Jun 16, 2016 3 min read

There was one thing missing from the Washington Wild Things’ attack Thursday night.

A big hit.

The Wild Things had no problems getting men on base against Joliet Slammers starter Sean Townsley.

The problem for Washington was that it couldn’t get a hit with men on base, stranding 12 baserunners while dropping the final game of a three-game series against Joliet 5-0.

Seven of Washington’s runners were stranded in scoring position. Most of the opportunities came early, as the Wild Things got seven hits through the first five innings. They left 11 men on base in those innings.

“That sums it up,” said Washington manager Gregg Langbehn. “We failed to capitalize. You have to when given that many opportunities.”

The Slammers didn’t have that problem as they took advantage of the few opportunties they had.

Wild Things starter Chase Cunningham struggled with his command early, walking leadoff hitter Charlie White and hitting No. 2 batter Alfredo Rodriguez. That led to an RBI single from second baseman Carter Bell that gave Joliet a 1-0 lead.

Cunningham settled down after that, retiring eight of the next nine batters before issuing a fourth inning, two-out walk to Marc Flores. That proved costly as Joliet third baseman Jake Gronsky followed with an RBI double to put the Slammers ahead 2-0.

Both of Cunningham’s walks came around to score.

Joliet tacked on a third run in the seventh. Cunningham hit No. 9 hitter Nico Zych with a pitch with two strikes and two outs in the inning. A wild pitch advanced Zych to second, and he came around to score on an error on Washington shortstop Bryan Haar.

Cunningham (2-3) battled through seven innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits. He struck out one, walked two, while also hiting two batters.

“Overall he pitched fine,”said Langbehn. “The two-out walk and the two-out hit batter hurt, but we didn’t take advantage of any opportunities on our end.”

Townsley (2-1) only lasted five innings, but had to wiggle out of jams in each. He allowed eight hits, walked three and hit a batter, but kept the Wild Things off the scoreboard.

“You have to give credit to their pitcher as well,” Langbehn said. “We got the hits and he battled out of jams. We just didn’t get big hits when we needed them. That’s life in baseball.”

The Slammers added a pair of runs in the eighth off Washington reliever Andrew Woeck. Flores drove in the fourth run with an RBI single to right and Gronsky added a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-0 game.

“We walked four and they all scored,” said Langbehn. “We hit two. One scored. And we stranded 11 in the first five innings. Game over.”

Washington’s biggest threats came in the first inning when first baseman Jimmy Yezzo flew out to center with two on and two outs to end the inning. Yezzo had another chance with the bases loaded in the third, but struck out to end the threat.

The Wild Things also loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth but Ricky Rodriguez grounded out to end the inning.

Washington managed just one hit through the final four innnings against the Slammers bullpen.

Andrew Heck paced Washington with three hits, while David Popkins reached base four times.

Washington will continue its homestand Friday when it hosts the Windy City Thunderbolts.