitcher Matt Portland
(Normal CornBelters, Credit: Brittnie Jackson)

NORMAL, Illinois - It seemed to finally all come together for the CornBelters, as they defeated the Joliet Slammers 3-1 for the first series win of the season on Thursday night.

"We talk all the time about taking the first game of the series and going right to the jugular and we had a tough game we lost last night and that happens," said Billy Horn. "Porti (Matt Portland) came out tonight and he threw well again. Back-to-back outings, no walks and 17 strikeouts in his last 12 innings and our team followed them"

Coming into tonight's game, Santiago Chirino and Derrick Loveless have been hitting machines. Chi-Chi was batting a .447 (second in the Frontier League) and Loveless has knocked a hit in every game for a .432 average (ranked third).

Besides a leadoff home run in the fourth, Matt Portland (1-1) continued to be lights out in his second season as a Belter. In his third start of the year, the former Kansas City draft pitched six innings along with 8 strikeouts, which is only one short of his career-high. This was also the third start this season where Portland completed six innings and was his second game in a row.

Both starting pitchers threw shutout ball until the fourth. Joliet led off the top half with a home run. The CornBelters responded in the next half. Loveless roped his second triple of the year into the right-field gap. One pitch later, Chris Iriart hit a sac-fly to the warning track out in left to tie the game.

With two outs in the fourth, Santiago Chirino doubled down the right-field line for hit number 610 to be only one back from tying for second all-time in hits for the Frontier League. The three-time all-star was brought around to score from Nick Cain who singled for his second hit of the game.

Johnathan de Marte was the first Belter out of the pen. He would record two outs but would walk three Slammers to load the bases. Antony Herrera came in and just needed three pitches to get out of the inning.

Normal increased their lead after recently signed Tyler Beckwith reached on a walk. A failed pickoff attempt moved him to third. Michael Centeno playing second base for the first time all season, brought Beckwith in by a sac-fly to put the Belters ahead 3-1.

Herrera went out to finish the eighth and got out of trouble again. Joliet had runners on first and second after an error and single. The converted infielder, rolled a 6-4-3 to get out of the pickle to keep the Slammers scoreless.

In the eighth Loveless continued to rake up at the plate. He knocked a single to right for his seventh straight multi-hit game. The former Blue Jay prospect now has 21 hits on the season, which is no surprise to Horn.

"He's (Derrick Loveless) a professional hitter and they call him 'Pops' since he is an older guy, but I talked to a couple organizations about him and I know he is an older guy, but the kid can hit. He is a professional hitter, you sit and talk to with him for a couple minutes and this guy has the potential to maybe be a hitting coach in the big leagues."

Kuehl McEachern came in the ninth and just gave up a hit, but closed the door for the Belters to pick up their first series win since Aug. 29-31 of last year and his first save on the year.

Normal looks to stay hot as they host the Windy City Thunderbolts for a weekend series starting tomorrow, first pitch is at 7:05 p.m.

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Images from this story

Normal CornBelters pitcher Matt Portland
Normal CornBelters pitcher Matt Portland
(Brittnie Jackson)		   



Frontier League Stories from May 24, 2018


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