Wild Things hit 3 home runs, beat Joliet
JOLIET, Ill. – The Wild Things hit three solo home runs and Jalen Miller drove in a pair as Washington moved closer to a playoff berth with a 6-3 win over the Joliet Slammers on Wednesday night.
Washington reduced its magic number for clinching a playoff berth to 2, which means that could happen as soon as Thursday night. The Wild Things pushed their lead back to seven games in the Frontier League’s West Division as Lake Erie defeated second-place Gateway, 1-0.
The Wild Things started quickly against Joliet starter Brett Sanchez (4-5) by hitting two solo homers, one by Tommy Caufield and the other by Wagner Lagrange, in the top of the first inning.
Caleb McNeely’s home run made it 3-0 in the third, and before the inning would end Miller would drove in Caufield and make it 4-0.
Joliet scored three times in the bottom of the fifth to close to within one run.
Miller gave the Wild Things some margin for error with an RBI single in the seventh, and Brandon McIlwain drove in the game’s final run in the ninth.
Ryan Munoz (4-1) was the winning pitcher in relief of Malik Barrington, who went 4 2/3 innings.
Gyeongju Kim pitched the ninth inning for his league-leading 20th save.