Jun 17, 2016 3 min read

One night after stranding 12 baserunners in a 5-0 loss to the Joliet Slammers, Washington Wild Things manager Gregg Langbehn had just the plan to help the Wild Things bounce back.

He handed the ball to starting pitcher Trevor Foss.

The Windy City Thunderbolts came into Friday night a hot-hitting team, collecting 26 hits in their past two games. But Windy City found baserunners tough to come by against Foss.

Foss was dominant, throwing a three-hit shutout, pitching the Wild Things to a 3-0 victory.

After allowing a two-out, first-inning single to Windy City’s Ransom LaLonde, Foss retired the next 13 hitters before allowing a single to open the sixth.

A big part of Foss’ success was pitching ahead in the count, throwing first-pitch strikes to 22 of 30 hitters. Foss, who faced just three over the minimum number of batters on the night, had success keeping the ball on the ground, inducing 17 groundball outs, to go along with five strikeouts.

Foss (5-2) was efficient, needing only 92 pitches to complete the game. He also was around the strike zone, throwing 64 of the 92 pitches for strikes.

“I started a lot hotter than I finished,” Foss said. “I started to yank some fastballs late and my first-pitch strikes went down, but overall I thought it was a pretty solid performance.”

Foss has thrown five complete games in a row and has allowed one run or less in each of his last four starts. Overall, Foss has allowed just one run in his last 27 innings and two in his last 33.

“I wish there was a formula I could write down and make money off of this run,” Foss said. “Overall, I have been keeping it simple. I’ve just been throwing strikes and trying to minimize walks. Just trying to get outs early in the count and get them often.”

Offensively, Washington was able to give Foss enough run support.

The Wild Things grabbed the lead in the first inning when leadoff hitter Jamal Austin tripled to right centerfield. Ricky Rodriguez followed with a sacrifice fly to give Washington an early 1-0 lead.

“Jamal is a huge piece of getting our offense going,” Langbehn said. “He’s a table setter. He’s getting there. He set the tone for us and Rodriguez was able to drive him in early to give us the lead.”

Rodriguez made an impact in the third inning as well, smacking a one-out triple. He came around to score the game’s second run on an RBI-single off the bat of Bryan Haar.

Washington outfielder David Popkins added some insurance leading off the bottom of the sixth inning with a solo homer to right field. The homer was Popkins’ fourth of the season.

“Even with the way Trevor was pitching I was a little nervous at 2-0,” said Langbehn. “I breathed a little easier after the solo homer.”

Windy City’s Ryan Strombom (2-3) took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits in six innings. Strombom struck out four and walked three.

The night belonged to Foss and he did enough to impress his manager.

“He’s been pretty darn good,” Langbehn said. “He doesn’t walk anyone. He throws strikes, has good velocity and good breaking stuff. He uses the changeup well and attacks hitters. What can you say? He was the story of the game. Seventeen groundball outs is impressive. That’s what he does.”