Jun 23, 2026 By Chris Dugan 5 min read

When Wild Things right-hander Zach Kirby trotted out to the mound and threw his first pitch Tuesday morning against Windy City, he probably set a professional baseball record in the modern era.

It was the third game this season between the Wild Things and ThunderBolts. They met in a one-off season opener May 15 in Crestwood, Ill., and Kirby was Washington’s starting pitcher in that game. They played again at Windy City on June 10, and Kirby was again the Wild Things’ starter. The second, and final, game of that series was rained out.

The teams met again for the first time at EQT Park in a Kids Day game, and Kirby was back on the mound, which begs the question: Has a pitcher in professional baseball ever started his team’s first three games of a season against the same opponent?

Though Kirby was familiar to Windy City, his results against the ThunderBolts looked very much like they did in the prior two outings. Kirby pitched seven strong innings to improve his season record to 5-0, first baseman Andrew Czech drove in four runs and Washington won the series opener, 8-3.

Kirby entered the game having thrown 11 scoreless innings against Windy City and he extended the streak to 16 before giving up a two-run homer to Jared Beebe in the sixth. It was the only blemish on an otherwise outstanding day by Kirby, who is off to his best start in four seasons in Washington.

When asked if he’s pitching better than he has at any point during his Wild Things career, Kirby said, “I like to think so. After the rough patch I had last year at the start of the season, I was determined to come back this season in better shape. I do feel good.”

“He’s been really good,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth added.

Kirby had a pitching line against Windy City that is unique in today’s baseball. He allowed five hits and two runs, but he also didn’t walk a batter or strike out anybody. Kirby simply filled up the strike zone, had the counts in his favor and kept his fielders busy. Fourteen of the 21 outs he recorded were on flyballs.

“I thought they would be sitting on the soft stuff the third time, so I used the fastball more and got a lot of popups,” Kirby explained. “I was attacking even though I didn’t have my best stuff today.”

Windy City starter Frankie Ferguson (1-4) didn’t have much control early in the game. He walked four and hit two batters over five innings. In the third inning, he walked Antonio Monroy with one out, hit newly signed Jeff Sabater with a pitch and walked Caleb Ketchup to load the bases. Ferguson, a lefty, almost got out of the inning when Czech bounced into a fielder’s choice but the return throw to first base, on what would have been an inning-ending double play, went to the retaining wall as two runs scored on the play.

Washington made it 3-0 in the fourth when Kyle Edwards walked, stole second base and scored on a single by Isaias Quiroz. One batter later, Windy City catcher Victor Cerny charged at Quiroz after Monroy had walked on a high and tight pitch. Both benches emptied but no punches were thrown, nobody was ejected and order was quickly restored.

Windy City finally solved Kirby in the sixth when Carolos Pena hit a one-out double and Beebe followed with his fifth home run of the season, cutting Washington’s lead to 3-2.

The Wild Things answered quickly, manufacturing two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Connor Peek singled up the middle, Edwards dropped a single into left centerfield and Quiroz advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt.

“Those were three quality at-bats, when you talk about doing your job,” Vaeth said.

Monroy drove them in with a two-run single, making it 5-2.

Windy City tried to rally against reliever Chad Coles in the seventh. The T-Bolts scored on a sacrifice fly by Pena and had a runner on base with two outs when lefty reliever Brit Kostura, who was signed over the weekend out of Baldwin Wallace University, came in and needed only one pitch to retire Justin Fogel and end the inning. Vaeth called it the biggest out of the game.

Washington scored insurance runs in the eighth when Czech hit a three-run double, his second two-bagger of the game.

Extra bases

Sabater is a Pennsylvania native who had an outstanding collegiate career in the PSAC at Millersville before transferring this year to East Carolina. The speedy outfielder batted .358 and drove in 20 runs for the Pirates. He started in left field in place of Anthony Brocato, who is on the 7-day injured list with a hamstring strain. Sabater went 1-for-4 in his pro debut. … The series continues with a doubleheader today beginning at 5:05 p.m. One of the games is a makeup from the rained out contest June 11 in Crestwood. Washington has not listed a starting pitcher for either game. … The loss ended Windy City’s eight-game winning streak, the franchise’s longest since 2016. The Thunderbolts had swept three consecutive series, the first time that has happened since 2007. … Washington is 23-3 when scoring the game’s first run and 4-8 when the opponent scores first.