Jun 5, 2017 4 min read

Washington starting pitcher Trevor Foss and Traverse City counterpart John Havird raced neck and neck through Sunday’s game – it took less than 90 minutes to play the first seven innings – until Foss found his finishing kick was missing and the Beach Bums received a tiebreaking hit from a player with a pretty good pedigree.

Traverse City right fielder Ryan Garvey, the son of former National League Most Valuable Player and 10-time all-star Steve Garvey, hit a run-scoring single in the top of the eighth inning that gave the Beach Bums the lead and sent them to a 3-1 victory over Washington in the series finale at Wild Things Park.

Garvey, who entered the game with a .159 batting average, did not play in the first two games of the series and struck out in each of his first three at-bats against Foss (3-2). The ace of the Wild Things’ pitching staff began to tire in the eighth inning and was removed after issuing consecutive two-out walks to Lucas Hunter, the Beach Bums’ No. 9 hitter, and Arby Fields.

Foss allowed only three hits and three walks in 7 2/3 innings. He struck out nine and threw 113 pitches. He took a one-hitter into the seventh inning. Foss seemed to tire after Traverse City third baseman Elijah Trail had a 10-pitch at-bat before flying out to the warning track to start the eighth.

“Trevor’s pitch count was great until that at-bat,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said. “Then he started leaving pitches up to the last two guys. I was hoping we could get him through the eighth and then use Strecker for a couple of innings.”

The right-handed Strecker was brought in to face the right-handed swinging Garvey. Traverse City manager Dan Rohn could have opted to pinch-hit with lefty Jeff DeBlieux, who is in his fourth year with the Beach Bums and plays the same position as Garvey. Rohn, however, has one rule that he tries to follow.

“The guys I put out there, I expect them to play the whole game,” Rohn said. “It’s their time to shine and Garvey came through.”

Garvey grounded a single to right field and Hunter raced home from second base with the go-ahead run, beating the throw from the Wild Things’ Hector Roa. It was Garvey’s first hit since May 26. He had been in a 2-for-28 slump.

“Strecker got a pitch in on Garvey and he hit a hole,” Langbehn explained.

Traverse City added an insurance run in the ninth as Alexis Rivera and Trail hit doubles down opposite foul lines.

For much of the game, the only offense was generated by two mighty swings. Traverse City second baseman Steven Patterson hit his league-leading seventh homer over the video board in right field during the first inning. Washington tied the score at 1-1 when designated hitter Kyle Pollock smacked his second home run in as many days, a drive off the scoreboard in left centerfield leading off the fifth inning.

Pollock’s shot was the only run Washington could muster off Havird (3-0), a crafty lefty who won six games last year for Ohio State.

“He’s a competitive guy,” Rohn said of his pitcher. “He’s fun to watch pitch. He gets a lot of groundballs.”

Havird gave up five hits and only one walk over eight innings. Jeff Lanning pitched the ninth inning for his sixth save.

Of the 24 outs recorded by Havird, 14 came on ground balls.

“That’s what he does,” Rohn said. “He keeps the ball down, changes speeds and gets ground balls.”

Five of Washington’s six hits came from Pollock and Roa. Pollock had two hits and Roa was 3-for-4, including a leadoff double in the ninth.

“Trevor pitched great but we didn’t swing the bats,” Langbehn said. “It has been a tough week for us against starting pitchers. We have to adjust better. We have too many guys who are out in front of pitches and creating groundball outs.”

Washington won two of three games in the series. … Traverse City snapped its four-game losing streak. … The Wild Things begin a six-game road trip Tuesday night in O’Fallon, Mo., against the River City Rascals.