Jun 21, 2013 5 min read

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The beauty of baseball is that there is always another game, another opportunity to succeed, another chance to prove yourself against the competition.

For position players like Wild Things second baseman C.J. Beatty, the wait for redemption usually is only 24 hours. For starting pitchers such as Washington’s Shawn Sanford, the wait can be four excruciating days that often feel more like four months.

Beatty and Sanford each were able erase the disappointment of their last games by playing key roles Friday night in the Wild Things’ 5-2 victory over River City that ended Washington’s five-game losing streak.

Sanford (5-1), coming off his only loss of the season Sunday, pitched 6 1/3 solid innings, though he “felt awful.” Beatty, meanwhile, was 3-for-4 with a home run, double and four RBI one night after striking out with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of a 5-3 loss to Traverse City.

“I am thankful that in baseball tomorrow always is a new day. You don’t have to wait seven days between games like you do in football,” said Beatty, whose team-high sixth home run of the season, a three-run shot, capped Washington’s four-run fourth inning.

“In baseball, you get the chance to say that the team needs me today. That strikeout I had Thursday made me realize that I have to trust my approach to hitting.”

In addition to his home run, Beatty drove in an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with a double to right centerfield that scored Mark Samuelson from first base.

“We need this one,” Washington manager Bart Zeller said. “The guys fought hard. You could tell there was a lot of enthusiasm on the field.”

There were plenty of reasons for the Wild Things to be excited, perhaps none more important than the job turned in by lefty relief pitcher Matt Phillips, who needed only one pitch to put out a River City uprising in the seventh inning. Phillips relieved Sanford with Washington leading 4-2 and two runners on base. He got Rascals cleanup hitter Phil Wunderlich to pop out to end the threat.

Phillips used 15 more pitches to get an additional four outs before turning the game over to Orlando Santos and setting up a bizarre finish, with the game’s final two outs being recorded at third base.

Santos gave up a one-out single in the ninth to Johnny Morales, and Will Block followed with a slow chopper to the left side of the infield that went for a single. When Washington third baseman Jovan Rosa and shortstop Shain Stoner each charged to field Block’s grounder, Morales tried to go from first base to third when he saw the latter bag was momentarily left uncovered. However, the throw across the diamond from first baseman Stewart Ijames to Rosa beat Morales to the base for the inning’s second out.

Curran Redal followed with a single in front of right fielder Gus Benusa, who fired a strike to third base and gunned down Block on a close play for the game’s final out.

“We got some hits when we needed them tonight, then we made two fine defensive plays to end the game. Benusa threw a strike to third base,” Zeller said.

Washington’s four-run fourth inning came against River City starter Josh Sarratt (1-4), a former Clemson University pitcher. Stoner had a leadoff single and scored on a double by Samuelson. After Rosa singled, Beatty went the opposite way with a changeup for a three-run homer down the right-field line.

River City scored in the sixth on a run-scoring double by Sean Borman, and Redal’s one-out single in the seventh scored Morales and made it 4-2.

Sanford gave up seven hits and two walks, but he was able to get 10 outs on ground balls.

“Physically, I felt awful,” Sanford said. “I couldn’t get my good sink on the ball. I could that on tell my first pitch warming up in the bullpen, so I knew I had to stay at the bottom of the strike zone and get a lot of ground balls.

“This is my fifth year of professional baseball and over those five years, you learn that you’re not going to feel good every game. These are the type of games – when you don’t have your good stuff – that if you battle through ’em they can make your numbers look good at the end of the year.”

Prior to the game, Washington reacquired pitcher Jhonny Montoya from Kansas City of the American Association. Montoya, who spent the last two years with the Wild Things, was dealt to KC in April. Montoya was Kansas City’s closer and had an odd stint with the T-Bones. He had a 1-1 record and seven saves but his ERA was 12.96, the result of two rocky outings. With Washington, Montoya has a 7-10 career record in 43 games (26 starts).