Wild Things have that rundown feeling

Two points about the Wild Things’ 2-8 start are indisputable: One, their record is well-deserved. Two, it’s not a death sentence for their season.
Heck, just look back to last season and you’ll find that the Joliet Slammers, who won the Frontier League championship, started out 4-9. The season is a 96-game marathon to Labor Day, not a two-week sprint that is over before Memorial Day.
However, it’s surely time for the Wild Things to pick up the pace.
In a game that turned on a botched rundown by Washington, Lake Erie defeated the Wild Things 9-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game series sweep.
The Wild Things have an unusual two-day break before their next game, Wednesday morning (11 a.m.) at home against Florence. Washington manager Gregg Langbehn plans to use the two off days to correct some alarming problems with his team.
“I have a novel to cover,” he said while holding two pieces of paper cluttered with notes. “We don’t have a choice. We’re already 5 ½ games out of first place. We’ve put ourselves in a situation where we have to win eight out of 10, and that only works if (first-place) Lake Erie plays poorly.
“There are a couple of areas that need to be addressed again and again. I understand it’s sports, and they’re going to make mistakes, but I can’t be constantly reminding guys of things and they keep making the same mistakes. If they do, then we have the wrong guys.”
One thing that is surely on Langbehn’s to-do list is work on rundowns. The Wild Things had two of them Sunday and botched one badly, which led to a five-run third inning for Lake Erie and Washington never recovered.
Crushers catcher Bryan De La Rosa led off the pivotal inning with a double off Washington starter Carter Johnson (0-1). The next batter, speedy James Davidson, bounced back to Johnson, who snagged the grounder, turned and caught De La Rosa between second base and third. Johnson ran at DeLaRosa, who headed for third base. Johnson threw to third baseman Wander Franco, who started to chase the Crushers’ catcher back to second base. Two more throws and the baseball ended up on the ground with DeLaRosa on third base and Davidson at second.
“The bottom line is we did a poor job of making De La Rosa commit,” Langbehn was quick to say. “There should be zero throws or one throw in a rundown. I’ve seen my 13-year-old son’s travel team execute a rundown better than we did.”
Aaron Hill then hit a sacrifice fly that scored De La Rosa with the game’s first run. After a two-out walk to Dale Burdick, Jake Veith smacked a three-run homer over the batter’s eye in center field. On the next pitch, Zac Racusin made it back-to-back home runs and a 5-0 lead for the Crushers.
That was more than enough scoring for Lake Erie’s Dylan Mouzakis (1-0) and two relievers, who held Washington to six hits, none after the fifth inning.
“The story of this weekend was starting pitching and not walking batters,” Lake Erie manager Cam Roth said.
Washington scored its first run in the third, when Saige Jenco hit the first of his two doubles and scored on a sac fly by J.J. Fernandez. The second run came in the fifth on Jenco’s second double, which scored Brett Marr from first base.
Lake Erie pitchers retired 13 of the final 14 Washington hitters. The one batter who did reach base was retired on a double play.
“All I can do is continue to teach, but once the game starts it’s ultimately in (the players’) hands. … Things have to change,” Langbehn said.
Extra bases
Lake Erie has won each of its last three series at Wild Things Park. … Washington led at the end of only two innings in the series. … The Wild Things will play a doubleheader against Florence on Thursday (6:05 p.m.).