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Things survive Joliet rally, win 6th straight

3 min read
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Washington’s Reydel Medina slides safely into third base in front of Joliet’s Danny Zaroon during Saturday's game at the Wild Things Park.

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Pittsburgh offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva autographed a football for Teddy Glyptis before the Wild Things game against the Joliet Saturday at Wild Things Park. The Wild Things held a Salute to Service night, which included Villanueva a former U.S Army Ranger.

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Wild Things’ Reydel Medina catches a fly ball against the Joliet Slammers during a game at the Wild ThingsPark on Saturday, June 9, 2018.

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Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva autographed honorary bat boy jerseys Hayden Gatewood,11, right, of Avella and his brother Gavin,6, before the Wild Things game against the Joliet Slammers at Wild Things Park on Satuarday, June 9, 2018.

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Wild Things’ Trevor Bradley throws against Joliet during Saturday’s game. Bradley gave up two hits and four walks.

Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter

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Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva throws out the first pitch at the Wild Things game against the Joliet Slammers at the Wild Things Park on Satuarday, June 9, 2018.

Trevor Bradley and Brett Marr have passed the auditions.

Bradley and Marr are two players who figure to see more significant playing time with the Wild Things in the coming weeks as a starting pitcher and the everyday shortstop, respectively. They played major roles Saturday night against the Joliet Slammers.

Bradley made his first start of the season after nine relief appearances and took a shutout into the sixth inning, and Marr capped an incredible week at the plate by reaching base three times and scoring a run in Washington’s 5-4 victory on Salute to Service Night.

The victory was the sixth in a row for the Wild Things, who are in first place in the Frontier League’s East Division.

Bradley, in his second season with Washington, was much better than his final numbers indicate. Bradley finished with a career-high seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. He began to tire in the sixth and walked two of the four batters he faced in the inning, leading to a four-run outburst by Joliet. The inning included a two-run double over the head of center fielder James Harris by the Slammers’ Travis Bolin, coming off reliever Mike Anthony.

“I felt myself leaking a little in the sixth,” Bradley admitted.

“Trevor did a nice job,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said. “He got tired in the sixth. I had considered taking him out of the game after the fifth inning but he pitched well enough to stay in there. We’re carrying only 10 pitchers so I was trying to buy another inning.”

Langbehn said Bradley will remain in the rotation.

“He will start next Saturday (at Southern Illinois) and we’ll keep the other guys on their regular rest,” he said.

Bradley gave up two hits and four walks.

“I hit my spots,” he said. “Everything was working, especially the fastball, which set up my slider.”

Joliet’s big inning trimmed a 5-0 Washington lead to a single run. The Wild Things’ Jamal Wilson and Davis Adkins each threw a scoreless inning of relief and turned the game over to closer Zach Strecker in the ninth, who overcame a Washington error to get the final three outs for his eighth save.

Washington built the early lead on sacrifice flies and a three-run third inning against Joliet starter Taylor Goshen (1-2).

Reydel Medina legged out a triple and scored on a sac fly by Hector Roa for the game’s initial run in the second inning. In the third, Harris and Connor McEachern had consecutive run-scoring hits and Roman Collins brought home Harris with a sacrifice fly.

In the fourth, the second of Louis Mele’s two doubles drove in Roa and made it 5-0.

Marr, who got off to a slow start to the season, finished the night 1-for-2 with a walk, hit by pitch and a run. He is 14-for-32 in June and moved into the lineup as the everyday shortstop when Justin Bohn retired Saturday.

“That first week or two of the season he didn’t look comfortable,” Langbehn said. “I like his approach at the plate. He fights pitches off. If you want to play regularly, you have to do those things.”

Extra bases

Attendance was 3,711, the largest of the season and a sellout. … Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva threw out the first pitch. … The Wild Things wore black-and-gold camouflage jerseys.

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