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Tri-City catches break, wins series with Wild Things

4 min read
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They are called the breaks of the game. According to a popular saying, they are supposed to even out over the course of a season.

The Wild Things and Tri-City ValleyCats proved that the breaks can even out over a 24-hour period.

Washington had break or two go its way Saturday night during a wild 13-12 come-from-behind victory in 10 innings.

Fast forward to Sunday night and the Wild Things appeared to have caught another big one. Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Washington pinch-hitters Abraham Sequera and Robert Chayka drew a walk and was hit by a pitch, respectively, against Tri-City reliever Andrew Edwards. That brought up catcher J.C. Santini, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup.

Santini check-swung at an Edwards offering and hit a soft excuse-me single over the infield that dropped into right field, scoring Sequera and making it a one-run game. It look like Santini’s I-didn’t-mean-to-swing single might turn out to be a huge break, especially after Nick Gotta followed and walked to load the bases with one out.

What happened next was a bad break, or just old-fashioned bad luck, for the Wild Things.

Scotty Dubrule hit a wicked line drive that, coming off the bat, seemed like it might win the game. However, it was hit directly at Tri-City shortstop Cito Culver, who was positioned in the right spot at the right time. Culver snagged the hard-hit line drive and Santini was caught off second base for an easy game-ending double play that secured the 5-4 win for the ValleyCats and the series victory.

“It was a tough lefty-lefty matchup but Scotty hit the ball on the screws,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “You can’t fault (Santini). He was taking his secondary lead and had no chance to get back to the bag.”

It was one of two golden scoring opportunities that the Wild Things couldn’t take advantage of and ultimately led to their defeat, the seventh in eight games. The first squandered chance came in the third inning, with Washington leading 3-2. The Wild Things drew three walks in the frame off Tri-City starter Garrison Bryant (1-1) but did not score.

“He walked the first two batters of the inning,” Vaeth pointed out. “There’s a saying about when you have an opportunity to get runs and don’t, you usually give one up in the next half inning.”

That’s exactly what happened to the Wild Things. Tri-City’s Zach Biermann led off the top of the fourth with a home run off Washington starter Angel Landazuri (0-2) that tied the score.

In the fifth, the first four ValleyCats hitters reached base with Carson McCusker and Trey Hair getting RBI hits that made it 5-3.

After his three walks in the third, Bryant settled down and was tremendous. The former New York Mets Class AA pitcher retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced before exiting after seven innings. Tri-City needed a long outing from Bryant after using seven pitchers Saturday.

“Garrison battled,” said Tri-City manager Pete Incavaglia. “He struggled the first couple of innings, but he’s an experienced guy who played at a high level and kept battling. He did a good job.”

Tri-City third baseman Pavin Parks made the defensive play of the game in the eighth inning. With a runner on first base and one out, Washington’s Tristian Peterson hit a hard grounder that appeared would get down the third-base line. Parks, however, dove and snagged the ball and was able to throw across the diamond to retire Peterson. Instead of second and third with one out, Washington a runner on second with two outs and Edwards got an inning-ending strikeout.

“Parks is the best defensive third baseman in the league, by far,” Incavaglia said. “He has saved us a lot of runs.”

The Wild Things continued their troubling trend by giving up two runs in the first inning. They allowed 12 first-inning runs in the last four games and have given up more runs in the first inning than any other.

Washington did battle back to take a 3-2 lead. Wagner Lagrange hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Anthony Brocato led off the second with a homer.

“It was a good ballgame. Our pitching was much better and it gave us a chance,” Vaeth said. “I like the way we came back and battled. There were a lot of positives to take from these last two games. We’ll take that on the road and try to build on that.”

Washington begins a three-game series Tuesday at Florence before returning home Friday for a weekend series against Lake Erie.

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