Wild Things still alive for playoffs
The sands are trickling through the hourglass quicker now as finality descends upon the Wild Things’ season, but guys like Tommy Caufield and Andrew Czech are playing like anything is possible.
Caufield and Czech each homered in Washington’s five-run third inning, Arrison Perez retired all six batters he faced in relief and the Wild Things defeated the Joliet Slammers 9-5 in a series opener Tuesday night.
The win kept Washington’s ultra-slim playoff hopes alive and eliminated Joliet from the postseason chase. The Wild Things (44-47) walked off the artificial turf Tuesday trailing third-place Evansville by six games for the West Division’s final wild-card spot. At press time, West Division-leader Gateway was leading Evansville 8-0 in the seventh inning in Sauget, Ill.
With five games remaining in the regular season (Evansville has six to play), the Wild Things must win out. Washington is still alive because it owns the tiebreaker over Evansville. One more Otters victory, or one more Wild Things loss, will clinch a playoff berth for Evansville and eliminate Washington.
The Wild Things fell behind 2-0 against Joliet in the first inning. Slammers catcher Tommy Stevenson hit a two-run double off the wall in right centerfield against Wild Things starting pitcher Hayden Shenefield (3-5).
Joliet starter Ryan O’Reilly (1-7) retired six of the first seven Washington hitters before running into major problems in the third inning. Left fielder Tomas Sanchez led off with a walk and scored when shortstop Carson Clowers tripled into the gap in right centerfield. Clowers scored on a wild pitch to tie the score at 2-2.
Caleb McNeely was hit by a pitch and Caufield, the rookie third baseman out of Millersville University, hit a two-run opposite-field homer that put Washington in front, 5-2.
Two batters later, Czech followed Caufield’s lead with an opposite-field solo homer to left field that made it 5-2.
The home run was Czech’s 20th of the season, a career high. Combined with Anthony Brocato’s 27 home runs, the Wild Things have two 20-homer players in a season for only the second time in their history that dates back to 2002. The first time as 2009, when Jacob Dempsey belted a franchise record 31 home runs and Grant Psomas hit 24.
Czech also drew a walk in the fourth inning. It was his 87th base on balls of the season, which ties the franchise single-season record set by Kane Sweeney in 2017. Czech leads the league in walks.
The Wild Things pushed across three more runs in the fourth. Scotty Dubrule walked and eventually scored on a passed ball, Sanchez scored on a McNeely single and Brocato’s double to left centerfield drove in McNeely for an 8-2 lead.
Shenefield pitched 5 2/3 innings, throwing a season-high 123 pitches. He allowed only five hits and struck out six, but the right-hander walked five and hit three batters. He tired in the sixth when the Slammers scored three runs on only two hits, taking advantage of three walks by Shenefield and a hit batsman by reliever Justin Showalter.
Perez settled the game down for Washington by pitching scoreless seventh and eighth innings. He did not allow a baserunner.
The Wild Things scored an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth as Clowers led off with an infield single and scored when McNeeley’s fly ball eluded diving right fielder G.J. Hill and went for an RBI double.
McNeely went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Clowers was 2-for-3 with two runs and one driven in.
Extra bases
The series resumes with a 6:05 p.m. game tonight. … The Wild Things have won four of their last five.