Jun 17, 2017 3 min read

Among the great mysteries of sports: Why do people call left-handed pitchers “crafty,” but not right-handers?

Not sure what the answer is, but the Wild Things appear to have a right-hander who won’t consistently overpower hitters but knows how to retire them. In the grand tradition of Aaron Ledbetter and Chris Smith, enter Chase Cunningham.

Cunningham pitched seven strong innings Friday to win for the fourth time in as many decisions as the Wild Things defeated Evansville 5-2 on Fireworks Night.

A right-hander from Johnson City, Tenn., who played his college baseball at Belmont in Nashville, Cunningham is in his second season with the Wild Things. He’s also making a strong case to be considered an ace of the pitching staff.

Cunningham has impressed the Wild Things with his approach of working fast and throwing strikes. He even displays an even keel on the mound.

“My style is to attack, work off the fastball, move it in and out and keep the batters uncomfortable,” Cunningham explained.

Evansville’s hitters mustered only five hits off Cunningham and didn’t score until Jeff Gardner hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning that cut Washington’s lead to 4-2. It was Gardner’s Frontier League-leading 10th home run and came two pitches after the game was delayed for a couple of minutes after home plate umpire Chris Richards was hit in the shoulder by a foul tip.

Cunningham said the delay didn’t throw off his rhythm, but Gardner’s homer was about all the offense the Otters generated against the Washington starter. Cunningham threw his fastball for strikes, mixed in a sharp curveball, a few changeups and a new pitch that Wild Things manager Gregg Langbehn described as a “cutter-slider.” Cunningham walked two, struck out five and kept all the Otters guessing what was coming next.

Cunningham has even displayed more life on his fastball than he had last year, when he pitched with a stress fracture in his right foot but still won seven games. The injury hampered Cunningham’s velocity.

“He commanded the strike zone tonight,” Langbehn said. “We needed a good outing from him.”

Cunningham’s performance was the key piece in Washington’s third consecutive victory, the previous two of the walk-off variety.

“It was nice to play from in front for a change,” Langbehn said.

The Wild Things led because of solo home runs by first baseman Kane Sweeney and right fielder Hector Roa. Sweeney also scored the game’s first run, in the second inning, on a passed ball.

Sweeney opened the fourth inning with an opposite-field homer off Evansville starter Felix Baez (2-4) and Roa made it 3-0 when he scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Kenny Peoples-Walls.

That was enough offense for Cunningham and reliever Zack Strecker, the latter pitching the final two innings for his fifth save.

“I would say this is the best I’ve started a season,” Cunningham said. “Confidence is a big thing. You can’t give the hitters too much credit. You have throw your stuff and not nitpick around the strike zone.”

Evansville leads the Frontier League in home runs with 43 in 31 games. … The Wild Things and Otters each had seven hits. Washington is 11-0 when it outhits its opponent.