Aug 6, 2021 4 min read

There was good news, bad news and long-anticipated news for the Wild Things on Friday night.

First, the good news. Washington won for the seventh consecutive time at home, rolling to an 8-1 victory over the New Jersey Jackals. It was the 10th consecutive time the Wild Things have defeated the injury-depleted Jackals.

The win, coupled with Tri-City’s 6-4 win over Sussex County, pulled Washington to within 3½ games of first place in the Northeast Division. The Wild Things have trimmed three games off the first-place Miners’ lead in the last three days.

“It helps when you can take care of your own business,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “That’s all you can do. It’s not scoreboard-watching time, but you can be aware of what’s going on.”

Now, the bad news. Washington starting pitcher Daren Osby left the game after 4 1/3 innings with an injury to his right forearm.

Vaeth said he’s not concerned about the injury and that Osby was pulled from the game as a precaution.

“He’s fine,” Vaeth said. “He had some tightness in his forearm and we didn’t want to push it. It would have been no problem leaving him in to get two outs and a win, but at this point we wanted to error in the side of caution.”

Osby had allowed three hits and one walk. He struck out three and left with a 7-0 lead.

Ben Vincini (3-0) replaced Osby and threw 2 2/3 innings. Alex Boshers got the final six outs. The trio combined on a six-hitter.

Now, the long-awaited news. The Wild Things announced during the game that the contract of righthanded relief pitcher James Meeker has been sold to the Milwaukee Brewers.

It was no mystery that something was, uh, brewing, with Meeker because he did not pitch this week in the series at Sussex County.

Meeker’s numbers are off-the-charts good. He has not allowed a run this year in 31 2/3 innings, has 43 strikeouts and the league is batting only .159 against him.

A North Allegheny High School and University of Delaware product, Meeker has a team-record scoreless innings streak of 34 that extends back to the 2019 season. The 2020 Frontier League season was canceled because of the pandemic.

“I’m very happy for that guy,” Vaeth said. “He worked his butt off. During the pandemic, he could have continued doing what he was doing, but he made it a point of emphasis to change his body and increase his velocity. He gave himself a chance and was rewarded.

“I knew that James Meeker was a lot better than many of the guys who were getting signed throughout independent baseball. Some team just needed to get his name on a contract. The Brewers are getting a good one.”

This will be the first chance in affiliated ball for the 26-year-old Meeker. Sources say Meeker will be sent to Class A Carolina.

Washington did all of its scoring in consecutive innings early in the game, getting two runs in the third and pushing across five in the fourth against New Jersey starter Jason Zgardowski (3-2).

In the third, Andrew Czech singled and scored when Andrew Sohn hit a one-out line drive through the left side of the infield. Left fielder Todd Isaacs took a bad route to the ball and it rolled all the way to the wall. A single by Bralin Jackson scored Sohn.

The five-run fourth was aided by three walks and an error. Sohn drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-0 and Scotty Dubrule followed with an RBI single. Jackson then singled and advanced all the way to third base when the ball was misplayed in the outfield as three runs scored on the play.

New Jersey avoided the shutout when right fielder Josh Rehwaldt hit a solo home run to right centerfield leading off the seventh inning. It was the second home run of the year for Rehwaldt, who was one of Washington’s final cuts during spring training.

Washington got the run back in the eighth when Tristan Peterson doubled and scored after two fly balls, the second by Sohn, who finished the game with three RBI.