Doubleheader plays to Langbehn’s odds
Washington’s Kyle Pollock slides safely into home plate after a single by Austin Wobrock during the second inning of the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Consol Energy Park.
The Wild Things’ Grant Fink, left, gets a high five from Austin Wobrock after Fink caught a ball hit to left field for the final out of the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday.
Washington’s Ricky Rodriguez singles during the bottom of the sixth inning against River City Wednesday.
Wild Things manager Gregg Langbehn doesn’t like doubleheaders “because it seems like you always split.”
Washington has played four doubleheaders this season and predictably split all of them, including a twinbill Wednesday night against the River City Rascals at Consol Energy Park.
Washington won the opener 2-0 behind a three-hit shutout from Matt Fraudin and a home run by left fielder Grant Fink.
River City managed a split by winning the second game, 6-0. Rascals starting pitcher Joe Pavlovich, who was making his first start since July 2, took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and combined with reliever Nick Kennedy on a one-hit shutout.
“The beat goes on,” Langbehn said of the split. “When I was at Traverse City, we researched it and found that you had a 78 percent chance of splitting a doubleheader.”
Fraduin’s outing was his best of the season and evened his record at 4-4. The right-hander from Upper St. Clair did not allow River City to advance a runner to third base. He walked two and tied his career high with seven strikeouts.
Because of the Frontier League’s all-star break last week, it was Fraudin’s first outing since July 9 against Schaumburg and he showed no rust from having 10 days between starts. Fraudin struck out the first two batters he faced and four of the first seven.
“I was a lot better than in my last outing,” Fraudin said. “I was good from the start. The last time, I didn’t get going until the third or fourth inning.”
In that last start, Fraudin issued five walks but still managed to throw seven shutout innings. He has a streak of 16 consecutive scoreless innings over three starts.
“My slider was working well,” Fraudin said of the key to stopping the Rascals, who entered the night leading the Frontier League with a .286 team batting average.
“If I wasn’t getting a called strike with it, then they were swinging over it.”
Fraudin gave up two singles to shortstop Josh Silver, the No. 3 hitter in the Rascals’ lineup, and a two-out seventh-inning double off the first-base bag by Danny Rosenbaum, a rookie out of Louisville. After Rosenbaum’s hit, Fraudin got Jason Merjano to fly out to left field to end the game.
River City’s best chance to score came in the sixth when the Rascals had a hit, a walk and the Wild Things committed a two-base throwing error. Third baseman Ricky Rodriguez threw away Robby Enslen’s grounder to start the inning, and as the ball rolled in foul territory Enslen tried to advance all the way to third base. However, right fielder David Popkins made a strong throw to Rodriguez to retire Enslin for the inning’s initial out.
The Wild Things scored twice in the second inning and Fraudin made the two-run cushion hold up. Fink hit a solo homer to left field, his fifth of the season, off River City starter Jake Negrete (0-2) for the game’s first run.
Jimmy Yezzo followed with a walk and advanced to second base on a passed ball. Kyle Pollock singled but Yezzo was thrown out at home plate by Enslen, the Rascals’ right fielder.
Austin Wobrock then singled to right field and the Wild Things again ran on Enslin, this time Pollock beat the throw to the plate to make the score 2-0.
“Fink gave us a big run and Fradin pitched great. He limited the traffic,” Langbehn said.
In the nightcap, River City forged a 2-0 lead early against Washington starter Luke Wilkins (2-3) and then scored three times in the fourth. The backbreaker for the Wild Things was a two-run triple to the gap in left centerfield by Alexi Colon.
“You have to score early in doubleheaders because they’re only seven innings,” Langbehn said. “If you can score early, it helps greatly.”
The only hit allowed by Pavlovich (1-1) was a clean line-drive single to right field by Andrew Heck, on an 0-2 pitch, leading off the fifth inning. Pavlovich walked four and struck out two. He left after issuing a leadoff walk to Popkins in the seventh.
Prior to the game, Washington put catcher Alex McKeon on the season-ending 60-day disabled list with a hand injury. McKeon, from Tarrytown, N.Y., had a .198 batting average in 28 games. He played in only one game since June 30. The move left Washington with only 22 active players, the minimum allowed by the Frontier League. … Washington has split five consecutive doubleheaders dating back to last season.