Wild Things’ losing slide continues after break
Wild Things starting pitcher Brian O’Keefe delivers a pitch Friday night against the ThunderBolts at Wild Things Park.
Washington’s Kane Sweeney awaits a throw Friday night as Windy City’s Keenyn Walker runs toward first base at Wild Things Park.
Mackenzie Randall/Observer-Reporter Washington’s Kyle Pollock swings at a pitch Friday against Windy City at Wild Things Park.
Mackenzie Randall/Observer-Reporter Washington’s Mike Hill awaits a throw as Windy City’s Tim Zier slides into second base Friday night at Wild Things Park.
The Wild Things and Windy City ThunderBolts, two teams headed in opposite directions, passed twice Friday night.
The first time was on the field at Wild Things Park and the other was in the Frontier League’s East Division standings.
Windy City’s Jake Fisher threw a four-hitter over eight innings, outfielder Coco Johnson went 4-for-4 and Blair Beck, the No. 9 hitter in Windy City’s lineup, homered in a four-run ninth inning as the ThunderBolts defeated Washington 7-1 before a crowd of 2,576.
The win pushed Windy City into sole possession of second place in the division and ahead of Washington in the standings for the first time since June 21. The ThunderBolts have won nine of their last 11 games while the Wild Things have lost a season-high four straight.
Washington manager Gregg Langbehn put the blame for this slide on one part of his team.
“The position players stink right now,” he said firmly. “They took last weekend off and they took tonight off. That was pretty pathetic.
“They need to figure it out quickly because we’re headed in the wrong direction. The pitching has been pretty good, but when you don’t capitalize at the plate, then it doesn’t matter. There is only so much you can cover up with pitching and defense.”
Fisher (5-4) did not issue a walk. The only run the Wild Things scored was unearned, the result of two Windy City errors. Fisher has not allowed an earned run in his last 24 innings.
“He has been very good lately,” Windy City manager Ron Biga said.
“He was in grad school and didn’t get to camp until late, so his first two of three outings were a little rusty, but he’s been very good over his last three starts.”
Washington scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first inning. Rashad Brown led off with a line-drive single to center field and moved to third base on two errors. Kane Sweeney then lofted a sacrifice fly to give the Wild Things a 1-0 lead.
That would be it for Washington’s offense. Sweeney’s fly ball was part of a stretch of 15 consecutive batters retired by Fisher, a lefty out of Norman, Okla., who stayed home and played his college baseball at the University of Oklahoma and is in his fourth year in the Frontier League. Washington did not have another batter reach base against Fisher until second baseman Justin Bohn led off the sixth with a single.
Bohn’s single set up the key inning of the game. With Windy City leading 3-1 in the sixth, Bohn singled and moved to third on a one-out hit by James Harris. After Harris stole second base, Bralin Jackson hit a roller in front of the mound that Fisher bobbled for an error, leaving the bases loaded with one out. Sweeney then hit another chopper back to Fisher, who this time handled it cleanly and triggered a home-to-first double play that ended the inning.
“That was the big inning. We had (Fisher) on the ropes and hit two tappers,” Langbehn said. “Bralin and Kane have been great for us all year but we can’t continue to put it all on their shoulders every night.”
Windy City took a 2-1 lead in the third against Washington starter Brian O’Keefe (2-4). The first of two doubles by Johnson scored Ransom LaLonde, and Tim Zier’s RBI single gave Windy City the lead for good.
LaLonde hit a leadoff double in the fifth and scored on a single by Johnson to make it 3-1.
The score remained 3-1 until the ninth, when the ThunderBolts took advantage of a huge break caused by the slick playing field. A walk and single started the inning and LaLonde attempted to advance the runners with a bunt. Relief pitcher Davis Adkins fielded the bunt and threw to first base. Bohn had moved over to cover first base but he slipped on the wet turf and Adkins’ throw sailed down the right-field line, allowing two runs to score.
Beck followed with a two-run homer to left field that capped the scoring.
“We played well early in the season, then had three pitchers picked up by major league organizations in a 72-hour period earlier,” Biga pointed out. “We had to shuffle some arms around but now we’re starting to play well again.”
The Wild Things, meanwhile, are in a free-fall and struggling to score.
“In this game, we were taking hittable fastballs early in the count and then getting ourselves out on breaking balls and changeups,” Langbehn said. “It was only 3-1 in the ninth but we were lucky we scored. They gave us that run. We had noncompetitive at-bats, poor situational hitting, I could go on and on. And we’re talking about guys who to this point have had very good careers.”
The game was delayed because of rain for eight minutes in the top of the seventh inning. … Langbehn said that relief pitcher Kolin Stanley, who has been on the disabled list all season but was working to return after the all-star break, will miss the remainder of the season because of a biceps injury that will require surgery. Stanley is in his third season with Washington. … Washington pitcher Trevor Bradley kept the Wild Things within striking distance by throwing three scoreless innings in relief of O’Keefe, who exited the game in the fifth.