Jul 17, 2019 4 min read

The rain in the area Wednesday kept a lot of people away from Wild Things Park. Washington’s game against Windy City drew an announced crowd of 712, which was the second-smallest home crowd in the Wild Things’ 18 years in the Frontier League.

So, for those who missed Washington’s 8-0 victory, here’s a quick recap of what we learned during the game:

• Washington’s Josh Lapiana, the Chartiers Valley graduate, pitches very well on 15 days rest.

• A batter can have a 14-pitch at-bat.

• The best and most exciting defensive play in a game can be made by the bullpen catcher.

• The Wild Things’ hitters really enjoy batting against Windy City.

Shaine Hughes went 4-for-5 with a home run, Blake Adams hit a home run and a double, both during Washington’s six-run third inning, and Hector Roa smacked two doubles as the Wild Things unleashed a 13-hit attack and improved their record to 5-0 this season against Windy City.

Washington has outscored Windy City 40-13 in those five games.

“We do the same thing we do every day, but for some reason it has worked well against this team,” said Adams, the designated hitter, who was 2-for-4 with three RBI.

Lapiana, who had not pitched since July 2, made a spot start – his second start as a professional – and pitched three no-hit innings before exiting the game in the fourth after being struck on the left (throwing) wrist by a ball off the bat of the ThunderBolts’ Brynn Martinez.

Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said Lapiana could have stayed in the game.

“It hit him in the left wrist, so I didn’t let him threw another pitch. Any time a pitcher get hits in the throwing arm or hand,” Langbehn said, his voice trailing off. “The goal was to get Josh three to five innings. He did a good job and (Nick) Durazo came in during a sticky situation and he did a good job.”

Lapiana appeared to use the time off to his advantage. After retiring the first nine Windy City hitters, Lapiana gave up a bloop single to Omar Obregon to start the fourth inning before Martinez followed with the single that struck the Washington pitcher.

Durazo (2-2) replaced Lapiana and got three quick outs. The lefty pitched three shutout innings and was followed on the mound by James Meeker for two innings and Zach Strecker for one. The four pitchers combined on a six-hitter and Washington’s fourth shutout of the season. The Wild Things also did not issue a walk.

Windy City did little offensively. The ThunderBolts did not have a runner advance past second base. The few highlights for Windy City were a rare 14-pitch at-bat by Obregon against Meeker that ended in a groundout. It was during that Obregon at-bat that he hit a line drive into the ThunderBolts’ bullpen that was snagged when Windy City’s bullpen catcher, while warming up a pitcher, dove to the left and caught the batted ball, drawing a few cheers from the sparse crowd.

Washington, just as it did in a 9-4 win Tuesday night, took control with a big inning early in the game, scoring six times in the third against Windy City starter Chris Washington (1-6). The inning saw 11 Wild Things’ hitters go the plate and started with a home run by Adams, his sixth of the season. It later included four consecutive hits. The Wild Things’ seven hits in the inning were a season high.

“We made some really good adjustments and were forcing (Washington) to get the ball up in the strike zone,” Langbehn explained. “We had an opportunity in the second inning and let him off the hook.

“In the third, we did a good job of adjusting. He got the ball up and we hit ’em hard.”

Hughes hit a two-run homer down the left-field line in the sixth inning off Windy City reliever Justin Miller.

Extra bases

The T-Bolts’ Washington walked Brett Marr on a 3-2 pitch in the third inning. It was the first walk issued by the Windy City pitcher since June 23. … The Wild Things will try for the series sweep tonight before playing a weekend series at East Division-leader Lake Erie.