Jun 30, 2017 4 min read

When Washington hosted Traverse City earlier this month, the Wild Things won the first two games of the series but weren’t able to pull off the sweep.

In that series finale, Beach Bums starting pitcher John Havird twirled a gem, allowing only five hits and one run in eight innings en route to a 3-1 win.

The same thing happened Thursday night as Havird (4-2) again led the Beach Bums to a win, this time a 4-1 victory, to spoil the Things’ chance of a sweep.

“He’s a good pitcher for this league,” Wild Things manager Gregg Langbehn said. “He’s not overpowering; he works the edges, and he pitches below the knees. I don’t know how many groundball outs we had against them but it was more than I care to see.”

Havird’s sinking fastball, which he said he threw 85 percent of the time Thursday, elicited 12 outs on groundballs in 6 2/3 innings. The southpaw allowed one run and scattered four hits while walking three and striking out one.

“He kept all his pitches down and got a lot of groundball outs,” Beach Bums manager Dan Rohn said. “That’s big in this league to be a groundball pitcher. When he does that, he’s on.”

Traverse City scored first when Will Kengor crushed a solo home run off Wild Things starter Cameron Stanton (1-2) to give the Beach Bums their first lead of the series. The run ended an 18 2/3-inning scoreless streak by Washington starting pitchers, which dated back to Sunday.

The Beach Bums scored another run in the fourth to increase their lead to 2-0. Steven Patterson led off the inning with a double and scored on a single by Kengor, who went 2-for-4 in the No. 3 spot in the batting order.

After going 1-for-8 in the first two games of the series, Kengor returned to his usual self against the Wild Things, going 2-for-4 with two RBI, while missing a grand slam in the seventh by five feet. In 17 career games against Washington, Kengor is hitting .338 with four home runs and 14 RBI.

“With a few of their guys in the middle of the order, if you elevate they can hurt you,” Langbehn said. “You just have to be careful with the better hitters on these teams. You can’t miss.”

In the sixth inning, Traverse City’s Alexis Rivera and Kendall Patrick, who went 2-for-3, both hit two-out RBI singles to put the Beach Bums ahead 4-0.

Washington scored its only run of the game in the seventh inning when Kyle Reese singled in Hector Roa. Havird was pulled after the single, but Devin Over struck out Trevin Sonnier on three pitches to strand two baserunners.

The Wild Things didn’t threaten to score in the eighth or the ninth inning as Enrique Oquendo picked up his second save of the season.

In Stanton’s third start with Washington, he allowed nine hits and four runs in six innings. He struck out five and walked one.

“I was pleased with how he threw,” Langbehn said. “It’s tough to pitch when you don’t have any support. Any mistakes you make really get magnified.”

Despite the loss, the Wild Things are in second place in the Frontier League’s East Division.

Before the game, Washington released left-handed reliever Matt Sabel, who has a 7.00 ERA in 11 appearances this season. The Wild Things drafted Sabel in the second round of this season’s Frontier League tryout and draft. … The loss is only the fourth of the season for the Wild Things when their starter goes six or more innings. They are 13-4 in such games. … Only three Washington baserunners reached second base. … The Wild Things will host a three-game series against Joliet starting Friday.