Aug 24, 2016 4 min read

This was the series before “the series” and the Wild Things did just enough against Traverse City to make this weekend have some high stakes.

Washington survived an error-filled nightcap of a doubleheader late Tuesday night, then used a fortunate bounce on a double by Jimmy Yezzo to score two early runs Wednesday and rode the strong pitching of starter Chase Cunningham and reliever Kolin Stanley to beat Traverse City, 3-2.

The series win moved the Wild Things above .500 (43-42) for the first time since July 31 and to within 2½ games of first-place Joliet in the East Division standings. The Slammers were rained out Wednesday against Windy City and will play a doubleheader against the Thunderbolts today before playing another twinbill Friday at Consol Energy Park to open the pivotal four-game weekend series against the Wild Things.

Washington remains a half-game behind River City for the final wild-card playoff spot. The Rascals won at Gateway, 3-2.

“We know where we are in the standings and how important these games coming up are,” said Yezzo, who made several stellar defensive plays during the series. “We have to continue to get good pitching and some knocks. It’s going to be fun.”

Yezzo’s hit in the first inning off Traverse City starter Tucker Simpson (3-4) wasn’t the longest double the Washington first baseman has ever hit but it might have had the highest bounce. With Andrew Heck at second base and Ricky Rodriguez on first, Yezzo dropped a hit in front of hard-charging Beach Bums center fielder Marcos Derkes, who got too close to the landing point. The ball bounced high over Derkes’ head and rolled toward the wall, allowing both Heck and Rodriguez to score.

“I think he got caught in between on that one,” Yezzo said of Derkes.

That bit of good fortune was enough for the Wild Things’ pitching staff, which protected the lead the rest of the way.

Cunningham (6-9) worked through a few messy early innings and got stronger as the game progressed. He allowed one run over seven innings. Cunningham ran up his pitch count in the first three innings, when he issued three walks, but was bailed out by two caught stealings and a groundball double play.

“I was pleased with the way Chase pitched from the fourth inning on,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said. “His pitch count and control wasn’t good early, so I told him to pitch more off his fastball. When he did that, he commanded the strike zone. He was better in the middle innings and that’s what saved us.”

The only run Cunningham allowed was in the seventh when shortstop Will Kengor, a Slippery Rock University product who has been a Wild Things killer, tripled into the right-field corner and scored on Steve Patterson’s sacrifice fly.

The Wild Things got the run back in the bottom of the seventh when Grant Fink, who doubled, scored when Heck grounded into a double play.

That made the score 3-1 and gave Stanley some margin for error, which came in handy when Kengor hit an opposite-field solo homer down the left-field line with two outs in the ninth.

Stanley, who was pitching in his third game over two days, got the final six outs for his fourth save.

“To be where we are, I couldn’t be more proud of this team,” Langbehn said. “They have come to play every night. We had that spurt at the end of the first half of the season that had us in first place by percentage points. Then we fell apart for a while. We couldn’t pitch and we’ve struggled to hit all year.

“But this was a very good win and it gives us a day off to recover. We have to be ready for the next series.”

Rodriguez hit a triple in the eighth inning and had two of Washington’s six hits. … The first 28 times the Beach Bums swung at a Cunningham pitch, only four resulted in the ball being put in play. There were 21 foul balls and three swings and misses.