Jun 8, 2021 4 min read

Dark, ugly clouds swirled ominously over Wild Things Park as Washington and New Jersey took the field Tuesday night and lightning flashes illuminated the sky in the distance. So the Wild Things and Jackals did the best thing possible in the concerning situation.

They raced through five innings at breakneck speed to make it an official game, then kept on going at the same pace when the rain stayed away.

New Jersey needed only two hours and six minutes to complete a 3-2 victory over the Wild Things, Washington’s third loss in four games on the opening homestand of the season.

New Jersey got a solo home run from Stanley Espinal and tacked on a pair of unearned runs to deal Washington starter McKenzie Mills (0-3) another hard-luck loss.

“He threw well tonight. We’ve had all quality starts from him. He hasn’t given up more than four runs total. It’s tough that he’s 0-3,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “McKenzie is 0-3 and Kevin McNorton doesn’t have a win. And all of those losses are not worthy of being losses.”

Mills gave up five hits and three runs (one earned) in seven innings, becoming the first Washington pitcher go into the seventh this year. He walked one and struck out four.

Mills did hurt his cause with an error that led to an unearned run. With the score tied 1-1 in the third inning, New Jersey’s Chris Carpso drew a one-out walk. Mills attempted a pickoff throw but his toss was low and skipped past first baseman Andrew Czech and into the Wild Things’ bullpen as Carpso raced all the way to third base. Carpso scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Santiago Chirino, the Frontier League’s all-time hits leader.

Washington entered the game leading the league in fielding percentage, but a second Wild Things error led to another New Jersey run. With the score tied 2-2, the Jackals’ Alfredo Marte, who played parts of three seasons in the major leagues, hit a grounder to the left side of the infield. Washington third baseman Brian Sharp made a diving attempt to field the ball but missed. Shortstop John Sansone, perhaps distracted by Sharp, had the ball roll between his legs and into the outfield.

Marte advanced on an groundout and scored on a sharp single by Espinal.

That proved to be the winning run because three New Jersey pitchers held the Wild Things to five hits and threw only 94 pitches. Both Washington runs came on solo home runs. Second baseman Nick Ward hit his first homer of the season off New Jersey’s Spencer Hereford (1-0) in the first inning. First baseman Andrew Czech added his first home run as a pro, an opposite-field shot to left, in the third that tied the score at 2-2.

Vaeth, who was critical of his hitters following a loss Sunday to Quebec, was much more upbeat after this game.

“We had more energy. We were engaged from the start to the end,” he said. “I can take that. If we play like that, we’ll win more than we’ll lose.

“That was by far the best offensive effort of the season. Everything we hit hard found leather. There was not a lot of weak contact.”

Hereford, a rookie out of Division II Cal State Dominguez Hills, pitched five innings and turned the game over to relievers Matt Vogel, Jason Zgardowski and Dylan Brammer, who combined for four hitless innings. Brammer pitched the ninth inning for his fourth save. New Jersey pitchers did not issue a walk and struck out six.

“It would have been easy for a rookie who has given up two home runs to fold,” New Jersey manager Brooks Carey admitted. “Hereford didn’t. He wanted to go another inning. … With a rookie, if they can give us five good innings, then I don’t want to ruin their night.”

Hereford could be key for New Jersey in the near future. The Jackals have lost four starting pitchers since the start of training camp, including two who were picked up by major league organizations within a 20-minute period Sunday.

“We’ll start throwing the rookies,” Carey said. “The one we threw tonight is a tough little kid with a lot of guts.”