Aug 27, 2016 4 min read

The sands are trickling through the hourglass quicker now as finality descends on the Wild Things’ season, but David Popkins and Austin Wobrock are playing like anything is possible.

Popkins crushed his team-leading 14th home run, a two-run shot that capped a four-run first inning, and the Wild Things went on to an important 13-8 victory over the Joliet Slammers before 2,651 Saturday night at Consol Energy Park.

It was a season high in runs for Washington.

“That shows the character of this team,” Popkins said. “We’re not going to roll over. The goal is to win one game at a time. If we do that, then we won’t fall back. We might even move up.”

Wobrock, Washington’s slick fielding shortstop, went 2-for-4 with a key two-run double in the seventh inning. He scored two runs and made several spectacular plays in the field, including one to rob Joliet’s Zarley Zalewski of a hit that might have been Washington’s defensive play of the year.

The win pulled Washington back to .500 (44-44) and within 3½ games of the East Division-leading Slammers with seven games remaining in the Frontier League regular season.

The Wild Things entered Saturday 2½ games behind River City for the second and final wild-card playoff berth. River City’s game against Normal was delayed by rain.

“We’re not in position where we can lose. That is the fact of the matter,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said. “Assuming that everybody in front of us plays .500 ball the rest of the way, then we have to go 6-1 or 7-0. We have our work cut out.”

Though Washington was swept in doubleheader by Joliet Friday night, Popkins, a switch-hitting right fielder, has had a big series. He reached base in eight consecutive plate appearances until popping out in the sixth inning Saturday.

The home run, a shot off the top row of advertising signs just to the left of the scoreboard in left centerfield, gave the Wild Things a 4-2 lead. Joliet had taken a 2-0 lead only four pitches into the game as Marc Flores hit his 12th home run of the season.

The home run came off Washington starter Christian Powell, who pitched into the sixth inning for his longest outing since July 22 of last year, when he was in the Houston Astros’ system.

If Joliet’s pitching wasn’t depleted after playing doubleheaders Thursday and Friday, then it definitely was after starter Kaleb Ort lasted only one inning and the Slammers’ defense committed two errors in a five-run Washington third inning.

Washington’s first four batters reached base again Ort. Andrew Heck singled, stole second base and scored when Chris Grayson doubled. Ricky Rodriguez followed with a double to make it 2-2, and Popkins’ home run gave the Wild Things a lead they would not relinquish.

“I was pleased with the way we responded after a tough top of the first inning,” Langbehn said. “We answered their big innings.”

Both teams scored in the second inning, the Slammers on a home run by Charlie White, Joliet’s No. 9 hitter. But Washington broke open the game in the fifth, scoring five runs on only one hit, a single by Grayson. Two walks, two throwing errors and a sacrifice fly by Alvaro Gonzalez upped the Wild Things’ lead to a seemingly safe 10-3.

“The execution was better tonight, the situational hitting and the two-strike hitting were very good,” Langbehn said. “When they were playing the infield in, we put the ball in play and they threw one away.”

Joliet, the highest-scoring team in the league, pulled to within 10-7 by scoring four times in the seventh, which included a two-run homer to center field by catcher Joe Staley, but Wobrock hit his two-run double into the left-field corner in the bottom of the seventh and scored on Heck’s third hit of the game that made the score 13-7.

“To me, that was the biggest play of the game,” Langbehn said of Wobrock’s double.

Kolin Stanley replaced Powell and got the final nine outs for his fifth save. He gave up a run in the ninth on a single by Jake Gronsky, who had three RBI.

“From here on out, every game is a must-win,” Popkins said.

The series final is today. It is the final home game of the season. The Wild Things begin a season-ending six-game road trip Tuesday at Windy City.