Things top defending champs in home opener
The Miners’ Ryan Curl steals second base as the Wild Things’ C.J. Beatty awaits the ball during Friday night’s game at Consol Energy Park.
Shawn Sanford gave up only one run in seven innings Friday during the Wild Things’ 6-4 win over Southern Illinois in the home opener.
Washington’s Darian Sandford beats out an infield single as Southern Illinois first baseman Jason Ganek fumbles the ball during the second inning Friday night.
The Wild Things’ C.J. Beatty slides safely into third after hitting a triple in the second inning against the Southern Illinois Miners during the home opener Friday night.
After laboring through a 33-pitch first inning Friday night, the odds of Wild Things starting pitcher Shawn Sanford being around to pitch the seventh seemed longer than that of a rickshaw driver winning the Indianapolis 500.
Sanford gave up a triple to the game’s first batter, and the next two Southern Illinois hitters followed with singles. Down 1-0 with two runners on base and no outs was not the best way to start a frigid home opener.
Sanford, however, escaped the marathon first inning with only one run allowed, figured out some things between innings and then gave a glimpse of why he was in major league spring training with the San Francisco Giants last year. The right-hander from Tampa, Fla., pitched seven innings of one-run ball to lead Washington to a 6-4 victory over Southern Illinois, the Frontier League’s defending champion, before 2,512 chilled fans at Consol Energy Park.
The win was the fourth in a row for the Wild Things after being swept in the season-opening series at Schaumburg.
Sanford (1-0) allowed only five hits and two runs. He struck out six left after seven innings with a 6-1 lead.
“The first inning, it took me awhile to get going,” Sanford said. “Giving up a leadoff triple never helps. When that happens, you just have to realize that you’re not going to throw a shutout. You want to get out of the inning and minimize the damage. I made some quality pitches in that first inning, but their hitters kept fouling them off, which got the pitch count up.”
Southern Illinois got the leadoff triple to center field from Tyler Hall, who scored on Tyler Stubblefield’s infield single. Carlos Melendez followed with a bloop single down the right-field line, but then Sanford found his groove, getting a strikeout and two groundouts to escape with only a 1-0 deficit.
“The key was getting out of the first inning and minimizing the damage,” Washington manager Bart Zeller said.
It also helped that the Wild Things got the run back in the bottom of the first, and then scored four times in the second against Southern Illinois starter Richard Sullivan (1-1), who spent the last four seasons in Class AA in the Atlanta Braves’ system.
A throwing error – one of an uncharacteristic four errors on the night by the Miners – set up Stewart Ijames’ run-scoring infield single that made it 1-1. Southern Illinois committed two more errors in the second inning, and Washington second baseman C.J. Beatty laced a two-run double and scored on Shain Stoner’s sacrifice fly.
The Wild Things made it 5-1 in the fifth when Darian Sandford stole home when Miners relief pitcher Dayne Quist made a pickoff throw to first base in an attempt to get Gus Benusa. Quist struck out five batters in 2 1/3 innings of relief.
Meanwhile, Sanford was silencing Southern Illinois’ hitters, retiring 15 of 16 at one stretch.
“He got into a rhythm. He started to hit his locations, throw his sinker and take over the ballgame,” Zeller said. “Giving up that leadoff triple didn’t phase him.”
“I go into every game with two objectives: save the bullpen and leave with the lead,” Sanford said.
He did just that, and got some help from his defense, too. Benusa, the right fielder, made a spectacular catch of a Hall fly ball in the right centerfield gap to end the seventh, saving one run. Benusa got an excellent jump on the ball and made a sprinting, diving, tumbling catch.
“At the time, it was 6-1 and a player doesn’t always think about laying out for a fly ball. Benusa did,” Zeller said. “He went after it with all the intensity needed.”
That play loomed large in the ninth inning when the Miners rallied and scored three times to pull to within 6-4. Southern Illinois had runners on the corners with one out when Wild Things closer Orlando Santos entered the game and needed only two pitches to induce a game-ending double play for his second save.
“Good win,” Zeller said. “That team over there is a good ballclub. They’re not the defending champs by chance.”
Southern Illinois manager Mike Pinto and hitting coach Ralph Santana presented Sandford with a Frontier League championship ring. Sandford played 64 games with Southern Illinois last season before being traded late in the year to Washington. … Designated hitter Mark Samuelsson (kidney stones) missed his fourth consecutive game but said he was feeling fine and able to pinch-hit, if necessary. … Because of the cold temperatures, each team used a portable heater in their dugout.