Taking advantage Wild Things’ slide continues with loss to Crushers
Forget the other eight innings. They only filled out the boxscore.
It’s what happened in one six-out stretch – the bottom of the sixth inning and top of the seventh – that made the difference in the Wild Things’ game Tuesday night against the Lake Erie Crushers and separates the two teams in the Frontier League’s East Division standings today.
Locked in a 2-2 pitcher’s duel, Washington was primed to take control of the game when Jovan Rosa and C.J. Beatty opened the sixth with consecutive singles off Lake Erie starter Dave Middendorf.
The Wild Things, however, didn’t score and sent only two more batters to the plate in the inning. Lake Erie then used a two-out, two-run flare that barely traveled out of the infield in the seventh inning to defeat Washington, 4-2.
The loss was the sixth in seven games for the Wild Things (22-24), who have fallen two games below .500 for the first time since May 21 and dropped to sixth place in the East, a half-game behind Lake Erie.
And where the teams find themselves today – before they play a rare morning game at Consol Energy Park – can be traced back to what happened in that six-out stretch. Lake Erie took advantage of its scoring opportunity after Washington failed to capitalize on its best chance to take a strangehold on the game.
“That’s what the game boiled down to, especially after having two on and no outs,” Washington manager Bart Zeller said.
With Rosa at second and Beatty at first, Washington designated hitter Mark Samuelson was given the bunt sign, something the 6-5, 250-pounder has not seen many times during his career. After Samuelson missed a pitch from Middendorf (7-3), Washington took off the bunt but Samuelson eventually struck out.
Middendorf then picked Rosa off second base for the inning’s second out, and a ground ball ended the threat.
“We tried to bunt, but didn’t execute. Then we take it off, hoping that we can pull a ground ball to advance the runners or get a hit. Then we get a runner picked off. That takes all the momentum out of you,” Zeller said.
And that momentum was quickly seized by Lake Erie.
“I told our guys, after we put up the zero, that the momentum was there for the taking. If we can get one run, if we can score here, then we will win the game,” Crusher manager Jeff Isom said.
Lake Erie did just that by scoring two runs, after Washington went away from one of its trends. Russell Moldenhauer singled and advanced on a successful sacrifice bunt. Seth Granger was hit by a pitch from Washington starter Gary Lee (3-5) after being behind in the count 0-2. A groundout moved the runners to second and third with two outs.
Washington, which leads the league in intentional walks allowed, opted not to give Craig Hertler, the Crushers’ leadoff hitter, a free pass to set up a force play at any base. Instead, the Wild Things pitched to Hertler, who hit a well-placed flare between shortstop and third base, scoring two runs and giving the Crushers the 4-2 lead.
“It’s about where you put the ball, not how hard you hit it,” Isom said.
Outside of Rosa and Shain Stoner, Washington didn’t generate much offense against Middendorf, who was named to the East Division all-star team Monday. Stoner (2-for-4) hit a two-run homer in the second that gave Washington an early 2-0 lead. Rosa was 3-for-4.
“It was nice to see Rosa come back hitting the ball well and Stoner did a good job,” Zeller said. “But we’re not getting production from the top two spots in our order and we’re not having productive outs in which we’re moving runners over.”
Today’s middle game of the three-game series will begin at 11:05 a.m. … Lee gave up eight hits in seven innings. He struck out six and did not issue a walk. … Isom is the only Lake Erie coach with the team. Pitching coach Chris Mongiardo did not make the trip because of illness.