Win is triple treat for Novoa, Wild Things
The oddities that can happen in a baseball game are limitless.
Take, for instance, what Melvin Novoa, the Wild Things’ catcher, did Sunday during a 9-4 victory over the Empire State Greys in a series finale.
Novoa, who turned 27 years old Saturday, has been playing professional baseball since 2014 and during that time he has never been described as fleet of foot. Tom Vaeth, Washington’s manager, described Novoa’s running style as “somewhere between slow and stop.”
During his last 1,000 plate appearances entering Sunday, Novoa had hit exactly one triple, that back in 2017 for Spokane while he was playing in the Texas Rangers’ farm system.
So what did Novoa do against the Greys? He hit not one, but two triples – in consecutive plate appearances.
The triples came in the third and fifth innings, and drove in three runs.
“I just try to hit the ball, put it in play and run,” said Novoa. “On those triples, nobody said stop running.”
Both triples came off Greys starter Matthew Peguero (0-2) and narrowly missed being home runs. The first scored Scotty Dubrule from first base. Novoa hit a fly ball to center field that Eric Jenkins attempted to make a leaping catch on, but the ball eluded the center fielder as he hit the wall. By the time Jenkins tracked down the ball, Novoa was on his way into third base.
Two innings later, Novoa lofted a high fly ball that sent Greys right fielder Quentin Holmes to the wall. Holmes tried to make a leaping catch, but the ball glanced off his glove. Holmes had trouble locating the ball as it dropped to the ground at the base of the wall. Before he could dislodge the ball and get it back to the infield Novoa had made it to third base, driving in Nick Gotta and Dubrule.
“This is a triples ballpark. It you hit it in the right places, then you have a chance for a triple,” Vaeth said.
Novoa’s second triple was part of a five-run fifth that opened a 7-4 lead. Novoa scored on Wagner Lagrange’s second sacrifice fly of the game, and Anthony Brocato and Tristan Peterson added back-to-back home runs before the inning ended. Brocato also had a triple.
Novoa will be playing only three more games for the Wild Things before taking a two-week break beginning Thursday to play for his home country, Nicaragua, in a Pan-Am Games qualifying tournament in El Salvador. Novoa played for Nicaragua this spring in the World Baseball Classic.
“You’re not replacing him,” Vaeth said. “We’ll do our best until he gets back. Without Novoa, we’ll have to have games like we did Saturday when everyone contributed.”
Novoa is second on the team with 25 RBI and has shown an ability to stop the opponent’s running game. He is second in the league in catcher caught stealing percentage.
Stephen Knapp (3-0) pitched 5 2/3 innings for the win in his final start before going back to bullpen duty. The side-arming Knapp allowed six hits and four runs. He walked two and struck out six.
Will Solomon, Christian James and Lukas Young combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.
Washington ended the series with 10 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings from its rebuilt bullpen that added two relievers, Will Solomon and Justin Goossen-Brown, last week.
“When we got those guys, we made a move to solidify and calm down our bullpen. They did a good job today,” Vaeth said.