Aug 11, 2013 4 min read

Going, going, gone.

The baseball, the notion that the Windy City ThunderBolts can’t win games with the longball and the Wild Things’ chance for a much-needed come-from-behind victory.

And when Evan Button’s home run sailed over the right-field wall with one out in the top of the ninth inning Sunday night, it might have taken with it Washington’s chances of making the Frontier League playoffs.

Button broke a tie by hitting a game-winning two-run homer off Washington relief pitcher Amalio Diaz, giving Windy City a 7-5 victory over the Wild Things at Consol Energy Park.

It was the second night in a row Windy City broke a ninth-inning tie with Washington and scored the game-winning run.

The loss, combined with a win by red-hot Lake Erie over Joliet, dropped Washington (35-38) to seven games behind the Crushers (42-31), who currently hold the Frontier League’s final wild-card playoff spot with 23 games remaining. Making the situation more troubling for the Wild Things is there are three teams in the standings between them and Lake Erie.

Washington manager Bart Zeller knows the season is rapidly fading away.

“Every day that we lose a game, it’s one less we have left to play at the end. It’s slipping away from us. That’s not a good sign,” Zeller said. “These are games we’re supposed to win.”

The pitching situation for Windy City (35-39) was set up nicely for Washington heading into this series. The ThunderBolts had to use relief pitcher Markus Solbach in an emergency starting role Saturday night, and he responded by tossing six stellar innings. On Sunday, Windy City started lefty Matt Wickswat, who leads the league with 10 losses.

The Wild Things, however, fell behind 5-0 against Wickswat, then rallied to tie the score with a five-run fifth inning. But the ThunderBolts’ bullpen threw five shutout innings.

Button’s game-winning home run came after Chase Tucker, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, dropped a one-out single into right field. It was the second two-run homer of the day for Windy City, which is last in the league with 25 home runs. Chad Cregar staked the ThunderBolts to a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a home run down the right-field line off Washington starter Dan Goldstein.

“Evan is a guy we picked up who had good home-run production with Rockford. He has been a good pickup. He’s swinging a good bat,” said Windy City manager Ron Biga, who was an assistant coach on Zeller’s staff last year at Joliet.

Windy City took advantage of four walks and a hit batsman by Goldstein in only 4 1/3 innings. Two of those baserunners eventually scored.

“We can’t walk four guys,” Zeller said. “That’s not the way it should go. We’ve got to command the strike zone better.”

Tucker scored on a fielder’s choice in the third inning to make it 3-0. Ryan Soares, who drove in three runs, greeted Washington reliever Jhonny Montoya with a bases-loaded single in the fifth that stretched the T-Bolts’ advantage to 5-0.

Washington knocked out Wickswat in the bottom of the fifth when its first five batters reached base. Mario Mercedes drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run, and C.J. Beatty followed with a three-run triple up the alley in left centerfield. Beatty made it 5-5 when he trotted home on Stewart Ijames’ sacrifice fly.

“I saw a lot of good stuff. We were down five, came back and got the momentum,” Zeller said. “We just couldn’t get another one. Then Button turned on one and that was it.”

Montoya threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings in his longest outing in almost a year, but the ThunderBolts’ bullpen was even better. Rookie Jake Roberts and Jessie Snodgrass (2-0) each threw two perfect innings before closer Michael Click got the final three outs for his 17th save.

It was Windy City’s fifth consecutive win. In each of those victories, the ThunderBolts scored the game-winning run in their final inning of batting.

“That’s the sign of a good team,” Zeller said.

Added Biga, “We keep fighting. At the beginning of the season we were expecting to lose games. Now, we’re expecting to win ’em.”

Prior to the game, Washington signed first baseman Nick Boggan (6-3, 225), a rookie out of Cal Lutheran, an NCAA Division III school. Boggan started and went 1-for-4, getting a single to start Washington’s big fifth inning. … After the series finale tonight against Windy City, the Wild Things begin a four-game set Tuesday at Lake Erie. … The five-game winning streak is the first for Windy City in more than two years.