Jun 22, 2013 4 min read

Wild Things pitcher Shawn Blackwell is young and still trying to find consistency from inning to inning and outing to outing.

Saturday night at Consol Energy Park, however, he was fantastic all the way through his start against the River City Rascals. The right-hander allowed three hits and one walk in seven innings and combined with relievers Al Yevoli and Jhonny Montoya on a 1-0 victory.

It was the Wild Things’ third shutout of the season.

“In his starts early in the season, Shawn was never out of control, but he would have one inning in which he lost focus or concentration. He battled all the way through tonight,” Washington manager Bart Zeller said. “He did a great job for us.”

Blackwell (3-3) teetered only twice, when River City put its only runners in scoring position. Each time, Blackwell let his defense help end the Rascals’ scoring threat.

In the first inning, Blackwell hit the Rascals’ Curran Redal with a pitch, and with two outs Jake Atwell reached base on a strikeout and wild pitch. Sean Borman, however, flied out to end the inning.

In the fourth, Atwell led off with a broken-bat single – River City’s first hit of the game – and Danny Canella lined a two-out single to left center field. Again, Blackwell, got the final out on a fly ball as Will Block flew out to left field.

“I am definitely getting more comfortable with the league,” said Blackwell, a native Texan who spent three years in the Texas Rangers’ organization. “I’ve been working recently with (pitching coach) Gary Lee on my mechanics … and I think that has helped. The things we’ve been working on have carried over to the games.”

Blackwell struck out five batters and retired 11 on fly balls, including several tough catches by center fielder Darian Sandford.

“I just tried to attack the strike zone with a first-pitch strike. With the exception of one batter, they are fairly aggressive hitters,” Blackwell said. “I wanted to let ’em hit it and let my defense work. We have a quick outfield and a good infield.”

Washington shortstop Shain Stoner made the best defensive play of the game with a barehanded pickup and throw to first base on Steve Carillo’s slow grounder to open the third inning.

Stoner also drove in the game’s only run as Washington scored in the third inning against River City’s hard-luck starter Brett Harman (0-4). After Harman struck out the inning’s first two batters, Sandford put down a bunt single – the Rascals were late covering first base – and stole his league-leading 28th base. Stoner then hit a two-strike pitch for a single just inside the right-field line as Sandford came around to score.

Harman matched Blackwell pitch for pitch. The former University of Maryland pitcher allowed only five hits – two by second baseman C.J. Beatty – did not walk a batter and struck out nine.

“Their pitcher did a nice job,” Zeller said. He kept us off balance.”

Zeller opted to take Blackwell out after 90 pitches and seven innings. Yevoli threw a hitless and scoreless eighth inning – his fifth consecutive scorless outing – and Jhonny Montoya, who was re-signed Friday for his third season in Washington, needed only five pitches to retire the Rascals in order in the ninth for his first save.

“Montoya was really impressive for the first time out,” Zeller said. “One thing he said to me was that he’s happy to be back. That’s the attitude you want.”

The Wild Things will go for a sweep of the three-game series today (5:05 p.m.).

“It’s nice to win a series. We’ve been on the back end of too many where we had to win the third game,” Zeller said.

Extra bases

The time of the game was only two hours and two minutes. … Washington is 12-5 against West Division opponents. … River City’s pitching coach is former major league reliever Todd Worrell (Cardinals, Dodgers).