Jul 10, 2021 4 min read

It was Salute to the Negro League, complete with a Josh Gibson bobblehead giveaway, Saturday night at Wild Things Park.

Gibson was a legendary power hitter for the Homestead Grays and considered the “Babe Ruth of the Negro League.” He was the second player from the league to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

So it was appropriate that the Wild Things and New York Boulders put on an impressive power-hitting display.

The Wild Things matched their season high by belting four home runs and Keven Pimentel pitched six innings of one-run ball in a 10-4 victory.

Right fielder Bralin Jackson, catcher Trevor Casanova, left fielder Grant Heyman and third baseman Brian Sharp each smacked home runs for Washington, which extended its winning streak to a season-high five games.

“This is how we’ve always been,” Casanova said. “Only one day our pitching would be off, or our hitting would be off, or we would make a mistake in the field that would cost us a game. But when we play like this, we’re hard to beat.”

New York even got into the power-hitting frenzy, launching two round-trippers, one each from Tucker Nathans and Kevonte Mitchell.

Jackson got Washington off to a good start with a solo homer off New York’s Orsen Josephina (2-1) to open the second inning. It was Jackson’s sixth home run of the season.

New York tied the score in the fourth as Ray Hernandez, who as under contract to the Wild Things during last year’s COVID summer, dropped a triple into the right-field corner and scored on a single by Gian Martellini.

It was the only run allowed by Pimentel (4-3), who scattered six hits in six innings. He struck out seven in another quality start.

“I’m really pleased with what Keven does for us,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “You know he’s going to keep us close and limit the damage. He gives us a chance to be competitive.”

Washington struck the biggest blow of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Jackson reached on an error and Hector Roa hit a one-out single. That set up a three-run homer by Casanova, a laser-beam shot to right centerfield over the 375 feet sign. It was the fourth homer of the year for Casanova, who is 7-for-18 with two home runs on the homestand, raising his batting average to .296.

“He’s been working on getting balls in the air the right way, staying on top of the ball and creating backspin that way,” Vaeth explained. “He’s improved a little offensively but what I’m really pleased with is what he’s done for us defensively.”

The Wild Things pushed across three more runs in the fifth. Nick Ward led off with a single and Heyman chased Josephina with a home run over the video board beyond right field. The towering bomb traveled an estimated 437 feet and gave Washington a 6-1 lead.

Before the inning ended, Jackson scored on a single by Roa that made it 7-1.

In the sixth, Sharp hit a sacrifice fly and Heyman tripled to right centerfield, scoring Ward and making it a 9-1 game.

Sharp ended the Washington scoring with a solo homer in the eighth.

“The boys swung the bats well,” Vaeth said. “You’re going to have times when you miss pitches, that’s a fact at every level, but when you get things rolling you square up pitches, and we did a good job of that tonight.”

Washington will try for a 6-0 homestand in the series finale this evening (5:35 p.m.).