Wild Things nearly perfect in win over CornBelters
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Washington’s Ryan Cox tags out Normal’s James Davison Jr. in the first inning.
Washington's Ryan Cox gets the first out of a double play with Normal's Sean Hurley sliding in.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
The Wild Things Hector Roa (15) celebrates a two-run home run with James Harris.
Washington pitcher Chase Cunningham started the game against the CornBelters.
Perfect games are rare and elusive, and not just the kind thrown by starting pitchers. Once or twice a season, a team plays so well in every aspect that it wants to bottle and preserve the performance for future use.
The Wild Things’ 38th victory of the season Wednesday night was such a game. They had 13 hits, Hector Roa was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, Chase Cunningham had his fourth consecutive quality start and shortstop Ryan Cox and first baseman Reydel Medina each turned in some top-flight defensive plays.
It all added up to Washington’s fifth-consecutive victory, a 9-2 thumping of the Normal CornBelters.
In other words, Washington played a lot like it did back in early June, when it reeled off nine consecutive victories before scuffling in July.
“I think, as a team, we realized we needed some fixing,” said Roa, who was 3-for-4 and drove in four runs. “Everybody came to their senses and now you’re seeing the teamwork and effort that we’re putting together. We knew we were better than we were playing, but every team has ups and downs during a season.”
On this night, about the only thing that went wrong for Washington was somebody forgot to lock the gate on the fence that leads to the old bullpen behind the right-field wall. When Roa made a running catch to snag a fly ball hit by Normal’s Santiago Chirino that ended the seventh inning, he ran full speed into and through the gate and out of the playing field.
Roa could joke about the play after the game, but his at-bat in the first inning was no joking matter for Normal. Roa hit a homer, his 11th of the season, to left-center field off CornBelters starter Zach Kirby (3-6) that gave Washington a 2-0 lead.
The Wild Things made it 7-0 with a five-run third inning that was highlighted by a two-run double by Roa.
“Extra-base hits, and hits in bunches, that’s what we’ve been missing,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said. “We didn’t have that in games against Lake Erie and Joliet here after the all-star break. Hits were hard to come by in those series.”
In addition to Roa’s big game, center fielder James Harris was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs. Cox was 2-for-4.
That was enough support for Cunningham (5-4), who worked quickly and threw strikes after being staked to the big early lead. Cunningham looked more like the pitcher he was the last two years, when he won 17 games for Washington, instead of the guy who was inconsistent early this season.
“The story of the game to me was Cunningham,” Langbehn said. “He pitched very well. He’s been pitching better. Our starters have to give us length.”
Cunningham did give up nine hits over 6 2/3 innings but induced two ground-ball double plays.
“He’s one of our better pitchers and he’s been looking really good the last few starts,” Roa said of Cunningham. “He has to keep it working.”
Normal spoiled the shutout and knocked out Cunningham with two runs in the seventh, the last on an RBI single by Michael Baca. Washington responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs, one scoring on an error and the other on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Pollock.
Extra bases
Washington began the night one game behind first-place Joliet in the East Division. The Slammers won 6-3 at Evansville. Normal started the game in first place in the West but dropped a half-game behind both Florence and River City. The Freedom and Rascals are now tied for first place. … The roster transaction deadline in the Frontier League is Aug. 13.