May 20, 2015 5 min read

For the first time this season, the Wild Things lost a game by more than one run. That’s because Evansville had too much pitching by a crafty sidearming left-hander and too much hitting from a former Pitt standout.

Efrain Nieves, a former seventh-round draft pick of the Milwaukee Brewers, threw six shutout innings and John Schultz, a Pennsylvania native and 2011 Pitt graduate, hit a solo homer and scored two runs to lead Evansville over the Wild Things 5-2 on a crisp Wednesday night at Consol Energy Park.

Nieves was making his Evansville debut but it was the 233rd professional outing for the lefty from Puerto Rico. He is in his ninth professional season. He allowed only one hit and two walks over his six innings, baffling Washington hitters with pitches from an arrary of arm angles.

“You usually don’t see a guy with that much experience in this league and a sidearmer who is a starting pitcher,” Washington manager Bob Bozzuto said. “That kind of arm angle impacts the hitters. He was throwing only about 86 mph … but that shows you don’t have to pass the eye test. It’s about how much movement you have on your pitches.”

Washington’s pitchers didn’t have enough movement when Schultz was batting. The outfielder doubled and scored in the first inning and hit a solo homer in the third that gave Evansville a 3-0 lead. He also made a diving catch in left centerfield to rob C.J. Beatty of a hit in the eighth inning. Schultz, who is from the Reading area, is one of six Pennsylvanians on the Otters’ roster.

“A lot of our guys were amped up for this series. This is the shortest trip for our families and friends to see us play,” said Schultz, whose parents and grandparents were in attendance. “It’s always good to play in front of the home folks.”

Evansville scored the only runs it would need in the first three innings against Washington starter Matt Sergey (0-2). Schultz hit a one-out double to left field and scored when Nik Balog bounced a single up the middle two batters later. Balog, who advanced to second base on the throw from the outfield, scored when Chris Sweeney singled to left centerfield.

Schultz gave the Otters a 3-0 lead when he led off the third inning with his first home run of the season. The left-handed hitting Schultz smacked an 0-2 pitch from Sergey over the wall in right centerfield.

Sergey struck out eight in five innings and issued only one walk, but he worked deep in counts and threw 106 pitches.

“Overall, he pitched well but you can’t make mistakes on 0-2,” said Bozzuto. “There are good hitters in this league and they capitalized. … They had a 3-0 lead and it seemed like 10-0 the way (Nieves) was pitching.”

Evansville scored two runs on only one hit in the sixth inning against relief pitcher Joe Iorio, who was making his professional debut. Iorio, who was the Wild Things’ first pick at the Frontier League draft last month out of Barry University, walked the first two batters he faced, and after a sacrifice bunt Cory Urquhart blopped a two-run single into right field to make it 5-0.

Washington’s only hit off Nieves (1-0) was Sam Mende’s double to right centerfield to lead off the third inning. Mende was able to advance to third base on the play when Evansville center fielder Kurt Wertz dropped the ball when he picked it up at the wall.

Mende, however, was stranded at third base. Nieves got the next two Washington hitters to ground out to third base before a flyout ended the inning.

After six innings of nothing but frustration against Nieves, the Wild Things (1-4) scored one batter after the Otters changed pitchers. Cleanup hitter Lee Orr greeted reliever Adam Mott by hitting the rookie’s first pitch for a long solo home run over the scoreboard in left centerfield.

Washington scored again in the ninth when Edinson Rincon singled and two batters later Matt Ford dropped an RBI-double into right centerfield. Ford’s hit was the first time in 13 at-bats with a runner on base that the Wild Things’ hitters advanced the runner.

Bozzuto his team’s struggling offense must improve its situational hitting.

“Situational hitting is something we talk about every day in batting practice. It’s hit-and-run, get the runner over, get the runner in. It’s just that Nieves had our number,” Bozzuto said. “It seemed like he could have pitched forever and we wouldn’t have gotten a quality at-bat against him, except for Mende.”

Pitcher Luke Wilkins will make his Wild Things debut tonight. A native of Sydney, Australia, Wilkins is a five-year veteran of the Australian Baseball League and was signed by Washington in the offseason. Wilkins will be the starting pitcher in the series finale against the Otters.