Jun 28, 2017 5 min read

If you’re going to get a start at home every three weeks or so, much like Washington second baseman Kyle Reese, then you might as well send the crowd at Wild Things Park, which included a couple dozen dogs, home happy.

Reese did as much Tuesday night when he hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat and drove in all four runs in the Wild Things’ 4-0 shutout of the Traverse City Beach Bums on Pup Patrol Night, the opener of Washington’s six-game homestand.

Reese hit his second homer of the season, a drive to right field off Traverse City’s hard-luck loser and starter Reinaldo Lopez (1-4) in the second inning to stake Washington to a 3-0 lead. Reese added a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning for his fourth RBI of the night.

A rookie out of Nicholls State, Reese entered the game with only five RBI all season. He was making his first start at home since June 3 and batted in the No. 8 spot in the order.

“In the original lineup, Kyle was batting in the No. 2 hole,” explained Washington manager Gregg Langbehn, who had to do some late shuffling of the batting order after left fielder Bralin Jackson was scratched from the lineup because of a sore knee.

“It’s funny how the game works out,” Langbehn added.

Reese has been getting more playing time as of late. He made four starts on Washington’s six-game road trip last week to Lake Erie and Schaumburg and had four hits in those games.

“He was swinging the bat well on the road trip,” Langbehn admitted. “He’s certainly in position to make a move for more playing time. … We’re winning. We’re playing better. We’re pitching and our defense is getting better. I’m going to do all I can do to keep everybody active and involved.”

Reese was highly active and productive at Nicholls State until the middle of his senior year, when he was hit in the jaw by a pitch and missed “about 16 games.” He returned three weeks later and finished the college season but did not get drafted.

Instead of signing with an independent team last summer, Reese sat out and signed with Washington last winter. He admits it has taken longer than he would have preferred to get back in the groove at the plate but nights like Tuesday make you think the left-handed hitting middle infielder might be making a strong push for more regular playing time.

“The problem was I took almost a year off and it’s hard to get back to live pitching,” Reese said. “I feel OK. With more playing time and more reps I can get back in the flow of things. I felt good tonight. I saw the ball well.”

Reese also saw Washington make some outstanding defensive plays behind starting pitcher Chase Cunningham (5-0), who threw eight innings. No sequence of plays was more important than those in the top of the first inning, when center fielder Rashad Brown made a diving backhanded grab on a sinking liner to rob Traverse City’s Will Kengor of a run-scoring hit. The Beach Bums already had two baserunners when Kengor stepped to the plate. After making the diving catch, Brown made a throw back to the infield but it bounced into the Traverse City dugout, apparently allowing Jeff Deblieux to score from second base.

When play resumed, Cunningham threw to second base on an appeal play. Deblieux was called out for not tagging up after Brown made the catch, thus ending the inning.

“I have never seen a play like that one,” Langbehn said.

It would end the Beach Bums’ best scoring opportunity against Cunningham, who gave up five hits and two walks over eight impressive innings.

“He’s awesome,” Reese said of Cunningham. “He makes it fun to play defense behind him because he keeps you on your toes. He works so fast and throws strikes.”

“I was really pleased with how Chase threw the ball,” Langbehn said. “He had a couple of sticky situations and I had to tell him to slow down. He pounded the strike zone and pitched great.”

Reese’s three-run homer was one of only three hits for Washington against Lopez, who threw a 119-pitch complete game. The homer scored Kenny Peoples-Walls, who had singled, and Kyle Pollock, who led off the second inning with a walk.

Peoples-Walls, who had two of Washington’s hits, laced a solid line-drive hit into left centerfield in the fourth inning. Beach Bums left fielder Alexis Rivera, who was activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, tried to make a diving catch of the line drive but it hit off the end of his glove and rolled toward the wall as People-Walls motored around the bases for a triple. He scored one batter later on Reese’s sac fly to right field that made it 4-0 and sent Washington on the way to its eighth win in its last 11 games.