Bad start stops Wild Things
Even during a drive for a division title and the playoff berth that goes with it, you’re going to have nights like the Wild Things experienced Saturday.
Atlantic Division leader Quebec ambushed Washington starter Keven Pimentel for three runs in the top of the first inning, added three more in the third and cruised to an 8-5 victory at Wild Things Park.
Quebec starting pitcher Henry Omana (1-0), who entered the game with a 7.20 ERA, had a no-hitter for 6 1/3 innings, second baseman David Glaude homered and designated hitter Ruben Castro drove in four runs and was a double shy of hitting for the cycle. It was 12th win for Quebec in its last 13 games.
“It was a bad time to have a bad start,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth lamented. “Keven had no fastball command. He didn’t have the command he had in his last start, at Lake Erie. When you’re falling behind in the count, you have to throw the fastball over the middle of the plate sometime and that’s not the team you want to have to do that against.”
Washington ended Quebec’s 11-game winning streak Friday but there wasn’t much offense from the Wild Things for much of this night. For the first eight innings, the loudest cheers from the home fans were reserved for when the beer batter, Quebec shortstop and former Pittsburgh Pirate Gift Ngoepe, struck out three times.
“This is the time of year when teams aren’t going to roll over,” Vaeth said.
And Washington proved as much. The Wild Things, despite having only one hit over the first eight innings, scored five times in the bottom of the ninth and were able to bring the potential tying run to the plate with two outs. Quebec had to bring in closer Evan Rutckyj to get the game’s final out, netting his sixth save.
Washington started the night one game behind first-place Sussex County in the Northeast Division and squandered an opportunity to move into a tie for the top spot. The Miners trailed 6-0 early at Tri-City, rallied late to tie but eventually lost in the Frontier League’s gimmicky 11th-inning tiebreaker, a home run derby.
Tri-City remains a half-game behind Quebec in the Atlantic.
Quebec averaged 10 runs per game during its winning streak and wasted no time taking control in this one. The first four Quebec batters reached base against Pimentel (7-7). L.P. Pelletier hit the second pitch of the game for a double, Glaude walked and Jeffry Parra was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Raphael Gladu hit a two-run double only four batters into the game. Connor Panas’ sacrifice fly made it 3-0.
Castro hit a three-run homer with two outs in the third to give Quebec a 6-0 lead.
Glaude led off the fourth with a home run, his 12th of the year, and Castro singled home Jonathan Lacroix in the fifth to make it 8-0.
That seemed like enough for Omana, who took a no-hitter into the seventh before it was broken up on a clean single by Andrew Czech.
“He’s much better than a 7 ERA,” Quebec manager Pat Scalabrini said of Omana while watching the end of the Sussex County-Tri-City game on his phone. “He was pitching in Mexico out of the bullpen and hadn’t thrown many innings. He had a couple of starts for us but his numbers were worse than the way he pitched. He had a rough first inning tonight but I’m happy with what he did.”
Omana walked the first two Washington batters of the first inning but retired the next three. He walked six over seven innings but struck out nine and allowed only one hit.
“Effectively wild,” Vaeth said. “It’s tough for a batter if you don’t know where the pitch is going. One is at your feet, the next one is three balls wide of the plate. We swung at some balls up, but that can be expected when you fall behind.”
Washington made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth against reliever James Bradwell. Andrew Sohn reached on an infield single, Cam Phelts walked and pinch-hitter Trevor Casanova was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Czech’s sacrifice fly scored Sohn with Washington’s first run.
Cody Young followed with an RBI single and Nick Ward’s double scored Casanova and made it 8-3.
After a strikeout, Scotty Dubrule singled to make the score 8-4. That’s when Quebec brought in Rutckyj, who gave up an RBI single to Bralin Jackson that cut the gap to 8-5. With two on and two out, Rutckyj got Sohn to fly out to end the game.
“We weren’t playing well a few weeks ago,” Scalabrini said. “We were OK, around .500, but I thought we were better than that. Then it just clicked.
“We were going through a rough week playing in Chicago. We lost the first two at Windy City, then we get a big comeback win in the last game. It was an emotional win. That was 12 games ago. Then we went home and swept two series. … I thought we were better offensively than we were playing, then during the 11-game winning streak we scored 111 runs. That’s just crazy.”